phantom_tollbooth
Friz Freleng's 'Canned Feud' is a wonderful solo Sylvester cartoon. I always preferred Sylvester either on his own or paired with anyone but Tweety and this is one of his finest solo performances. Warren Foster's script has the inspirational twist of making a cat and mouse cartoon where the mouse is the bad guy. Sylvester does nothing to deserve the emotional and physical pummeling he gets in 'Canned Feud' and that somehow makes the experience all the more delicious. We share in Sylvester's desperation as he finds himself locked in the house for a fortnight with only canned food to eat, only to discover that a smug mouse has taken the only can opener. Like many of Freleng's best cartoons, 'Canned Feud' is extremely high-energy. Rather than start out slightly worried and build into a frenzy as the cartoon progresses, Sylvester starts at frenzy and builds to complete mental collapse. It's a classic performance by the cat, a masterclass in the art of animated physical comedy. A few fairly standard jokes are given new life by virtue of Sylvester's crazed desperation and there are tons of brilliantly original gags too. The axehead joke is one of my all-time favourites, so beautifully simple and perfectly timed. 'Canned Feud' is a Freleng masterpiece: a hysterical, frantic, claustrophobic study of obsessive desperation and unnecessary cruelty that just pulsates with energy. Up there with Freleng classics such as 'Yankee Doodle Daffy' and 'Kit for Cat'.
tavm
Watching Friz Freling's Canned Feud, I found myself feeling very sorry for Sylvester for not getting the can opener, to open tuna, from a mean little mouse since no reason is established for his animosity. Still, its pretty funny seeing the cat trying to do nasty things back to the rodent and failing each time. And the twist at the end shows how exhausted Sylvester can get with each obstacle. So, with that in mind, I'll just say that despite the cat being more sympathetic this time around, that doesn't lessen the laughs I got from all his troubles with the mouse, the can opener, and the way things turned out in the end. Frustration can be so hilarious when one calamity builds upon another. So, on that note, I highly recommend Canned Feud.
MartinHafer
This is one of the only cartoons I can think of where you really felt sorry for Sylvester! In his movies with Tweety, he was a jerk but in this one he was just a cat trying to feed himself some cat food,...and a truly evil mouse gets in his way! Okay, let's back up a little. The cartoon starts with Sylvester noticing that the family is leaving for a vacation and they forgot about the cat. Then he realizes HE is the cat! He begins to panic but then soon finds that there are plenty of cans of cat food. Then, the evil little mouse appears,...holding the can opener!! Sylvester then spends most of the rest of the cartoon chasing the mouse and begging him for the opener. The mouse seems to be some sort of sadist and just loves making Sylvester miserable. At the end, the mouse relents and gives Sylvester the opener. And, when Sylvester goes to get a can of food, he finds that the mouse had padlocked the cabinet and he is shown playing with and taunting Sylvester with the key! I think I liked this cartoon so much because it had a really dark sense of humor--making you really feel terrible for the poor cat! It made me laugh out loud many times throughout the cartoon.
movieman_kev
Sylvester the Cat is left alone in his house all by his lonesome by his neglectful owners who lock him in with nothing to eat or drink. He finds a stash of canned tuna, but a deviant mouse has stolen the can opener and holds it just out of his reach, needlessly tormenting him. This is a somewhat amusing shot, but the mouse is just being a dick for the sake of being a dick which kind of tainted the overall feel of the short a tad. This animated short can be found on disc 4 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 1 and features an optional commentary by Jerry Beck.My Grade: B
AD
