Tweekums
As this short opens Jerry is tied up with a ribbon; we quickly learn why when Tom presents him to a lady cat.... she is unimpressed though and rejects his advances. Tom then hears a radio advert for Zoot suits and decides to make his own. The lady cat clearly thinks it is pretty sharp as this time he gets invited in. Tom starts dancing with her but Jerry is determined to spoil it for him; he throws a banana skin and Tom goes flying lands on the piano. This doesn't spoil his date though; he just recovers and starts playing it. Jerry continues his efforts though and eventually Tom loses his cool and ultimately his suit.This is a rather unusual Tom and Jerry short as the two usually silent characters talk and to be honest the voices didn't really fit the characters for me even though the somewhat dated jive talk was pretty funny. As always there is a fair amount of violence; some of it inventive some of it just cruel. While this isn't one of my favourite Tom and Jerry shorts it is still well worth watching; mostly for the jive talk; particularly the lady cat's rejection speech delivered to Tom at the start.
BA_Harrison
The Zoot Cat might have seemed incredibly 'hip' at the time of its original release, with it's jazz slang and cutting-edge sub-culture fashion, but it now feels embarrassingly dated; yet this 'snapshot of a time gone by' also goes to make this a rather intriguing episode. It's hard for me, as an Englishman born in the late 60s, to imagine an era in the US in which such strange attire and language could have been seen as 'dangerously' cool, but here it is, perfectly captured in a Tom and Jerry cartoon and seeing is believing, as they say!Tom wishes to impress a young lady cat, but she perceives him to be 'square'. To remedy the situation, Tom cuts himself a sharp 'zoot suit' from a hammock, makes himself a wide brimmed hat, and dances swing-style to the latest beats. Of course, Jerry does his utmost to ruin Tom's chances of success.Not only is this a historically interesting T&J caper, but it is also one in which the usually rather silent cat and mouse do a lot of talkingalbeit in a manner that proves to be unintelligible a lot of the time, thanks to the often indecipherable 40s phrases spoken by the characters. Unfortunately, whilst this episode is noteworthy for it's peculiarities, it isn't that funny.The Zoot Cat will be of most interest to those who have a passion for the music and style of the decade in which it was made; the rest of us will probably be rather unimpressed.
movieman_kev
Tom the cat tries to impress a girl cat by giving her Jerry the mouse and singing her a song. But she rebukes him for being to square. So he makes a makeshift home-made zoot suit and continues to woo her. This is one of the few shorts where Tom and to a little extent Jerry both talk. Whereas most Tom and Jerry cartoons are timeless, this one is dated and not as funny as normally. One of my less favorite shorts, it's still watchable though. This cartoon can be found on disc one of the Spotlight collection DVD of "Tom & Jerry" My Grade: C DVD Extras: Commentary by historian Jerry Beck where he talks about the animator, voice actress and the songs amongst other things.
TEXICAN-2
Here's one fact that I had forgotten. The much lauded "talking" between Tom and Jerry in the feature film a few years back WAS NOT THE FIRST TIME THEY TALKED! They didn't say more than a couple of lines, but, BOTH Tom and Jerry spoke actual words in this cartoon! So much for Hollywood "Myths". I guess the screenwriters overlooked this episode.It's a fun outing, like most of Tom and Jerry's adventures. Tom's trying to be hep to impress a local female cat, and Jerry's only making things harder on Tom than normal. Good fun, and wild to hear them speak.
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