The Missing Mouse (1953)

The Missing Mouse Review

The Missing Mouse is a 1953 animated short that is the 73rd Tom and Jerry cartoon. It is a very good, very well crafted work.

I really enjoyed The Missing Mouse. It is actually the best Tom and Jerry short in a while and such a great way to open the year of 1953. The white mouse escaped from a lab and it has an explosive in it. Jerry, painted white by mistake, wants to use this development to fool the cat. This is a traditional, but very well crafted storyline that benefits from great pacing and excellent humor.

Tom is fantastic here as is Jerry who is surprisingly really funny in some scenes. The action is very repetitive in the second act, but it is great in other scenes with some being pretty inventive. Tom’s aging sequence is hilarious. I also loved that ending with that funny Tom’s line being one of the most memorable lines in the whole series. The music is not composed but Scott Bradley here, but instead by Edward Plumb. And although unusual at first, I overall liked it. The same cannot be said for the sound effects which are pretty weak this time around. But those are minor flaws in an otherwise very good entry.

The Missing Mouse has its problems, but it is mostly an entertaining and funny short with a great story, some inventive action and some highly memorable moments.

My Rating – 4.2