TOM AND JERRY: THE GENE DEITCH COLLECTION -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 5/31/15

 

I originally watched these cartoons during my college days, many years ago, on a tiny portable TV.  Thus, I never realized that they're actually fairly nice-looking, colorful cartoons with some lovely backgrounds.  My only reaction at that time to the Gene Deitch "Tom & Jerry"s was abject horror at how awful they seemed compared to the earlier Hanna-Barbera ones, which were actually known to win Oscars from time to time.

The only way any of the thirteen cartoons in Warner Home Entertainment's TOM AND JERRY: THE GENE DEITCH COLLECTION would get an Oscar would be if producer William L. Snyder taunted members of the Academy enough to have one thrown at him.  With Hanna-Barbera's departure from MGM, the studio turned to Snyder and Chicago-born animator-director Gene Deitch (a former Terrytoons producer and father of famed underground comix artist Kim Deitch) to keep the cat-and-mouse game afoot.

From Snyder’s Prague-based animation studio, Rembrandt Films, they churned out 13 new shorts from 1960-62 (after viewing some of the celebrated originals for the first time and disliking them) and created a run of "Tom & Jerry"s which stand as some of the oddest, least accessible, and, some might say, most bizarre mainstream cartoons ever made. 

Even as the age of the theatrical cartoon began to wane, moviegoers young and old must've scratched their heads as these wacky artifacts unspooled before them on the big screen. (A later Deitch creation, the Nudnik, would be even harder to relate to, although, to his credit, one of Deitch's unrelated shorts during this period won an Academy Award.)

A follower of the UPA style of animation, Deitch was unused to MGM's old-school, freewheeling slapstick hijinks and outlandish gags.  His attempts to recreate the works of animators such as William Hanna, Joseph Barbera, and the brilliant Tex Avery while adapting their brand of outrageous comedy to his post-modern sense of humor resulted in a series of hybrid efforts which, while hardly as entertaining as their forebears, are nevertheless curiously compelling.

Many of the odd, poorly-rendered gags make little or no sense--after being buried alive in "Switchin' Kitten", Tom's tail slithers up out of the ground and then his head appears on the end of it like a flower, looking just as perplexed as we are. The eye-pleasing artwork is at odds with the jerky movements and editing, while the sound effects often consist of reverb-heavy electronic noises that seem to have been recorded in a restroom. 

Rather than simply come up with the usual domestic antics for the duo, Deitch started putting them into all kinds of outlandish settings and situations (something Looney Tunes vet Chuck Jones would continue to do when he took over the reins from Deitch later on).  Haunted castles, ancient Greek cities, the jungle, outer space, and even a ship under the command of Captain Ahab ("Dicky Moe") are some of the backdrops for these stories.

Some of them consist of Tom simply doing what's expected of him--protecting the homefront from vermin.  Meanwhile Jerry, who is basically a home invader out to steal food (and, let's face it, spread disease), gleefully causes the hapless feline to get beaten and tortured for his efforts.   Honestly, it's as though we're expected to despise cats with a passion in order to find these cartoons funny.

Deitch lays the anti-cat sadism on thick as the writers try to top themselves coming up with ways for poor Tom to suffer (some of his punishments here are positively medieval) while Jerry, of course--insufferable little bastard that he is--dances around gloating and basking in his own horrid "cuteness."  The cat-hate is taken to especially uncomfortable extremes whenever Tom's new owner, a surly fat guy who constantly abuses him, takes him aside for a severe beating as Jerry looks on with a smirk and gorges himself on ill-gotten food.

Fortunately, some of the later entries in the series manage to tone down the Tom-related violence a tad as the stories become a bit cleverer and even the already-passable artwork seems to improve.  "Landing Stripling" and "Calypso Cat" come closest to the classic MGM cartoon style (while still displaying the usual Deitch touches) with an old-school look and gags that are actually funny. 

In "Landing Stripling", this is helped by making Tom the clear-cut bad guy from the start so that he deserves what he gets for once (although it's clear we're being manipulated to feel that way).  The duck character here is a throwback to Yakky Doodle from the classic era although not as cute.  "Calypso Cat" finds Tom once again trying to woo a beautiful girl cat, this time aboard a luxury cruise ship, while Jerry mischievously cramps his style--leading to some genuinely funny gags.

Deitch also harkens back to earlier cartoons with the music-based "Carmen Get It!" and the fourth-wall-breaking "The Tom & Jerry Cartoon Kit", although such attempts tend to emphasize the relative awkwardness of the newer ones.  "Dicky Mo", the western "Tall in the Trap", and "Sorry Safari" suffer from Deitch's grotesque depiction of human characters, whom Hanna-Barbera generally avoided save for the occasional pair of legs.  Another above-average entry is "Buddies...Thicker Than Water", whose tale of penthouse-dwelling Jerry taking in a homeless, freezing Tom actually generates some charm.

The DVD from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment is in standard format with Dolby mono sound in English and Spanish.  The 13 cartoons are newly remastered and look very nice.  Subtitles are in English, Spanish, and French.  Extras consist of a Gene Deitch interview, "Tom and Jerry…and Gene: The Rembrandt Years", and a series retrospective entitled "Much Ado About Tom and Jerry" which spans the decades from their debut cartoon all the way to their most recent TV incarnations.

Although as a cat-lover I eventually came to find even the earlier, classic MGM "Tom and Jerry" cartoons somewhat hard to endure (feeling sorry for Tom and seething with hatred for Jerry the whole time), I still watch them from time to time simply to enjoy the sheer genius behind their creation.  As for the 13 shorts in TOM AND JERRY: THE GENE DEITCH COLLECTION, the reason I watch them is the same reason I watch Ed Wood movies or gaze at kitsch art--because some things are so interestingly bad that they instill in the viewer a curious blend of revulsion, disbelief, and perverse pleasure.


Featured Shorts:
•Switchin’ Kitten
•Down and Outing
•It’s Greek to Me-ow!
•High Steaks
•Mouse Into Space
•Landing Stripling
•Calypso Cat
•Dicky Moe
•The Tom & Jerry Cartoon Kit
•Tall in the Trap
•Sorry Safari
•Buddies Thicker Than Water
•Carmen Get It!


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Street date: June 2, 2015

TOM AND JERRY: THE GENE DEITCH COLLECTION -- DVD Review by Porfle

TOM & JERRY: SPY QUEST -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 6/19/15

 

When the evil Dr. Zim's henchcats kidnap Dr. Benton Quest and his pilot/bodyguard "Race" Bannon, along with Quest's powerful energy-generating invention, the "Q Sphere", it's up to Quest's son Jonny, his Indian friend Hadji, their dog Bandit, and new friends Tom & Jerry to find their way to Dr. Zim's volcano hideout and save the day.

That's right, Tom & Jerry, the cartoon cat-and-mouse team who've been chasing each other around our movie and TV screens since King Kong was underage.  It seems  they've been getting paired up with a series of unlikely co-stars in TV movies these days, from Sherlock Holmes to the Wizard of Oz, and in the original feature-length cartoon TOM & JERRY: SPY QUEST (2015) they inadvertently fall in with one of the most action-prone animated clans to ever grace Saturday mornings. 

"Jonny Quest" started out in primetime back in 1964 with surprisingly violent and adult-tinged adventures that we kids went crazy over.  The show seems to have been influenced by James Bond's 1962 movie debut DR. NO--the Quests' main adversary is Asian baddie Dr. Zim, who is often found hanging out in an empty volcano and doing things like toppling rockets.  In the episode "The Fraudulent Volcano" (included on this disc), a sleeping Dr. Quest is even threatened by a deadly tarantula as is Bond in his first film. 

TOM & JERRY: SPY QUEST continues this Bond vibe but with additional elements from such films as RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, CASABLANCA, and even Rob Zombie's own full-length cartoon THE HAUNTED WORLD OF EL SUPERBEASTO. The latter two are particularly evident in sexy leading lady Jade's big song-and-dance number which she performs in her nightclub, Jade's Cafe' Americain.  (Jade, it turns out, is one of Race Bannon's old girlfriends, and their breakup wasn't on good terms.)  This elaborate sequence, with MGM star Droopy putting in a droll cameo appearance, is one of the film's highlights.

The RAIDERS influence is the most obvious--the action sequences are fast and furious, packed with plane crashes, chases, hand-to-paw combat, et cetera.  Everything zips along as though the filmmakers are deathly afraid we'll doze off if things slow down for five seconds.

Of course, the juxtaposition of all this with comedy stars Tom & Jerry is sometimes just as awkward as it sounds, but there are stretches in which either the Quest bunch do their thing or Tom and Jerry go about their business as though they were back in one of their regular cartoon shorts. 

Actually, the combo isn't really all that bad once you get used to it--it's kind of like one of those Colgate Comedy Hour sketches in which Martin and Lewis are their usual wacky selves while guest stars such as Humphrey Bogart or Burt Lancaster spoof their own serious personas. 

The pre-titles segment of the movie is a separate Tom & Jerry short unto itself, with the adversarial duo getting in each other's way while hanging out at the beach.  It isn't until Jonny and Hadji show up, followed by a trio of Zim's attack cats (Tin, Pan, and Alley--get it?) in power suits, that the odd clash of sensibilities begins.  The titles themselves harken back to the original Jonny Quest show's classic opening sequence and thrilling musical theme. 

Strangely, we get the same unequal relationship between housecat Tom and the talking, uniformed bad-guy cats that exists between Disney's canine characters Goofy and Pluto.  (One of Dr. Zim's feline henchcats is even based on Dustin Hoffman's "Rain Man.") 

Dr. Zim and his gang are played for laughs more here than ever before, although the final phase of his scheme turns into a thrilling suicide attack on Washington D.C. in which his entire volcano hideout takes off and is set to crash into the White House with all of our heroes aboard.  (Dr. Quest's solution to this, involving the Washington Monument, is a bit of a stunner.)

Once again, Tom gets the brunt of the most sadistic gags--and for no apparent reason, since he's mostly just minding his own business while Jerry's being his usual insufferable, hateful little self.  One running gag has the starving Tom being constantly denied food while Jerry, of course, gets to gorge himself.  (A scene in which Jerry snatches a juicy steak right out of Tom's mouth just before he bites down on it--and then SLAPS him with it--is especially galling.) 

This is partially made up for by having Dr. Zim mistake Tom for a fearless, super-efficient action hero thanks to the hapless cat accidentally defeating Zim's henchmen during their various attacks while wearing one of their power suits.  Still, this movie only serves to increase my utter hatred for Jerry the mouse while causing me to cringe every time Tom is unfairly made the brunt of the usual sadistic and humiliating gags. 

The character design and backgrounds are eye-pleasing, with Tom and Jerry looking much like they did back in the 40s and 50s and the Quest crew rendered better than in previous reboots of the original series.  The story zips along with nary a slow spot to catch our breath, culminating in an effectively suspenseful climactic sequence that's very nicely done. 

Voice talent includes original Jonny Quest voice actor Tim Matheson (ANIMAL HOUSE, A VERY BRADY SEQUEL) as the President, James Hong (BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA) as Dr. Zim, and Tia Carrere (WAYNE'S WORLD) as femme fatale Jade. 

The DVD from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment is in matted widescreen format, with Dolby 5.1 sound and subtitles available in several languages including English, Spanish, and French.   Extras include four recent "Tom & Jerry" cartoon shorts ("Birthday Bashed", Feline Fatale", "For the Love of Ruggles", and "Sleuth or Consequences"), an episode of "The New Jonny Quest" ("Deadly Junket"), and, best of all, an episode from the classic original series entitled "The Fraudulent Volcano" which beats "You Only Live Twice" and its secret volcano bad-guy lair by several years. 

TOM & JERRY: SPY QUEST isn't nearly the mutant mess I was expecting, although funny animal comedy and hard-bitten action and intrigue being shoehorned into the same frantic film does lead to a somewhat uneasy alliance.  Still, I got a kick out of the novelty of it all and enjoyed seeing these characters given such a lavish vehicle that's worthy of their stature. 

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Street date: June 23, 2015

TOM & JERRY: SPY QUEST -- DVD Review by Porfle