The Counterfeit Cat (1949) Online

While this is a Tex Avery directed cartoon, it's about the most conventional cartoon for the studio that I can recall having seen. Just a year or two before this Avery MGM cartoon was made, Sylvester and Tweety over at Looney Toons were coming into their own as a team. This MGM cartoon is an obvious attempt to create a knock-off of the popular series--with a few cute twists. This film is about a cat pretending to be a dog so it can sneak into a home and eat the canary (called, of all things, "Tweety Bird"). It seems that Butch the dog believes this cat in disguise is his friend and most of the cartoon the cat tries to distract the dog so it can eat the personality-deprived bird (it's not much like Tweety--it never tries to kill the cat even once). To distract the dog, the cat keeps giving him a seemingly endless supply of bones. This leads to a very funny conclusion to the film when the dog finally catches on to the ruse. I don't want to spoil it, but it is a funny and interesting twist.

This cartoon is almost entirely sight-gags and is about a cat willing to go to great lengths to have a bird join him-as dinner! Only there's one minor inconvenience-a rather large, if somewhat dim, dog watching out for the bird's welfare. Delightfully funny and the ending is just perfect. Personally, I think the cat would have been better off ordering a pizza! Most recommended.

Love animation, it was a big part of my life as a child, particularly Disney, Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry, and still love it whether it's film, television or cartoons.

Also have much admiration for Tex Avery, an animation genius whose best cartoons are animated masterpieces and some of the best he ever did. 'The Counterfeit Cat' is not one of his best, not that it does anything wrong as such but more to do with that the many things that are done very well have been done even better and with a little more spark and originality in a lot of his other work. Even when Avery was not quite at the top of his game he put many other animation directors to shame and the cartoons in general much better than many at their worst. Hope that doesn't sound too hyperbolic, unfair or ignorant.

The story is 'The Counterfeit Cat's' weakest element, still very well paced and fun but conceptually it somewhat familiar.

However, much of the animation is very good. Very rich in colour, the backgrounds have meticulously good detail and the character designs are distinctively Avery in style and are fluid in movement. The music, courtesy of Scott Bradley, is lushly and cleverly orchestrated, with lively and energetic rhythms and fits very well indeed, even enhancing the action.

Can't fault Avery, whose style is all over, nor the dynamic voice acting and the very engaging characters, especially Spike. The pacing is very lively and 'The Counterfeit Cat' is incredibly funny throughout. There couldn't have been a more perfect ending.

Overall, very well done. 8/10 Bethany Cox