The Night Before Christmas

This early Tom and Jerry cartoon can be excused if it is overly cute-over-comedy in subject matter. Hey, it's the Christmas season and this cartoon reflects that in an old-fashioned, nice way.

Apparently, this is Jerry's first Christmas because he's amazed to see Christmas tree ornaments, candy canes and stuff animals and other presents under the tree.

This does have the usual chase scene, but isn't that long and the film ends on a very touching sentimental note the last few minutes.

As others have said, this is about as nice as Christmas cartoon as you're ever going to find. At the beginning, I thought this might be nothing but it's such a feel-good Tom & Jerry that it's very, very worthy of being in anyone's collection.

This short is reasonably good, has good background art and detail work and is a staple on The Cartoon Network around the holidays. It has to be the cutest Tom and Jerry that I've seen. It almost becomes a little too cute in spots, but just hits the right grace notes at the end. Tom and Jerry were still new as characters and were just beginning to develop as characters. Traces of what they would become are shown here and there. Not a great Tom and Jerry cartoon, but entertaining and a good Christmas cartoon. Recommended.

The Night Before Christmas (1941)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

One of the best of the early Tom and Jerry cartoon shorts. It's Christmas night and Jerry is under the tree play with the various gifts left by Santa. Soon he starts jumping on Tom thinking he's a gift and soon the two are back to their fighting ways. The third short in the series has all the classic chases that you'd expect from the series but it also has a bit more heart since this was released around the holidays. The animation is really what stands out here and especially how colorful it was. The scene under the tree are especially beautiful looking and we also get some nice laughs once the fighting starts. The ending is quite nice as the two make up and play nice for once.

This cartoon, from early on in the evolution of Tom and Jerry, isn't quite as polished as later efforts, but it's definitely one of my favourite episodes, thanks to the fact that the BBC showed it practically every Christmas Eve as I was growing up.

It's the night before Christmas, and Jerry sneaks out of his hole to play with the presents under the tree. Tom, awakened by the cheeky rodent's fun and games, tries to stop him and chaos ensues.

Perfect Xmas entertainment for the whole family, this one is full of seasonal spirit and goodwill and ends up with the cat and mouse reconciling their differences for Christmas.

I am a big fan of Tom and Jerry and I love Christmas-themed cartoons/films, so this a match made in heaven I thought. And I was right, I loved The Night Before Christmas, it has everything a Tom and Jerry cartoon should have. Plus it is heartwarming, funny and charming.

The animation is beautiful, the backgrounds are fluid, the colours look really nice and the characters are drawn well, even Tom who looks quite cute. The music is also sweet, the sight gags are funny, the story packs an emotional punch for me especially at the end, which is one of my favourite Tom and Jerry endings and both Tom and Jerry are wonderful to watch and very likable.

Overall, for any Tom and Jerry fan, this is a must watch. 10/10 Bethany Cox