Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Mouse

Plot synopsis:
After the milkman delivers two milk bottles, Tom eagerly snatches one and pours it out to drink, but is met by Jerry, who also wants the milk. Tom tries three times to lock Jerry in a room to keep him away from the milk, but each time, Jerry manages to keep sipping the milk. Tom then plots how to get rid of Jerry so he can drink milk in peace. Tom mixes chemicals such as moth balls, acid, ammonia and poison into milk to create a deadly elixir and stirs it with a spoon until it melts in the formula. After a fly takes a sip from the bowl and immediately drops dead, Tom, delighted, places the bowl outside Jerry's hole, confident will he fall for his new trick. Jerry seemingly drops dead just as the fly did, but instead then rattles and pops around. When the effects stop, Jerry becomes incredibly muscular, and starts advancing on a nervous Tom.
After Tom unsuccessfully tries to stop Jerry with a phone book and fireplace poker, he attempts to lock himself in the living room, but Jerry tears the door down. Tom then seals himself inside a wall safe, but Jerry easily drills through and pulls him out. As Jerry starts smacking Tom against the safe, however, the potion's effects wear off and Jerry returns to his normal size. Jerry then swiftly runs for the milk bowl, and manages to drink the potion again before Tom grabs him. Jerry, with his reactivated power, grabs Tom by the whiskers and starts thrashing him around mercilessly. However, the elixir very quickly wears off. Tom quickly upends all the milk from the bowl before Jerry can drink it for a third time and chases Jerry across the kitchen. Jerry manages to put Tom's tail inside a waffle iron and flee into the fridge.
Jerry then locks Tom inside the fridge and attempts to recreate the elixir before Tom can-opens his way out from the fridge. Tom then steals the elixir from Jerry and holds Jerry next to him as he drinks it. Tom grows larger and larger, but it turns out that Jerry had incorrectly made the elixir and the opposite effect occurs to Tom as he shrinks to a smaller size than Jerry. Delighted with his now superior strength to Tom, Jerry grabs Tom's tail before punching him in the face and snapping Tom's tail to make Tom shrink even further. With Tom now the size of an ant, he is forced to flee as Jerry starts to chase him with a flyswatter.

Tags: psychedelic, comic

Review:
Terrific ending.
'Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Mouse' is an Oscar-nominated Tom and Jerry cartoon and I must admit it is pretty good.
Not only is it funny but it uses the way animation should be used and especially the ending is quite inventive, although we have a feeling things will happen the way it does.We see how Tom steals some milk and as he starts drinking Jerry joins him.
Of course the cat does not like this very much and he tries to keep the milk away from the mouse.
He doesn't succeed.
Then he puts some poison and other stuff in the milk, tests it on a fly which gives a very big laugh, and gives it to Jerry.
The result is not really what Tom was hoping for.
Eventually it leads to the ending that is one of the better ones from the Tom and Jerry cartoons..
Don't make me angry!.
In this Acadamy Award-nominated cartoon (it lost to Tweety Pie!) Tom is tired of sharing his daily bowl of milk with Jerry and nothing he seems to do stops him from getting at it.
So he makes up a poisonous white liquid from household chemicals and serves it to Jerry, hoping to kill him.
Unfortunately it merely gives him great strength and he proceeds to open a can of whoop-ass.
Trouble is, his powers come and go at sporadic intervals.
So Tom decides to drink the potion himself.
It's very funny and you'll certainly be laughing all the way through.
The twist ending is the best laugh of all.
I won't ruin it, but it was my favorite one yet..
Strange Brew.
No matter what Tom does, he can't seem to keep Jerry away from slurping down his bowl of milk.
He locks Jerry in a safe, traps him in a dresser drawer, blocks his mouse hole, on and on....but nothing works as Jerry keeps coming back for more milk.Finally, Tom decides to make a fatal elixir, putting all kinds of garbage in a bowl of milk.
Jerry drinks it and turns into The Incredible Hulk, and starts beating up on Tom. However, the stuff seems to wear off quickly, in which Tom then gets the upper hand, but then becomes effective again.
This back-and-forth goes on and on with funny results.
This is another wild-and-crazy episode and a unique "take" on Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde..
I do have to agree, the ending is great!.
Dr Jekyll and Mr Mouse is a unique take on the famous split-personality tale by Robert Louis Stevenson.
I don't think it is Tom and Jerry's very best cartoon, but it is a dark, suspenseful and most definitely entertaining one.
The animation is great, luscious, well proportioned and just beautiful to look at in general.
And I also loved the music, that alone added to the darkness, suspense and fun of Dr Jekyll and Mr Mouse.
There are some great gags as well, if you know the story though you'll know what happens, but the twist ending is just great and very funny.
Overall, a unique and fun cartoon, with a great ending and music to boot.
9/10 Bethany Cox. Excellent...
but not for any of the reasons identified!.
I am actually very fond of this cartoon for what it is: an intentional tribute to the Mickey Mouse cartoon "The Worm Turns" of 1937.
That this has been left out of every other post on this message board is utterly amazing!
It also makes it slightly surprising that the cartoon itself was nominated for an Academy Award, although many other tributes and parodies have had the honors over the years.The scene with the fly is a direct parody of the Mickey toon, in which a fly is the first to benefit from the newly concocted "Courage Builder" strength elixir.
The sound effects, as well as much of the visual popping and sparkling in the mixture, are directly lifted from this cartoon.The complex, and undeniably great result is a cartoon with a unique twist in the ending, which provides a much greater entertainment value for someone familiar with the earlier toon, who can appreciate the contrast and the blatant inter-textual references..
Tom didn't deserve this.
While everyone seems to praise this one I am one of the few minorities who cannot enjoy this.
I like to judge these cartoons based on who initiates the conflict first.
In this case it's Jerry.
All Tom wants to do is enjoy his milk in peace but Jerry can't leave him alone no matter what he does to keep his milk away from him.
Then he poisons it Jerry becomes strong and just hurts Tom constantly.
I found myself calling Jerry a jerk, wishing he'd just leave him alone and quit hurting him.
And then when Tom gets a chance to get even he drinks the spiked milk and instead of making him strong it reduces him to an insignificant size where Jerry can go from bothering him, hurting him to just torturing him.Second worst T&J episode I've ever seen.
Right next to the Mouseketeer which ends with Tom being decapitated..
I loved this cartoon as a kid...and I still do..
"Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Mouse" is unusual in that it was nominated for an Oscar.
However, when you see it you'll certainly understand.
The animation (like all Tom & Jerry cartoons) is top-rate and the story is great fun.
As a kid, I loved this cartoon and when I saw it again tonight I found I still do!
Much of this cartoon is the typical sort of Tom & Jerry fare--Tom is trying to kill Jerry but with no success.
However, this time Tom decides to use his brain (uh, oh!) and makes a concoction designed to kill the mouse--or at least knock him out cold!
Instead, the formula is like the Jekyll and Hyde potion in that Jerry changes--into a HUGE and well-muscled mouse who beats the snot out of Tom. In the end, Tom decides to try the potion himself...with hilarious results..
Great Music!.
Pretty standard Tom and Jerry cartoon - Tom chases Jerry and Jerry retaliates.
Nice twist at the end.
The reason I like this cartoon though is because of the music.
It starts off with the usual Tom and Jerry MGM screen and music, but suddenly the music goes all dark (for the musicians, a pedal note is held in the high violins, while 3 horns play triads in completely different keys; the result is the most tense piece of Tom and Jerry music ever written by Scott Bradley, a true unsung hero.) This music returns whenever Tom is seen concocting the potion, and also at the end, after the classic ending music, the horn motif returns rounding off the score with a reminder that Tom and Jerry can be a dark cartoon too.
10/10 for the music, also very good for the overall cartoon..
Forget the gym...
mix up some milk, bleach and moth-balls for the perfect physique (disclaimer: that was a joke!)..
Annoyed that Jerry keeps on 'half-inching' his milk, Tom the cat mixes up a noxious and potentially deadly concoction, puts it in his bowl and waits for the rodent to strike.
However, rather than causing Jerry to pop his clogs, the foul mixture of milk and household chemicals turns the meek mouse into a muscle-bound hulk...This one might not be the greatest of Tom and Jerry's escapades (despite being Oscar nominated), but it packs enough laughs to make it worth a go.
The animation is above average, with the scenes in which Tom mixes his potion being particularly well rendered (the coloured lighting and shadows cast by the cat are very effective).Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Mouse is silly fun and gets a respectable rating of 7/10 from me..
While a good cartoon, this is not one of the better ones.
The fact that this was nominated for an Oscar puzzles me somewhat, as it wasn't one of the better Tom and Jerry cartoons.
It wasn't even the best one that year (Invisible Mouse was much better).
The ending, which is creative, makes this worth watching, but that's the most memorable part of the short..
War of the colossal Jerry and the incredible shrinking Tom!.
This is something that I love the most about the Tom and Jerry cartoons.
They weren't always merely a household pet and pest, confined to the world of the house, forever warm and classic house though it may have been.
From one episode to the next they could be living with some cattle ranch guy, or in medieval times, or tanning on the beach or swimming under the seas as a cat and mermouse!
Or way later they had them up in space a lot, but we dare not speak of such terrible things...
Although one of those turned out to be a dream the point is I really like the shorts that push the boundaries and, whatever loopy reality the world of the show has, and I really love this one.
I love mad scientist Tom, concocting his not-so deadly brew to dispose of his despised nemesis Jerry!
I find his utterly fiendish, leering expression so totally funny-Bwa-ha-ha- ha!!!
It's apparently a very good day to be evil!
And I also really love the shadows that back-light him in the scene, I find the explosive puff of red smoke when the potion erupts quite visually impressive.
Something else, that happens to be the thing I love the most about this short is the music.
I love the humorously ominous music that really brought to my mind cheesy old black and white monster movies!
I know it's more likely a take on Jeckyl and Hyde, but it made me picture that kind of thing more for some reason.
I especially find the music hilarious that plays during the first appearance of Superjerry!
That's one "Mighty Mouse!" I love the epic boom, boom, boom, that plays as the Jerrynator stomps toward a horrified Tom!
The music made me picture some old B-movie with some gigantic monster on the horizon that's coming closer!
You know the kind, there's always some old general and some handsome scientist protecting some blonde scientist from the terrible threat that could end mankind as we know it!
What I find weird, is that at the time all those old movies weren't quite so old just yet!
Them drag-racing school jock guys in those red blazers were still taking there sweeties to drive-ins to see them!
A possible parody?
Okay, back to the toon, my favourite sight gag is when Tom whacks Jerry with the poker once then thrice, then poses to stare aghast at the Jerry indentations on the poker!
It's the little things that always get me with these shows.
In closing, I love all of this, the comical ambiance of the music, the potion, a souped-up Jerry and yes, like a few others that great zany ending that wraps things up so nicely!
A real different and strange kind of Tom and Jerry and for me all the more brilliant for it.
I've decided not to spoil the ending for anyone either, although I may already have done....Sorry about that!.
Tom's concoction has an undesired effect on Jerry!.
This 'Tom and Jerry' short opens with the milkman delivering a couple of bottle of milk to a house; Tom's arm them emerges from the basement window and grabs a bottle.
He pours it into a bowl and starts to drink...
then sees Jerry opposite him also lapping up milk.
He chases Jerry back into his mouse hole a pushes a chest of drawers in front of it but Jerry just comes out of one of the drawers and returns to the milk.
Tom tries many things to keep it from Jerry but whatever he does Jerry gets to his milk.
Eventually he heads back to the basement and starts adding a variety of poisons to the milk creating a substance so noxious that it dissolves the spoon he stirs it with.
When Jerry drinks it he appears to keel over and die but moments later he springs back to life; he is far more muscular though.
Tom tries to swat him with a large book but Jerry just rips it apart and sets about beating up Tom. Eventually he returns to normal and tries mixing the potion himself; Tom swipes it before he can drink it though...
the effect it has on Tom is very different though.This short is a fun take on Robert Louis Stevenson's classic 'Dr, Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'; it has a much darker feel than most 'Tom and Jerry' shorts with the characters casting ominous shadows and sinister music, Tom also looks more maniacal than usual as he plots to defeat Jerry.
The violence is up to the usual level and much of it is as creative as it is amusing; the highlight being when Tom hides in a safe and the muscular Jerry punches a hole through it and drags Tom through the tiny hole!
The ending where Tom drinks Jerry's concoction was rather good; I had to feel a bit sorry for Tom though!
The only slight disappointment was that the fly that drank Tom's potion didn't come back in a muscular state later on...
I was sure that was how the short would end!.
The tables get turned.
"Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Mouse" is a 7.5-minute cartoon short film from 1947, so this one has its 70th anniversary this year now and the title is of course a reference to the famous Robert Louis Stevenson novel that was perhaps more known back then than it is today.
It also won actor Frederic March an Oscar for example.
But back to this one here: This is one of the rare occasions when Tom and Jerry were nominated for an Oscar, but came short as the WB entry took it that year.
Nonetheless, this is still among the most known works by the world's most famous cat-and-mouse duo.
And it is an okay watch that basically gets better the longer it goes.
The introduction and presentation of the issues Tom has with Jerry drinking a bit of his milk, may have been slightly too long, but when the poisoned milk comes into play, the quality increases and the very end with tiny Tom was a real highlight.
It reminds us that certain species react differently to medication, especially if the quantity of how much they drank differs so strongly.
All in all, probably not my favorite T&J short, but a good watch nonetheless.
I give it a thumbs-up.