Cats and Bruises (1965)

Directors:

Friz Freleng
Hawley Pratt (co-director)

Writer:

John W. Dunn (story)

Release Date:

30 January 1965 (USA)

Genre:

Family | Animation | Short | Comedy

Plot:

Sylvester Cat intrudes on Speedy Gonzales' Cinco De Mayo celebration, starting a chase that ends in disaster.

Plot Keywords:

Cartoon | Merrie Melodies | Speedy Gonzales | Sylvester | Canoe

Cast

Mel Blanc

...

Speedy Gonzales / Sylvester (voice)

Runtime:

USA:7 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

DePatie-Freleng Enterprises (DFE)

Movie Connections:

Spoofs "The Mickey Mouse Club" (1955)

Soundtrack:

Cielito lindo

Average characters doing reasonable jokes

Sylvester interrupts a mouse gathering and sets out to catch Speedy Gonzales. However he must devise several plans to try and match his speed and catch him.

I'm not a big fan of Speedy Gonzales. I always prefer the characters (or double acts) where their character is as much a part of them as their physical abilities. With Speedy I've always felt that a mock-Mexican accent and the ability to run fast does not a character make. We already have Road Runner that can do that and he works because his double act is so strong! As with many of Speedy Gonzales' cartoons, the animation is the thing that gets me - just because the film is set in a poor Mexican town doesn't mean it should look so very bland and basic.

The animation here is not as bad as I've seen it but the backgrounds lack care and, unfortunately, this lack of attention to detail also carries over into Sylvester's animation and he looks pretty ropy at times. Even his voice sounds different and lacking in effort. Other than this, it does look better than it has in other Gonzales cartoons but it's far from WB's best efforts.

The jokes are OK but are basically just smaller scale version of Road Runner jokes. As such, Sylvester is nowhere near the tragic figure of the Coyote and Gonzales is a very very poor man's version of Road Runner. Where those benefited from exaggeration and imagination, this cartoon simply treads well worn paths to no great effect.

Overall this is an OK film if you like Gonzales. Fans of Sylvester will be upset to see and hear the shoddy word done on his animation and his character, but there are just about enough laughs here to justify the watching.