- Masters of the chase: Tom, Jerry.and Chuck. 34 hilarious animated shorts lovingly remastered!Theic cartoon chase involving forever frustrated feline Tom and mightily mobile mouse Jerry spun in new and deliciously inventive ways when animation legend Chuck Jones set up shop at the team’s home studio and produced the 34 wonderful shorts in this Deluxe 2-Disc Collection. Tom got furrier cheeks a
Product Description
Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 06/23/2009 Run time: 216 minutes Rating: Nr… More >>
Tom and Jerry: The Chuck Jones Collection
Tags: animated shorts, Chuck, chuck jones, Collection, disc collection, home video release, Jerry, Jones, run time, tom and jerry, tom jerry, warner home video
#1 by Howard Thomson on April 20, 2010 - 7:56 am
These cartoons are typical of the later style of Chuck Jones’ animation style; lazy, derivitive and self-plagiarizing. Has anyone else noticed how similar his works were to each other?? Be it the Grinch, Tom & Jerry or the later incarnations of the iconic Bugs Bunny, they ALL begin to look like each other!! The eyes especially betray the character’s similiarity. If visual evidence was ever required to demonstrate how Chuck Jones’ glory days were far behind him, this is your answer. My recommendation: Avoid these dismal works, and lobby for the release of the earlier, less PC, versions of the classic Tom & Jerry!
Rating: 1 / 5
#2 by TomH1138 on April 20, 2010 - 9:20 am
Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice of Warner’s to make these cartoons available, and I’m glad they didn’t waste space on the classic sets with these cartoons. But that doesn’t change the fact that these are largely inferior to the Hanna-Barbera theatrical Tom & Jerry cartoons.
Even though Chuck Jones was a genius in working with the Road Runner & Wile E. Coyote, Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and others, for some reason he is completely out of his element here. The animation is lovely as always, but the timing and pacing are all off, the drawing is too cutesy, and the violence (what there is of it) just doesn’t play right as a result.
This is a worthwhile set for animation historians and Tom and Jerry completists. For those just wanting to have a good laugh with their families, stick to the original H-B theatricals.
Rating: 2 / 5
#3 by Peter Leeson on April 20, 2010 - 11:42 am
Although it could be argued that the sixties didn’t exactly hit a high water mark in terms of animation of classic cartoon characters like Tom and Jerry, Bugs, Mickey Mouse, etc., MGM’s decision to entrust the creative direction of T&J to the legendary Chuck Jones was inspired. When “classic” T&J shorts from the 40’s play on TV, I find them to be visually impressive but not terribly funny.
Chuck Jones, operating with limited technical budgets in the 60’s, understood the limitations of his animation and put more of an emphasis on characterizations and movement of his characters–to great comedic effect. Note the small things–from Tom’s frequent double takes, to “breaking the 3rd wall” and staring directly at the camera–to the way he will kind of stutter step when rounding a curve at high speeds. Just little bits of comedy business that work beautifully. Glad to see these shorts now available on DVD. I will buy!
Rating: 4 / 5
#4 by Michael Kerner on April 20, 2010 - 12:38 pm
There is no question about the successful influence that Hanna-Barbera had made with the Tom & Jerry cartoons, and the testiments of time they still have on today’s animation. But, back in the 60’s, someone very classic had taken the gamble of being with M.G.M. for the success of making Tom & Jerry come alive, the legendary Chuck Jones. At the time, with all the success he had working with Warner Brothers, there was a financial problem that came up, with them selling their legendary Termite Terrace studios, where Chuck, Friz Freleng and company had made great Warner Brothers Looney Tunes with Bugs Bunny, Foghorn Leghorn, and the Road Runner, it meant the end of the animation era. Unlike the others who’d stuck with staying, Chuck Jones and his team headed to M.G.M. Now, the success they had with their Tom & Jerry era is finally available on DVD.
Tom & Jerry: The Chuck Jones Collection, is a 2 disc DVD collection that reflects all of the cartoons that Chuck Jones produced, and took part in on direction with his leads like Abe Levitow, story writer Michael Maltese, and Maurice Noble. The collection features all the shorts that Jones and his team had created from their Tom & Jerry M.G.M. era from 1963-1968. The shorts have all been remastered well, and are a great trip down memory lane. While they aren’t as definitive in Oscars, as was the case with the Hanna-Barbera era, Jones and company had made classics of their own. There are some great ones here like Cat & Duplicat where Tom catches Jerry on a ship in the moonlight, only to not recognize another cat demands Jerry from him, in a quest to see whom shall be able to claim Jerry as his own, Duel Personality, where Jerry challenges Tom to a old-fashioned duel in the meadow, after being fed up with Tom chasing him with a ball and chain medevil weapon. Little do they know as they duel, they both cancel each other out by being equal in sword fighting, cannons, and bow and arrows, and The Mouse From Hunger, where Jerry takes on a 007-style mission to capture cheese from a sneeky Tom whom deals with Jerry in a diabolical way, and Matinee Mouse where Tom & Jerry truce, and go to the movies where they watch themselves duke each other out, in a retrospective from the classic Hanna-Barbera shorts.
There are a few extras here as well, reflecting on the late Chuck Jones perspective on his days working with M.G.M. The documentary is very scentimental to watch, and is a treat for die hard fansof Chuck jones legendary career. Sadly though, there are a few disadvantages with the DVD set. While I love the idea that the Tom & Jerry shorts are highlighted here, I honestly was also hoping that there could’ve been a few added bonuses on this set as well, some of the other great shorts that Jones had worked on with M.G.M. could’ve been highlighted here too like his classic gems The Dot & The Line, and his clever skit The Bear That Wasn’t. These treasures could’ve been added here to showcase that Chuck Jones was just more here, and what he had brought into the M.G.M. library.
All in all, for hard core Tom & Jerry fans, Tom & Jerry: The Chuck Jones Collection is a treat that still shows just the innovation that Chuck Jones had made is still just as fun to watch today, as it was when he made these gems years ago. If you haven’t experienced any of Chuck Jones works with M.G.M., than this would be a good place to start. While Chuck Jones era with Tom & Jerry wasn’t as strong as the classic Hanna-Barbera days, they still are a reminder of what a memory we’ve lost when Chuck died back in 2002. While Tom hasn’t completely caught Jerry yet, the fun of the final classic Tom & Jerry days from M.G.M. are well-documented here.
Cartoons: B 1/2-
Price: B-
Extras: B-
Remastering: B+
Overall: B-
Rating: 4 / 5
#5 by BloodyChamp on April 20, 2010 - 2:28 pm
This is a set of the most criminally underrated and unappreciated animation out there, in my opinion. The director whose name is on the cover of this set alongside Tom and Jerry doesn’t even think highly of these cartoons. His opinions had to do with personal issues of his own though, and while I definitely respect the opinion of the man who resurrected Tom and Jerry in 1963, I cannot say that his opinion alone does these cartoons justice. I’m not alone when I say that. The cartoons have their own DVD set! Anyway, Chuck Jones compared these cartoons to some of his other cartoons at Warner Brothers, which happen to be the best cartoons ever made, to many people. He just didn’t think they were that good. He also babied Warner Brothers a little bit as he got older and looked back at his career. He did work at MGM but the Warner Brothers studio was his home and his face was Warner Brother’s goodwill ambassador in way until his death.
Now as for the cartoons, the moving pictures, the cat and the mouse, they were classic Chuck Jones cartoons in my opinion, and they beat every Roadruner/Coyote cartoon out there (Chuck also said that he felt these cartoons ripped off the Roadrunner and Coyote). They are very funny cartoons. There are creative gags, such as the bulldog’s hilarious movement in “The Cat’s Me-Ouch” and “Purr-Chance to Dream.” The bulldog in this character is also extremely odd, yet he is absolutely adorable, and of course funny! Nothing much that Chuck Jones did was ever really “normal,” but that was gift he had, not a handicap. There are also some pretty straight forward cartoonish gags in many cartoons with enough violence and loud noises for our fix of that. There are gags that are just plain silly, such as the duo being involved in a chase in “Ah, Sweet Mouse Story of Life,” where they don’t run after each other but dance after each other
Then there are details and moments that exemplify Chuck Jone’s work…the creepiness, the spookiness and sophistication of it all. “Haunted Mouse” is straight out of the twilight zone. The stare down with “evil” Tom laughing maniacally (more scary than the Grinch who Jones directed), until he is frightened by “magic” Jerry because he is suddenly unphased by Tom is Chuck Jones perfection. This cartoon is right up there with his most respected work at Warner Brothers and Dr Seuss. It might be my favorite Chuck Jones Tom and Jerry cartoon but it also might not even be! I don’t *think* I’ve seen them all and if I have, I definitely don’t have all of the titles organized in my head.
Arranging all of these cartoons in your head is impossible to me. I could probably recall 34 normal cartoons but not these. They all feel like movies. They open with MGM’s Lions roar, have fantastic animated musical intros, and fade in to the real cartoon, much like a movie would with it’s story. They are absolutely epic. The animation is beautiful. Even the rough critic of the Chuck Jones Tom and Jerry cartoons will tell you that the 2 never looked better. They had much more defined figures and their faces look elegant, yet they didn’t lose their cartoon nature. They didn’t even “lose” to the editors, who hacked previous Tom and Jerry sets to pieces. All of these cartoons are presented in their original format. Do yourself a favor and DO NOT listen to ANYONE who trashes this set! It is a must have for many cartoon fans and an absolute lifeline for Chuck Jones fans……woosh!
Rating: 5 / 5