Have always loved Tom and Jerry. Have vivid and fond memories of seeing all of their cartoons, with the classic ones (the Hanna Barbera years, the best of which among the best cartoons ever made) being watched over and over, at my sister's late godfather's house at the age of six and have been a huge fan since.
Despite liking 'Smitten Kitten' more than most of the previous reviewers, it really isn't one of the best Tom and Jerry cartoons and one does question the point of it. It is better than the two modern theatrical shorts 'The Mansion Cat' and 'The Karate Guard', the worst of Chuck Jones' hit and miss output and all of the Gene Deitch cartoons (all but about two or three being abominable). On the other hand it is down there in the lesser half of Tom and Jerry's theatrical short cartoons, the 1940s and 1950s output saw a lot of classics and sadly 'Smitten Kitten' isn't one of them.
Being essentially a clip show, 'Smitten Kitten' does fare better than most with the quality of the footage being excellent. The footage, told in flashbacks, includes highlights from 'Springtime for Thomas', 'Salt Water Tabby', 'The Mouse Comes to Dinner', 'Texas Tom' and 'Solid Serenade'. The 'Texas Tom' one was rather pointless, but the rest were cleverly inserted, well animated and scored with some genuinely hilarious and sweet moments.
As ever with classic Tom and Jerry, the animation is beautiful to watch. Love the colours which are all smooth and vibrant, the gorgeously detailed backgrounds and all the characters are very well drawn. The music, courtesy of Scott Bradley, is lushly and cleverly orchestrated, with lively and energetic rhythms, not only fitting perfectly but enhancing the action.
Tom is one of those funny and crafty characters that one feels sorry for while Jerry is deceptively cute but remarkably cunning. The devil/conscience character is a lot of fun while Paul Frees' voice work helps quite a bit.
On the other hand, the linking story is fairly entertaining, thanks to the devil/conscience character, but is also pretty thin and predictable and is to my liking is featured a little too much in a cartoon where one remembers the footage more. 'Smitten Kitten' is mainly an excuse really to cobble together flashbacks/footage from much better cartoons, which does make one question the point of the cartoon's existence and cheapens the quality.
Quality is also inferior in the linking sections. The animation isn't as vibrant or as refined and there's not much funny or sweet in these sections. All the charms, quality and fun of the cartoon are in the footage/flashbacks scenes, although the beginning sets things up nicely and the ending is pretty clever.
In conclusion, above average but not completely smitten. 6/10 Bethany Cox
