Michael_Elliott
The Night Before Christmas (1941) *** 1/2 (out of 4) One of the best of the early Tom and Jerry cartoon shorts. It's Christmas night and Jerry is under the tree play with the various gifts left by Santa. Soon he starts jumping on Tom thinking he's a gift and soon the two are back to their fighting ways. The third short in the series has all the classic chases that you'd expect from the series but it also has a bit more heart since this was released around the holidays. The animation is really what stands out here and especially how colorful it was. The scene under the tree are especially beautiful looking and we also get some nice laughs once the fighting starts. The ending is quite nice as the two make up and play nice for once.
MartinHafer
Since this was only the third Tom & Jerry cartoon, you can be sure of one thing--exquisite animation. In the early 1940s, MGM suddenly began making the most artistic animated shorts around--even nicer looking than Disney or Looney Tunes. In particular, the backgrounds are delightful works of art. While the Tom & Jerry cartoons remained well animated into the early 1950s, the quality then rapidly went downhill. Now I am not saying the early ones were always the funniest (sometimes they were, sometimes they weren't) but they were so beautiful that even today they stand out as high points in the history of animation.In "The Night Before Christmas", Tom and Jerry naturally are fighting with Christmas ornaments and decorations strewn about the house. They also interact using the children's' toys--such as the train set and boxing gloves. What follows is mostly predictable--with lots of bonking and kicking. However, a holiday-infused schmaltzy ending follows. While it's not too bad, I personally wanted more bonking! Still, with such lovely animation, it's no wonder this one was Oscar-nominated.
TheLittleSongbird
I am a big fan of Tom and Jerry and I love Christmas-themed cartoons/films, so this a match made in heaven I thought. And I was right, I loved The Night Before Christmas, it has everything a Tom and Jerry cartoon should have. Plus it is heartwarming, funny and charming.The animation is beautiful, the backgrounds are fluid, the colours look really nice and the characters are drawn well, even Tom who looks quite cute. The music is also sweet, the sight gags are funny, the story packs an emotional punch for me especially at the end, which is one of my favourite Tom and Jerry endings and both Tom and Jerry are wonderful to watch and very likable.Overall, for any Tom and Jerry fan, this is a must watch. 10/10 Bethany Cox
ccthemovieman-1
This early Tom and Jerry cartoon can be excused if it is overly cute-over-comedy in subject matter. Hey, it's the Christmas season and this cartoon reflects that in an old-fashioned, nice way.Apparently, this is Jerry's first Christmas because he's amazed to see Christmas tree ornaments, candy canes and stuff animals and other presents under the tree.This does have the usual chase scene, but isn't that long and the film ends on a very touching sentimental note the last few minutes.As others have said, this is about as nice as Christmas cartoon as you're ever going to find. At the beginning, I thought this might be nothing but it's such a feel-good Tom & Jerry that it's very, very worthy of being in anyone's collection.
AD
