While Trip for Tat is one of the weaker Sylvester and Tweety cartoons, it's not bad either, far from it.
It's biggest flaw is that there is very little original about it, most of Trip for Tat is made up of borrowed material- both in the animation and gags- from Tweety's S.O.S, Tree Cornered Tweety, Tweet Tweet Tweety and A Pizza Tweetie Pie with only about 4 bits being original(with the finger painting sequence being the most inspired) revolved around a nicely paced if formulaic story. Consequently, the cartoon felt a little pointless. Tweety doesn't have an awful lot to do and his material is a mixed bag(even his best material is nowhere near as effective as Sylvester's). And the Japanese fisherman in the Tree Cornered Tweety bridge scene is a very stereotypical character who's not very funny and may not bode well with some, while the animation in the original moments is not as colourful or as fluid as the borrowed and the cartoon lacks energy in places.
The good news though is that the borrowed animation still looks very nice, it's beautifully and colourfully drawn with simple but still attentively detailed backgrounds and the characters look good still. The Parisian, Italian, Japanese and Swiss Alps locations and landscapes look absolutely lovely and are delightful to see. Milt Franklyn's music provides the cartoon's energy and matches the action and the way the characters move brilliantly, loved the vibrant orchestration and characterful rhythms as well. The humour is predictable but still amusing, though the ending lifted out of Tree Cornered Tweety is much funnier in Tree Cornered Tweety because the American stereotype in that cartoon is more tasteful, faring best is the balcony gag borrowed from Tweet Tweet Tweety. Granny doesn't have an awful lot to do but she is a nice sassy but dotty character but Sylvester is the star here, he is very, very funny but it is easy to feel sympathy for him as well. Mel Blanc does a characteristically wonderful job and June Foray acquits herself well as well.
All in all, unoriginal and a little pointless, making it one of Sylvester and Tweety's weakest, but engaging and amusing, meaning it's still watchable. 5/10 Bethany Cox
