Mouse Cleaning Review

Mouse Cleaning is a 1948 animated short which is the 38th Tom and Jerry entry. It is a weaker entry that is still good, but awfully flawed.

I found this film to be very flawed and problematic. But first let’s talk about the good things here. Mammy goes outside and orders Tom to keep the house clean, but of course Jerry is there to ruin everything. I liked some of the action here as you really root for Tom to make it. Also, the ending is fun despite its flaws. The film is fast paced and filled with action, but never boring which is great. Some of the moments were legitimately new and interesting and they used this premise wonderfully for the most part. It is decidedly old-fashioned and similar to the earliest Tom and Jerry entries for better and for worse.

Yes, that means that some of the action is typical and quite expected. And that also means that Jerry is too brutal and Tom gets punished in such a harsh way which I thought was too much and unnecessary. Also, the ending was very racist, even more so this time than ever before. Due to all of that, this is one of the weaker shorts of the time, but still a good film that has its strengths.