Baby Butch (1954)
Baby Butch Review
Baby Butch is a 1954 animated short that is the 84th Tom and Jerry cartoon. It is a very weak, slight entry that is one of the worst in years.
Baby Butch isn’t bad as it has its strengths mainly the friendly pairing between Tom and Jerry and a somewhat different storyline. However, everything else here falls apart as unfortunately those two aren’t that well realized and their companionship should have been more emphasized in a plot like this.
Another problem is Butch who is frankly annoying in this one. The entire baby behavior is off-putting, but he was just too boring as his scenes were awfully repetitive. And the worst of all has to be that ending. Wow, rarely have I seen such a weak Tom and Jerry ending where you have a weak gag instead of making it all about the cat and mouse. Such a missed opportunity. This is easily one of the worst entries in the series in quite a while.
An alley cat is foraging for food when he sees Tom’s house and decides it’s a rich haul. He dresses as a foundling baby and lands on the doorstep. Tom takes him in and Butch proceeds to raid the fridge between Tom’s babying him. What he doesn’t know is that Jerry’s going to grab the ham Butch swiped every chance he gets.