The Famous Studios cartoons are very much variable, when they're good they are very good indeed but when they are hurt by the tighter deadlines and lower budgets they are pretty mediocre.
'Kitty Cornered' (a late-middle effort for Famous Studios), not to be confused with the Bob Clampett classic 'Kitty Kornered' is neither among their best or worst. It's not bad, but it's not great either, very well animated and scored while also rather uninspired.
Starting with the good things, the animation is very good. It boasts vibrant colours, colourful detailed backgrounds and smooth drawing, with both Kitty Cuddles and especially Snardley with some wonderfully scheming if perhaps stereotypical facial expressions and gestures well drawn. Even better is Winston Sharples' music score. Sharples had a knack of making a cartoon even better and it's the same in 'Kitty Cornered'. The energy and character it has is infectious and the orchestration is both beautiful and clever, Sharples also excels in not only making it fit wonderfully with the action but also adding to the impact.
Mae Questel and Gilbert Mack do dependably solid work with the voices, Questel is mainly reduced to acting cute and saying meow but does it very well while Mack is splendidly sinister as well as suave as Snardley. The two characters interact very well together, and are not bad characters on their own. Although she doesn't have an awful lot to do other than unwittingly foiling the attempts on her life Kitty Cuddles is adorable without being annoying or cloying, while Snardley is more interesting and is a good menacing antagonistic foil.
On the other hand, the concept is an old one and very little new is done with it. There are a few mildly amusing moments (the best parts being the ending and a glimpse of the devil in Snardley's character design but not much more, the outcomes being too predictable and a couple of Snardley's actions almost on the mean-spirited side. Story-wise, the cartoon is too formulaic and can get repetitive, a case of steam being lost quickly.
All in all, well-made but uninspired. 5/10 Bethany Cox