Cat chases mouse. Mouse torments cat. Cat tries to get revenge. Cat gets an extremely violent – and occasionally fatal – comeuppance. Repeat as necessary.
That was the formula William Hanna and Joseph Barbera perfected for their Tom and Jerry series of animated shorts, before the animators went on to dominate Saturday morning television in the 1960's and 1970's. Long before they were spoofed as Itchy and Scratchy – the cartoon-within-a-cartoon in The Simpsons – Tom and Jerry literally put Hanna-Barbera on the showbiz map, winning 7 Oscars for Best Short Subject: Cartoons between 1943 and 1952.
The shorts also garnered countless fans, including the late PLO leader Yasser Arafat, who saw similarities between Jerry's battles with Tom and his own struggles against Israel.
Now Warner Home Video is re-releasing 14 of those classic shorts in Tom and Jerry's Greatest Chases Volume 2. It's intended as a companion to Tom and Jerry's Greatest Chases Volume 1, which was released back in 2000.
Warner Home Video Releases MGM, Hanna-Barbera's Tom and Jerry's Greatest Chases Volume 2
Those who only know Hanna-Barbera through their TV cartoons like Scooby-Doo or The Jetsons will be surprised at the depth and artistry that went into these shorts. The animators had a much larger budget to play with when making these shorts, and the fact that they were being shown in movie theatres meant that it had to look good on the silver screen. The scenery and characters were much more detailed, and their movements more fluid.
Warner Home Video has salted three notable cartoons into Tom and Jerry's Greatest Chases Volume 2: Oscar winners "Mouse Trouble" (1944) and "Quiet Please" (1945), plus the nominated "Jerry's Cousin" (1950).
Watching these shorts, it's amazing how many variations on the cat-chases-mouse theme Hanna and Barbera thought up, whether it was recruiting Jerry's cousin Muscles for "Jerry's Cousin" or dressing Tom in a baby costume for 1944's "Baby Puss". But the setup got old fast, and some of the gags developed a been-there-done-that feel: even the legendary Chuck Jones had to recycle the plot from 1944's "The Bodyguard" for his 1964 short "Much Ado About Mousing."
Many Tom and Jerry cartoons had issues with censorship – not surprising, since they were originally intended for an adult audience, and contained racial stereotypes that would be considered offensive today. Needless to say, these shorts were chosen for their lack of disturbing imagery (no images of Mammy Two-Shoes here, folks!).
However, a sequence featuring Jerry skewering Tom during "Mouse Trouble" (which was removed in subsequent broadcasts) was left untouched.
DVD Extras
There are a bat-load of trailers for things like Tiny Toons and Freakazoid, but th-th-that's all Warner Home Video packaged with these DVDs, folks.
The Final Analysis
If you like Tom and Jerry or classic cartoons, then this collection's a no-brainer. However, those who are immune to this cartoon's charms – or want something more than its constant cat-chases-mouse plot – won't be won over by this collection.
Tom and Jerry's Greatest Chases Volume 2 gets a 7/10.
Dominic von Riedemann - Dominic is the Animated Film Feature Writer, and winner of 11 Suite 101 Editors' Choice Awards.
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