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6 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
Excellent tom and jerry short, 30 May 2005
10/10
Author: movieman_kev from United States

One of Tom and Jerry's best shorts involves Tom ordering a book on how to catch mice. As Tom finds out, the advice is hardly fool proof and leads to some of the most memorable gags in the history of the cat and mouse duo. the toupee, the robotic female mouse, the pretending to read something uproarious gag, "Don't you believe it". It's all here. This short is excellence personified and a MUST HAVE for everyone with even a passing interest of Tom and Jerry shorts. This hilarious Oscar winning cartoon can be found on disc one of the Spotlight collection DVD of "Tom & Jerry"

My Grade: A+

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5 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
This Had The Feel Of A Roadrunner Cartoon, 10 July 2007
8/10
Author: ccthemovieman-1 from United States

It's pretty sad when a cat has to send away for a book entitled, "How To Catch A Mouse," but that's what poor Tom did. By the way, the publisher of the book is "Random Mouse."

This cartoon reminded me early on of a Road Runner episode. The difference is that Tom plays Wile E. Coyote and Jerry is the elusive Road Runner. No matter what trap Tom sets, Jerry figures a way to beat it....or the trap backfires in predictable manner.

Yes, half the gags were too predictable but it was still entertaining and it did offer a few new wrinkles....like a windup Mae West doll which provides all the laughs in the final minute and is very original material.

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2 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
Tom's "how to" book must have been written by a mouse!, 3 April 2001
10/10
Author: Robert Reynolds (minniemato@hotmail.com) from Tucson AZ

This cartoon won an Oscar in 1944 and it's easy to see why. Tom tries to use a book's advice on how to catch a mouse. Which works out very well for Jerry, but not for Tom! I suspect that the book was written by a mouse-maybe even Jerry himself. Tom certainly comes out the worse for wear here. I almost feel sorry for Tom. Almost. A very funny (and violent, even for a Tom and Jerry!) cartoon that runs frequently on the Cartoon Network. Recommended.

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1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
Come up and see me sometime., 12 December 2006
8/10
Author: Shawn Watson (gator_macready@yahoo.com) from The Underverse

Despite the rather generic title (there had already been a T&J short called Dog Trouble) this Oscar-winning cartoon proves that it's worth the Academy Award by being very funny and inventive.

Mouse Trouble has Tom order a book on how to catch mice (from Random Mouse Publishing nonetheless) and follow the foolproof instructions exactly as printed no matter how many times they prove to be completely ineffectual. Naturally they all come back to bite him in the ass. Poor Tom, he gets so beaten up in this one but never lets the pain lessen his enthusiasm.

Plenty of visual jokes and laughs in this one.

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Catching mice... by the book!, 31 August 2012
9/10
Author: Tweekums from United Kingdom

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

This 'Tom and Jerry' short opens with Tom getting a book on how to catch mice in the post. He quickly starts reading it only to notice that Jerry is reading it too! Tom chases him back to his mouse hole then sets about trying each of the ideas proposed in the book. Of course none work; when he sets a trap it doesn't go off even when Jerry tugs at the cheese on it but does go off when Tom touches it, next he sets a snare but Jerry switches the cheese for a bowl of cream and Tom gets caught himself... and so it goes on with each successive idea leading to Tom getting more and more damaged until he is ultimately blown to kingdom come.

The gags here might be fairly predictable but they come thing and fast and are pretty funny... and delightfully cruel. The thing I found funniest was that after shooting himself in the head and effectively scalping himself Tom wears a shocking red toupee... normally this would be a one shot gag but here he continues to wear it to the end of the cartoon! The animation here looks good; certainly much better than it was in their '60s outings.

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Predictable with an obvious title, but still very funny and well made, 7 July 2010
8/10
Author: TheLittleSongbird from United Kingdom

I am a fan of Tom and Jerry, and have been for as long as I can remember. Mouse Trouble is not the best of their cartoons, but I like it. Where Mouse Trouble is not so impressive is in its predictable story and its somewhat obvious and generic title. However, the animation is very good for its time, with lovely backgrounds and the characters are drawn well. The music is wonderful too, as it nearly always it, while the sight gags are clever if quite violent too, particularly the one with the robotic female mouse and "Mice are suckers for dames". The pacing is good as well, while both Tom and Jerry are very entertaining. And I do agree, it does have a Roadrunner vs. Wile E.Coyote feel to it. Overall, I liked it, but I don't consider it a favourite like I do with The Cat Concerto, Mice Follies or The Two Mouseketeers. 8/10 Bethany Cox

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Well made, but I agree that it is awfully predictable., 15 September 2009
8/10
Author: planktonrules from Bradenton, Florida

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

I love Tom and Jerry cartoons for two reasons. First, the original ones were unashamedly violent--funny and cartoony but violent. Second, the animation of their films from the early 40s to mid-50s was probably better than the shorts from Looney Tunes and Disney. However, despite these pluses, the films are amazingly predictable. Tom chases and tries to kill Jerry and Jerry ends up beating the snot out of Tom instead is the plot of 90% of these films and MOUSE TROUBLE is no exception. It seems odd to me, then, that Tom and Jerry actually took home more Oscars than the Looney Tunes people for all their cartoons during the the 40s and 50s. Why? I dunno. They sure were animated nicely but they just weren't especially novel. Perhaps the Oscar people just hated cats!

As for this particular film, I've seen it many times. It's the one where Tom buys a book on how to catch a mouse (has such a book EVER really been written?!?). And, by using the book, Tom STILL gets clobbered by Jerry and proves he's just a boob. Aside from the great animation (Tom and Jerry cartoons pre-1950 are the most beautiful), I also liked that there was better than usual continuity. When Tom has the top of his head shot off, he wears a toupee the rest of the film to hide it! Clever--just not earth-shaking.

By the way, me divulging that Jerry beats Tom--is this REALLY a spoiler?!?!

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1 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
Too predictable to be very funny., 22 March 2008
6/10
Author: BA_Harrison from Hampshire, England

Tom once again attempts to trap Jerry, this time using a variety of ingenious methods which are described in his recent book purchase, entitled 'How To Catch A Mouse'.

An episodic T&J caper (as opposed to the usual, single, prolonged chase scene), Mouse Trouble is basically a series of quick fire gags, which sees Tom's different traps backfiring in amusing ways. I use the word amusing, because, unfortunately, they are very rarely hilarious, being way too predictable in their outcome.

This style of cartoon would be done much better (and again and again) years later by the brilliant Wile E.Coyote and Roadrunner.

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1 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
Cat Trouble (Contains Spoiler), 12 November 2002
8/10
Author: Pimpin` Critic 69 from Your Critic of Critics

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

There is a scene here where the "How To" book talks about curiosity so Tom begins laughing at a book and Jerry curious as always decides to see what Tom is laughing at but every time he gets near the book Tom moves to another direction. Finally Jerry gets in top of the book and as he reads Tom shuts the book close and when he opens it Jerry is looking at something inside his covered hand. Tom is the one curious now. So Jerry does the same thing Tom did to him but finally Jerry decides to show Tom what he has inside of hand. When Tom peeks inside Jerry punches him in the eye!

HILARIOUS!

3(***)out of 4(****)stars

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