Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Tom and Jerry:2001


When I made my last post, I was so grateful to reach the end of the Deitch/Jones films that I actually implied this timeline was over. Not true, as Tom and Jerry would not go away so quietly.
In 1975, H-B made some new cat and mouse cartoons for television, but the violence was turned down to an extreme and the duo were more buddies than enemies.
I hate to even mention the Filmation cartoons of the early '80s, which make the Deitch cartoons seem like animation masterpieces.
H-B took another crack at Tom and Jerry in the 90's before the rights were turned over to Turner and more specifically, Warner Bros.


I will spare you any mention of "The Tom and Jerry Movie".
Plenty of direct-to-video releases have resulted, as well as today's highlighted cartoon, "The Mansion Cat".
Not much to say here really. Amidst very simplified backgrounds, Tom and Jerry wreck havok in the house while thier owner is away.


While trying to watch his own performance in "Muscle Beach Tom", the cat is forced into the VCR by Jerry and ejected in cassette form. In a moment resembling a scene from "Terminator", Tom is frozen, shattered and reassembled and the slow-paced chase resumes.


A water bed is punctured, fireplace soot is tracked everywhere, and an out-of-control vacuum cleaner sucks up everything it gets near. Tom gets a plunger stuck on his rear and drives a lawnmower through the house.


Finding his home destroyed doesn't seem to effect Tom's owner much, who just makes a dry observation on Tom's worth.

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