Jerry's Diary (1949) User Reviews

'Be Kind (sort of) To Animals Week'

[ccthemovieman-1 · 8/10 · 24 January 2007]

Tom's got all his traps lined up outside Jerry's hole in the wall and just waits for the "kill." The radio is playing and the announcer is asking, "Do you know that it's 'Be Kind To Animals Week?' Are you being kind to animals? Why, of course you are, especially this week...." Before long, he gets to Tom's conscience and the cat exchanges the traps for flowers, candy and pie!

However, there is no sign of Jerry. Tom investigates, looking inside the mouse's hole but Jerry's lair is empty. The cat spots the mouse's dairy, begins reading and it's entertaining stuff which has Tom in stitches....until he reads a few things that bring back bad memories.

This is another solid T&J cartoon, filled with a lot of funny moments and a few nostalgic ones from past episodes.

Sometimes remembering the past makes you forget about some problems

[Kalashnikovin · 7/10 · 2 April 2023]

MGM was at the top, its Short Films were the ones that won the Oscars and its cartoons are among the most Iconic Above cartoons like Woody Woodpecker, Looney Tunes or Mr Magoo, everything was perfect, but the lack of ideas always consumes the animators' minds at least once, and this was the case here.

Tom is about to set a trap for Jerry, but he listens to the Radio and they announce that it is the International day to take care of animals, Tom gets angry, but the Announcer with his Nice character manages to convince them to treat Jerry well, so He brings him A Cake and a Bouquet of flowers, but he realizes that Jerry is not there and snoops around his house finding Jerry's Personal Diary, Tom discreetly takes it and begins to read it, finding that Jerry was mocking behind his back, so in a fit of rage, upon Jerry's arrival, he smashes the Pie in his face.

The Idea is not entirely bad, the rehashes are of excellent shorts, but the problem is that there is no development and comedy, they are simply fragments of previous (and superior) short films while Tom reacts furiously to the end of each one.

The Animation of the short, as well as the Music, is decent, but these last two points are scarce, since 70% of the Short are Reruns, so they cannot be appreciated well, although I praise how well synchronized the scenes are and how They develop the short minimally, although the plot is not convincing at the end.

Finally I can say the following, the short is neither bad nor good, it lacks in development but it is strengthened in its good use of reruns to try to reach an ending, which is quite decent to tell the truth, but it is not entirely good, the Animation was quite good, as was its humor, which was somewhat lacking to tell the truth, but finally I can say that it is a decent short, it is not boring, but Comedy is scarce and it shows the Few ideas that they put into this work.

It's not entirely bad, but it's not good either, so a 7 is more than deserved.

Very nice cartoon from Tom and Jerry

[TheLittleSongbird · 8/10 · 23 November 2012]

Okay, the story is quite light and perhaps not all that original, there were a few other Tom and Jerry cartoons than this that had this particular formula as well. But Jerry's Diary is still a very nice cartoon in many ways. It has many funny moments, and with the use of Solid Serenade, Tee for Two, Mouse Trouble and The Yankee Doodle Mouse(serving as part of the diary excerpts) it is somewhat of a nostalgic throwback which will delight anybody I think. The animation is wonderful, with luscious backgrounds and colours, as well as well-drawn characters, the pacing is crisp and the music once again does a great job with enhancing the visual gags complete with upbeat orchestration. Tom and Jerry are still as likable as ever with the writing and gags playing to their character strengths rather than going against them.

All in all, very nice if not one of my favourite Tom and Jerrys. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Nice kitty...? Great laugh!

[Antzy88 · 31 July 2001]

Tom, who has just set up a heap of traps outside Jerry's mousehole, learns from Uncle Dudley's radio slot that it is 'Be Kind To Animals Week', so he replaces the traps with gifts, only Jerry is not in. Tom spots Jerry's diary on the desk and sneaks a peek at some of the entries (cue excerpts from previous cartoon in the Tom & Jerry series). Unfortunately each entry Tom reads reminds him of an occasion where he is on the receiving end of punishment, which gradually increases his anger. Will he be able to stay kind to Jerry or will his declining patience get the better of him?

Very enjoyable, if 'economic', entry to the series.

This so-called Tom & Jerry "cheater episode" is . . .

[pixrox1 · 9/10 · 9 October 2022]

. . . one of the best, as it saves viewers the trouble of watching MOUSE AT WAR, MOUSE TROUBLE, TEE FOR TWO and SOLID SERENADE in their tedious original formats by trimming out the padding and narrowing this quartet of films to their bare essentials. With the success of JERRY'S DIARY, it is shocking that the House of the Groaning Fat Cat did not apply a similar efficiency principle to, say, the work of Clark Gable. Surely a seven-minute compilation of R. Butler's top four films---GONE WITH THE WIND, MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY, IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT and THE MISFITS--showing just the highlights, and cutting out all of the boring filler fluff, would go over with like gangbusters with fans of the reputed "King of Hollywood."

I guess they were running short of money

[CuriosityKilledShawn · 4/10 · 12 October 2008]

This cartoon is one of the earliest forms of a 'clip show' that I have seen. You've seen (and no doubt been annoyed) the episodes of The Simpsons where they go 'remember when' before cutting to old footage, thus trimming down on the cost of original production. Well, that's what happens here.

Tom is planning the usual amount of torture for Jerry when the radio warns him that it is 'Be Nice To Animals Day'. Convinced that he should be kind for once, Tom bakes the mouse a cake, grabs some presents and waits by his hole. But Jerry ain't home, and it's a perfect opportunity for Tom to grab his diary and reminisce about all the time the mouse got the better of him, cue the old footage.

One to skip.

Tom and Jerry recycling

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 2 September 2017]

"Jerry's Diary" is an American cartoon from 1949, so this one will soon have its 70th anniversary. It's a Hanna Barbera production and as such of course a Tom & Jerry cartoon, one of the shorter at under 6.5 minutes. After a radio broadcast Tom decides to be nice for once, really nice actually, but what he gets to read in Jerry's diary does not exactly have a positive impact on his mood. Serves him well because you don't read somebody else's diary I guess. And this core of the story that is also referenced in the title shows that this film here recycled some other T&J cartoons for this one here as really just the framework is new. In my opinion, it is a negative deal-breaker and also these flashbacks somehow took the drive and flow out of the picture. Best moment was perhaps the dishes scene, but as a whole this is not one of the better works starring the world's most famous cat-and-mouse duo. I give it a thumbs-down. Not recommended.

It had to happen eventually.

[BA_Harrison · 4/10 · 28 September 2014]

Overhearing the radio, Tom discovers that it is 'Be Kind To Animals Week' and bakes Jerry a pie. While searching for the mouse, Tom discovers Jerry's diary and reads some of his entries. Cue numerous flashbacks to earlier cartoons in which the rodent repeatedly humiliates the poor cat. When Tom finally finds Jerry, he splatters the surprised mouse with the pie.

In order to keep production costs down, many series resort to the 'compilation' episode, wherein characters recall moments from their previous adventures, thus allowing for the recycling of old footage; this is the first of several T&J cartoons to exploit this economic but rather lazy format, and as such it holds very few surprises for fans of the animated duo.