Animated Atrocities: Slicked Up Pup

Show: Tom and Jerry
Episode: N/A
Year: 1951

Writer(s): Will Hanna, Joe Barbera


Yeah, it was only a matter of time before I had to rip into the classic Tom and Jerry shorts; what surprises me is it wasn't "The Two Mouseketeers" that was first on my guillotine! Imma level with y'all, it doesn't take a lot to trigger me, mainly noise. I'm a lot more sensitive to audio than I am to say visuals so things like grossout and bad animation have to REALLY be bad to get up in my bad side! You're talking to someone who has seen every episode of The Problem Solverz with no ill effects to his vision! I mean I get why people hated this show so much, but compared to other bad cartoons of the era it wasn't THAT bad despite being utter nonsense with the color sense of the 1960s.


I normally don't like doing reviews like this, especially going into shorts where barely anything happens as it is; with Tom and Jerry what you see is what you get, end of story. They're very fluid characters that can be put into just about any scenario that can use their formula, but it's all really basic which is why they've been able to be forced into so many direct-to-video movies. But that's neither here nor there I wanna talk to you about how Tom and Jerry itself kinda falls flat when it can't even manage its own simple formula.


Y'know Spike the Bulldog? Remember how I said he was a better version of Clint Clobber from the Gene Deitch shorts? Well that was before he had Tyke. In shorts such as "Quiet Please!" and "Solid Serenade" He's a neutral 3rd wheel to the conflict where he's either a guard dog Tom has to avoid waking up or worse case scenario Jerry's personal bodyguard. Little trivia: dogs are actually more prone to killing rodents than even cats! It isn't so strange to see a dog mauling a squirrel or a mouse! So these shorts where he seems to randomly take Jerry's side for no reason beyond Tom being a cat and all, with NO PROOF Tom did anything to earn his ill-will are pretty bad. It's clear that Will and Joe always intended for Tom to be the antagonist 100% of the time, but about half that time Jerry is the one who starts shit!


Honestly I've never really been that big a fan of Tom and Jerry. I mean yeah there's shorts I like such as "Johann Mouse" and all, but compared to the Looney Tunes it just didn't grab me like it should've. I love slapstick humor, but in the realm of cat and mouse I thought Herman and Katnip did it better since those shorts always knew to keep us on Herman's side. In this particular short Tom is just trying to keep Tyke clean so Spike won't "tear him limb from limb" just because of an accident. Why am I supposed to side with Jerry for getting Tom in trouble? Because he's cute? I don't think so. If some little rat kept getting my kid dirty I'd stomp his ass! And of course Tom is so desperate to avoid getting maimed by Spike he dreses Tyke up as a chicken to avoid death... it's actually kinda pathetic and not in a funny way and I'll discuss now:


As you may have guessed the above ending gag kinda... well... triggered me... as roosters are one to do. How bad? Well: youtu.be/sHrY_jjwK9c


Yeah yeah... I'm pathetic for letting this bird get to me... but I can't fucking help it! It's either rage and turn them into my dinner or become a bawling mess, sometimes a combo of the two. But this of course is not the lone reason I failed this short, it's the tediousness and aggravation of it all. You remember the SpongeBob episode Picture Day? The one where he tried to keep clean for picture day? Yeah, imagine that if Patrick was ACTIVELY trying to keep him dirty to hurt him. The reason that episode succeeded is because the ending gag was a decent payoff despite the crying and predictability. Tom doesn't deserve this, but beyond that it's just very poorly played out. The 1950s was where Tom and Jerry kinda hit the boundaries of how far it could go, and by the later half of the decade they barely even fought (those babysitter shorts are then fucking worst!)


Cringe-Inducing Audio: 3
Cringe-Inducing Visuals: 0
Lackluster Writing: 5
Amnoyance: 7
Disturbing Content: 0
Unnecessary Cruelty: 4
Rancid Morality: 0
Low Production Values: 2
Unfortunate Implications: 0
Charcater Derailment: 0

Final Score: 21/100


Tom and Jerry is owned by Warner Brothers and Turner Broadcasting.

Animated Atrocities is from

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