In the world of animated shorts, there have been many storied rivalries: Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd, Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, Popeye and Bluto, the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote, to name a few. While each of these hold a certain place in my heart, there's one that stands above them all: Tom and Jerry. Their violence was unrivaled until they became parodied on The Simpsons by another cat and mouse duo, Itchy and Scratchy.

Although he was one of the animation industry's biggest names, Chuck Jones found himself out of work in the early 60s after parting ways with Warner Brothers Animation and the Looney Tunes stable after more than three decades with the company. Having formed his own studio, Jones ushered in a new era for Tom and Jerry, creating 34 theatrical shorts between 1963 and 1967 alongside his business partner Les Goldman. They are collected together for the first time in their original widescreen format in Tom and Jerry: The Chuck Jones Collection.

When he took over the handling of the animal duo, Jones gave the pair a slight makeover making them look more Chuck Jones-y. I've always noticed his love for thick lines and a somewhat exaggerated yet realistic background style. The tone is also somewhat different from earlier incarnations as the chasing and ensuing violence is more slapstick than it is just plain brutal.

Although I get a kick out of the Road Runner cartoons and their comic violence, most of the shorts could easily blend together as you've got the coyote trying again and again to catch his prey only to fail miserably and have his outlandish stunts pulled against him. Like the crotch shots shown at least five times in every episode of America's Funniest Videos, Wile E. Coyote plummeting to his doom off a cliff never gets tiring. The beauty of Tom and Jerry is that the settings change constantly and so to do the gags and the violence. Sure, Tom gets a rake in the head many, many times but there's a freshness about these cartoons. Another reason for this is that the cat and mouse are after each other instead of the one-sided coyote-intiated chases. Sometimes Tom stands in the way of what Jerry wants, other times Tom just wants to chase after his smaller enemy. Both get their licks in and both take some punishment. At their best, Tom and Jerry embraces chaos and animated anarchy.

I found Jones' take on Tom and Jerry to be a little less chaotic and somewhat more sensitive. While not watered down to the point that the latest cartoons featuring the two are, there's definitely not the same intensity or unpredictability that were in earlier Tom and Jerry cartoons. In this collection, the smarter Jerry almost always seems to get the best of Tom, who is driven largely by emotion. These shorts are still a lot of fun but I definitely hold the slower pace to a lower notch than the Tom and Jerry I remember most fondly where tails would be cut up, bodies would smash and seemingly every grotesque thing you could think of would happen to one, the other or both.

So while the classic rivalry between Tom and Jerry continues under the guidance of a new creator, it's a step down from the shorts I remember most fondly. That being said, Jones sticks to a lot of the essence of what I saw in the two and that's chasing, plotting and deviant violence without much provocation.

DVD Features

Tom and Jerry: The Chuck Jones Collection contains all 34 of Jones' theatrical shorts with the animated pair. The two-disc set also marks the first time the cartoons have been released on DVD in their original widescreen format. The cartoons themselves are gorgeous. The colors are bright and vibrant with very few signs of dirt or scratches. Audio is in English mono - although the cartoons largely speak the universal language of wordless music.

Two excellent featurettes are also included. "Tom and Jerry...and Chuck" takes an honest look at Jones' involvement with the franchise. "Chuck Jones: Memories of a Childhood" is a largely animated look at Jones as told by the man himself, largely with rough cartoons.

While these cartoons may not mark the highpoint in the Tom and Jerry franchise, they're certainly not as bad as what they'd become afterward. The presentation is excellent and the cartoons are good in their own right, just not the same classic chaos seen in earlier years.

Buy the DVD.

©Movie Views; June 28, 2009