Puss ‘n Toots is a 1942 animated short which is the sixth in Tom and Jerry filmography. And although very disappointing in its conclusion, it is still great up to that point.
Mammy gets a new female cat and Tom is instantly infatuated by her and tries to impress her. But he gets in a chase with Jerry instead. Now, this is an interesting example of a newly introduced character but done for better and for worse. Spike was introduced much better in ‘Dog Trouble‘. Toots is here a flawed character, cute and interesting for Tom, but still she ended up being underused unfortunately. That is most evident in the ending where she just doesn’t get to do anything and even doesn’t add anything to the table.
But the two are on the other hand great. This is probably the most violent short yet as the two really hit it on with some very hard punches and gags thrown in. And that was great as it was very funny but also a great exchange as both got a lot with Tom of course getting the most at the end. It also starts off pretty well and some action moments here are superb and quite memorable. The highlights were Jerry’s facial expressions in the first half and his signature walk in the end. The humor is good as is the animation and of course the music. It is just uneven a bit at times and, as for that racist scene, it is bad, but I forgive it as it was the forties.
Puss ‘n Toots is very uneven at times with a disappointing ending and underused character of Toots, but everything else here is superb including the chase sequences between the two, some very memorable moments and it is also the most violent short yet which is great.
Puss ‘n Toots Review
