Is There a Doctor in the Mouse? (1964)

 

This short film marks the third Tom and Jerry cartoon to be directed and produced by Chuck Jones and the 130th Tom and Jerry cartoon overall. 

In this short film, Jerry creates a potion that allows him to move around incredibly fast (faster than Tom's eye can see in fact). This allows him to eat Tom's food with Tom not even knowing what happened. 

Like many of the Chuck Jones Tom and Jerry shorts, this film is more charming and clever than actually funny. There is a lot to enjoy about this film. Typical of Chuck Jones' work, the character animation is excellent. Chuck's signature subtle facial expressions really make the characters come to life. I especially love the facial expressions on Tom as he tries to figure out what is going on. You can truly see what is going on in his mind and this makes him more human to us (even if he is a cat). The storyline is also quite clever. The basic premise is a perfect one for Tom and Jerry and there are a lot of clever touches throughout. I found Tom using the camera to figure what was going on very clever. The only real problem with this cartoon is that there are no real laughs here. However sometimes a simply charming cartoon is enough. 

The credited animators on this film are Ben Washam, Ken Harris, Don Towsley, Tom Ray and Dick Thompson. The credited writers are Michael Maltese and Chuck Jones. The credited co-director is Maurice Noble. The music is credited to Eugene Poddany. The film is available on the DVD sets, Tom and Jerry: Hijinks and Shrieks (also available on VHS), Tom and Jerry: The Chuck Jones Collection, Tom and Jerry's Magical Misadventures and Tom and Jerry: Mouse Trouble as well as the VHS set Tom and Jerry: The Missing Mouse and The Art of Tom & Jerry: Volume III: The Chuck Jones Cartoons. 

-Michael J. Ruhland