The Jet Cage

The Jet Cage is one of the last Sylvester & Tweety shorts from the classic era of Looney Tunes. It is the final one directed by Friz Freleng, who directed more of their adventures together than anybody. It's also the short composer Milt Franklyn was working on when he died. Franklyn, along with Carl Stalling, was an unsung hero who helped make Looney Tunes cartoons so good with quality scores befitting a theatrically-released short. To finish out this cartoon, WB turned to Bill Lava. The less said about his work the better but you can watch this and compare the contrasting styles of old & new.

The short itself is nothing special with a story that's a little dumb, to be honest. Tweety laments being able to go outside and fly around with the other birds while Sylvester hungrily peers in from the window, waiting for his umpteenth chance to eat the little bird. Granny reads in the paper about a jet-powered bird cage that allows birds to fly around outside safely (see what I mean about dumb). So with his new bird cage (purchased at a cost of $12.95), Tweety zooms around like an airplane and Sylvester fails repeatedly to catch him. The gags aren't that funny but Mel Blanc does great voice work, as usual. The animation is colorful and bright with some nicely-drawn backgrounds. I disagree with another reviewer who says this is the worst Sylvester & Tweety short but I do think it is near the bottom. The series would end after one more lackluster effort, made two years after this.

Lackluster entry in the Tweety-Sylvester series has Tweety given flight by using a jet-propelled bird cage that Granny has bought for him. The jokes don't seem to work very well here, as Sylvester's largely silent performance makes this more of a Road-Runner movie. Mel Blanc's voicing seems off here, more of a high-pitched cross between Elmer Fudd and Bugs Bunny than Tweety's usual innocent malignity, and Sylvester sounds a lot drier than usual.

Sensing her little Tweety Pie longs to fly with the other birds, Granny buys a jet cage that allows Tweety to fly inside his new cage. Seeing his prey out of the house for the first time in ages, Sylvester plots to capture the bird for his supper –even if it means taking to the sky to get him.

From director Freleng I had reasonable hopes for this film and it did well to take the time honoured battle between Tweety and Sylvester and make it still feel quite fresh and funny. Tweety Pie is not my favourite character but I still enjoyed this short. It had touches of imagination and the basic jokes were delivered in such a way that I still was amused by them.

Minor characters deliver the odd line and the end result is the same old material, altered slightly by the plot device of the flying cage. If you like the material then you'll like this short. I'm not a big fan but still found enough to laugh about and enjoy.

Overall, yet another amusing entry in the series, this time altered by another different plot device. Fun but not anything you haven't seen before.

...Not so much because of anything going on in the short itself, but because of what was going on behind the scenes. As you may know, composer Milt Franklyn died while scoring this short, and an uncredited Bill Lava had to step in to finish the remaining three and a half minutes. Franklyn is one of my favorite cartoon composers, so it's a shame that we never got to hear how he might have filled out the rest of the short. Instead, we have to listen to the unpleasant dings and dissonant "melodies" of Lava's work, which sharply contrasts with Franklyn's pleasing compositions in the first couple minutes. It's like he didn't even try to imitate Franklyn.

That trivia aside, it's kinda mediocre anyway, with few standout gags (only exception being Tweety tricking Sylvester into letting go of his flying handles). But a good score might have elevated the proceedings, which Franklyn had a great talent for. Unfortunately, Lava just made an OK cartoon worse.

This Is One Of My Favorite Tweety Cartoon where Granny Is Ordering a Flying Bird Cage For Tweety Bird To Fly Around In His Backyard without Leaving His Cage after Sylvester Sees Tweety Bird from a Window. Then Tweety Bird Gets His Crash Helmet On And Despite Braking the Chandelier But Tweety Asking The Bad Ol Putty Tat How Do You Like My New Cage Then Takes Off Sylvester Climbs up the Tree With a Butterfly Net Trying To Catch That Canary Then Sylvester Bumps into The Phone Pole. When Tweety Goes Back Down and Gets The Instructions Sylvester Sneaks In To The Flying Bird Cage To Catch Tweety Then The Flying Bird Cage Drops Sylvester.