The Two Mouseketeers (1952)

 

Note: Spoilers in this review.

This cartoon marked the 6th Tom and Jerry short to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. Its competition only included two other films. These shorts were Lambert the Sheepish Lion (1952, Disney) and Rooty Toot Toot (1951, UPA). Both of these were strong films (Rooty Toot Toot is one of UPA's best). This Tom and Jerry film was the only one of these shorts to star reoccurring characters as the other two shorts were one-shots (though the stork from Dumbo (1941) has a supporting role in Lambert the Sheepish Lion). 

In this short film Tom is hired to guard the king's food from the two Mouseketeers (Jerry and Nibbles). Of course, Jerry and Nibbles make short work of Tom. 

This is a wonderful Tom and Jerry cartoon, though it does have a shockingly dark ending. For not being able to guard the king's food, Tom gets sent to the guillotine. This is a much darker joke than what ends most Tom and Jerry cartoons. This is especially true once you consider that Tom is really the good guy in this film. He is doing his job by guarding the food and the two mice are stealing food that doesn't belong to him. Yet I think this dark humor really works here. That is because as much as we sympathize with Tom, we also realize that he is a cartoon character. Because of this even if he dies at the end of a cartoon, we know he will be right back for the next one. Also helping this joke out is that Nibbles' last line is truly funny. 

Now on to the rest of this cartoon. There is a whole lot to love here. This is a visually gorgeous short. From the character animation to the beautiful background art, this is one of the best-looking Tom and Jerry films. The humor is also great here. Once again it is William Hanna's timing that truly makes it something special. The timing is once again not nearly perfect but absolutely perfect.  The music is great, and the opening song is a pure delight. This song is called Soldier of Fortune and comes from the MGM feature film, The Girl of the Golden West (1938). However, it fits perfectly with this cartoon.

This short would be followed by three more cartoons with Jerry and Nibbles as Mouseketeers and Tom as a guard. These shorts were Touché, Pussycat! (1954), Tom and Chérie (1955) and Royal Cat Nap (1958). The characters also appeared in these roles in various Dell comic books. Jerry and Nibbles outfits even appeared in video games including 2003's Tom and Jerry in War of the Whiskers.

The credited animators on this short are Irven Spence, Ed Barge and Kenneth Muse. This was the 65th Tom and Jerry short film. It can be found on various DVDs including Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection, Vol. 1, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Academy Awards Animation Collection, Tom and Jerry's Greatest Chases Volume 3, Tom and Jerry: The Deluxe Anniversary Collection, Tom and Jerry: Around the World and Tom and Jerry: Once Upon a Tomcat. It can also be found as a bonus feature on DVDs and Blu-Rays of the feature length movies, Tom and Jerry: Robin Hood and His Merry Mouse (2012) and Ivanhoe (1952).

Below is the movie poster for this film. Either Tom has shrunk, or Jerry and Nibbles have grown.