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Released by: Warner Brothers
Released on: 6/23/2009
Director: Chuck Jones
Cast: N/A
Year: 1963-1967
The Movies:
While the mighty Tom & Jerry was created by Hanna-Barbera in 1940, legendary animation superstar Chuck Jones would get a crack at the characters in the sixties after he was let go by Warner Brothers. From 1963 through 1967, Jones and his team would create thirty-four short cartoons intended for theatrical showings and it's those shorts that are compiled in this new two disc set.
Everyone knows who Tom & Jerry are. The simple premise of a cat and mouse duking it out won them ridiculous popularity and when their adventures became common on television, their audience grew enormously. The series still holds up, thanks to the completely over the top (and completely inconsequential) violence and lunacy, some great animation, some creative set pieces and a generally enjoyable and quirky instrumental score.
The first thing you'll probably notice with this cartoons, however, is how similar they are to the Coyote/Roadrunner bits that Jones was creating for Warner Brothers earlier in his career and at times, they almost feel identical. This isn't the most original material in Jones' pretty massive body work and as such, it's not the best or the most interesting but hey, it's still Tom and Jerry and it's still funny. There's minimal dialogue and maximum violence and for some of us, this stuff never gets old.
A few complaints, however - a couple of episodes recycle plots from earlier cartoons (plot is maybe too heavy, let's say premise instead) and a couple more go so far as to actually reuse footage. Those unfamiliar with some of the earlier Tom & Jerry cartoons won't notice but die-hard fans of the series will maybe feel like the animators took the easy way out a couple of times during this run.
The complete listing of the 34 cartoons contained in this collection is laid out as follows:
DISC ONE: Pent-House Mouse / The Cat Above, The Mouse Below / Is There A Doctor In The Mouse? / Much Ado About Mousing / Snowbody Loves Me / The Unshrinkable Jerry Mouse / Ah, Sweet Mouse-story Of Life / Tom-ic Energy / Bad Day At Cat Rock / The Brothers-Carry-Mouse-Off / Haunted Mouse / I'm Just Wild About Jerry / Of Feline Bondage / The Year Of The Mouse / The Cat's Me-ouch / Duel Personality / Jerry, Jerry, Quite Contrary
DISC TWO: Love Me, Love My Mouse / Puss 'N' Boats / Filet Meow / Matinee Mouse / The A-Tom-inable Snowman / Catty Cornered / Cat And Dupli-cat / O-Solar-Meow / Guided Mouse-ille / Rock 'N' Rodent / Cannery Rodent / The Mouse From H.U.N.G.E.R. / Surf-Bored Cat / Shutter Bugged Cat / Advance And Be Mechanized / Purr-chance To Dream
Even if this isn't the best that Tom & Jerry have to offer, from a historical standpoint it certainly is nice to have this material archived (and in such nice shape as well) and it's not like the material is really bad in any way, it just doesn't quite peak the way that some of what came before it did and to be honest, a lot of us probably expected more from Chuck Jones. Taken on its own, however, and not compared to the superior early cartoons, these are still a good time in front of the TV.
Video/Audio/Extras:
These cartoons were composed for 1.33.1 fullframe but shown theatrically in widescreen, which is how they are presented here, anamorphic 1.78.1 with some periodic matting to 1.66.1 for the credits sequences. While the quality isn't perfect, the colors are still pretty nice with decent black levels and only minimal dirt visible throughout. There is some shimmering that occurs in a few scenes and some very minor print damage throughout but it's minor in the literalist of senses and doesn't really ruin the experience much at all. Fans should be happy with the appearance of the cartoons here.
The entire season is presented in a simple but clean sounding Dolby Digital Mono track, in its native English. While a stereo or surround track might have been fun for a few of the scenes it's not really needed and having the original sound mix on the set is in keeping with the time that the episodes were made. No real hiss or distortion or problems worth noting - it's a basic track but it does the job just fine. Optional subtitles are provided in English, French and Spanish and dubbed Portuguese and French tracks, also in Mono, have been included.
The extras start off on Disc One with a twenty-minute featurette entitled Tom And Jerry And… Chuck that features some interesting archival interview bits with the late Chuck Jones that explain how he got involved with this series and what he enjoyed about working on it. Some great photographs are pulled out of the vaults here but it's a little surprising to hear Jones rather passively dismiss the other Tom & Jerry cartoons that came before his run with the characters considering that they absolutely laid the ground for his work on this series. Regardless, this is an interesting featurette that the late animation guru's fans will enjoy.
Disc Two contains a second featurette, the twenty-six minute Chuck Jones: Memories Of Childhood that basically serves as a brief biography of his younger days which leads into his work in animation. This featurette doesn't cover the Tom & Jerry material he worked on at all but it does delve into his Looney Tunes work and shed some light on his childhood and his influences so it's still absolutely worth a look.
Both discs contain animated menus and episode selection and the discs are housed inside a nice gatefold package that fits snuggly inside a sleek orange slipcase.
The Final Word:
Tom & Jerry fans already know they need this. Jones' manic style is rampant throughout this set and these cartoons hold up really well decades after they were made, political correctness be damned, and Warner Brothers' boxed set release is a keeper. It's not the best Tom & Jerry material ever made, but it's still a whole lot of zany ultra-violent fun for the whole family.