Gatito Enamorado

If, like me, you've been working through Tom and Jerry's filmography in chronological order, Smitten Kitten will most likely prove a tedious watch (despite the rather fun opening that sees Jerry wrestling with his conscience in the form of a devilish green mouse): this is because the cartoon features a T&J plot device that has already been done to death—Tom falling for a sexy female cat—and uses the dreaded clip show format, with the majority of the action consisting of bits cobbled together from earlier episodes.

While the quality of the clips chosen is reasonable enough, the familiar theme and lazy format qualify this as one of the weakest T&J efforts so far.

Jerry makes paper dolls out of Tom's cat, so when Tom runs after him and is about to do the same to him with a pair scissors, he spots a pretty cat next door and is stopped dead in his track. Jerry frowns when he sees Tom go over to the girl and suddenly a green little devil pops out and tells Jerry: "Every time he (Tom) sees a dame, he falls in love. Every time he falls in love it means trouble for you. Remember the time......"

And here we go: nothing but flashbacks, meaning clips from past Tom and Jerry cartoons, all of which Tom fell for some good-looking feline.

In other words, this is like a rerun. No original material except for that short beginning. As another reviewer says, this is a disgrace and just represents total laziness on the part of the writers. Apparently they saw this as an easy way out, not having to come up with some new ideas.

For anyone who hasn't seen a lot of Tom and Jerry cartoons this one is great, because there are a lot of very funny gags in it, but for those (of us) who are familiar with many of the old T&J 'toons, this is a waste.

Tom is in love again, and the little mouse-devil is encouraging Jerry to break it up by reminding him of previous times when Tom was smitten. Another clip show but the clips are good and so are the links.

As Tom the cat makes time with his girl a green devil reminds Jerry about Tom's past history with girl cats in flashback form. This animated short can be found on disc 2 of Warner Brother's 2-DVD Spotlight Collection set which in my eyes is somewhat of a disappointment, especially since 3 of the 4 shorts that it takes clips from are actually on the same set. Why didn't the powers that be just include "the Mouse comes to Dinner" in lieu of this one?? It would have made much more sense. Plus I just detest clip shows. It's just plain reeks of laziness on the animators and writer's part.

My Grade: D

Have always loved Tom and Jerry. Have vivid and fond memories of seeing all of their cartoons, with the classic ones (the Hanna Barbera years, the best of which among the best cartoons ever made) being watched over and over, at my sister's late godfather's house at the age of six and have been a huge fan since.

Despite liking 'Smitten Kitten' more than most of the previous reviewers, it really isn't one of the best Tom and Jerry cartoons and one does question the point of it. It is better than the two modern theatrical shorts 'The Mansion Cat' and 'The Karate Guard', the worst of Chuck Jones' hit and miss output and all of the Gene Deitch cartoons (all but about two or three being abominable). On the other hand it is down there in the lesser half of Tom and Jerry's theatrical short cartoons, the 1940s and 1950s output saw a lot of classics and sadly 'Smitten Kitten' isn't one of them.

Being essentially a clip show, 'Smitten Kitten' does fare better than most with the quality of the footage being excellent. The footage, told in flashbacks, includes highlights from 'Springtime for Thomas', 'Salt Water Tabby', 'The Mouse Comes to Dinner', 'Texas Tom' and 'Solid Serenade'. The 'Texas Tom' one was rather pointless, but the rest were cleverly inserted, well animated and scored with some genuinely hilarious and sweet moments.

As ever with classic Tom and Jerry, the animation is beautiful to watch. Love the colours which are all smooth and vibrant, the gorgeously detailed backgrounds and all the characters are very well drawn. The music, courtesy of Scott Bradley, is lushly and cleverly orchestrated, with lively and energetic rhythms, not only fitting perfectly but enhancing the action.

Tom is one of those funny and crafty characters that one feels sorry for while Jerry is deceptively cute but remarkably cunning. The devil/conscience character is a lot of fun while Paul Frees' voice work helps quite a bit.

On the other hand, the linking story is fairly entertaining, thanks to the devil/conscience character, but is also pretty thin and predictable and is to my liking is featured a little too much in a cartoon where one remembers the footage more. 'Smitten Kitten' is mainly an excuse really to cobble together flashbacks/footage from much better cartoons, which does make one question the point of the cartoon's existence and cheapens the quality.

Quality is also inferior in the linking sections. The animation isn't as vibrant or as refined and there's not much funny or sweet in these sections. All the charms, quality and fun of the cartoon are in the footage/flashbacks scenes, although the beginning sets things up nicely and the ending is pretty clever.

In conclusion, above average but not completely smitten. 6/10 Bethany Cox