Designs on Jerry (1955) User Reviews

Building a better mousetrap

[movieman_kev · 7/10 · 4 June 2005]

Tom the cat takes great pride in the new mouse trap he deigned and dreams of how he will get rich by patenting it. But while he's sleeping the drawling of the mouse comes off the piece of paper and wakes Jerry the Mouse up to sabotage Tom's plans. They must first contend with a dawning of a cat who has also come to life first. This short was rather amusing but it was a tad experimental (not nearly as much as the later "Blue Cat Blues) I just like it more when Tom and Jerry can actually be Tom and Jerry. This animated short can be found on disc 2 of Warner Brother's 2-DVD Spotlight Collection set.

My Grade: B-

Something a little different.

[BA_Harrison · 7/10 · 3 March 2017]

I've been bemoaning how the last few Tom and Jerry cartoons have been rather lacking in imagination, but I can't throw the same accusation at this one, which borders on the surreal.

Tom is up late putting the finishing touches to his design for a better mousetrap (which is super complicated, much like the one in the popular board game). Taking a well earned nap, Tom is oblivious to the fact that his plans have come to life, with the ink drawing of a mouse leaving the blueprint paper to wake up Jerry and show him Tom's design; meanwhile, the ink drawing of a cat tries to catch the two mice, but to no avail. Eventually, the ink cat is dissolved, sucked up into a pen and squirted back into an ink pot.

I said it was different!!! When Tom wakes up, he builds his mousetrap, unaware that one vital measurement has been altered, which leads to the cat being 'trapped' by his own invention...

A rather different but brilliant alternate approach to the usual Tom and Jerry mayhem.

[Foreverisacastironmess123 · 9/10 · 3 May 2014]

This is one of my favourite ever shorts to feature these two lovable cartoon legends because it plays around with the typical style of the animation and successfully tries out a scenario that is something very different and a little less..one note than what you usually get, and I mean that in the nicest possible way. I love the stupendous animation within the animation that is the chalk-line stick figure versions of Tom and Jerry, I think it was an ingenious idea that opens up a whole new little dimension in the setup of it all. There's a great dazzling ingenuity to the scenes, and by bringing Tom's drawings to life, some really interesting and strange sight gags are created as the characters literally unravel on screen, and a rubber can erase sketch-Tom, or a pencil change the shape of his whole body. I liked the part where his back legs were made all freakishly tiny, not unlike those weird-legged cats that you see in real life sometimes - oh-so cute! And the mouse trap itself is so insanely elaborate and drawn-out in its execution that you've just gotta love it. Both bizarre and pretty amazing at the same time, it's a blooming fantastical short. I'd watch it if I were me! (???)

Very, Very Clever Material

[ccthemovieman-1 · 10/10 · 19 July 2007]

This was extremely clever, a real treat. I love something that is off the wall, even for a cartoon. This qualifies for OTW status, as blueprint stick figures come to life, right off a big chalkboard.

Tom is building the world's greatest mousetrap and has an elaborate blueprint of it. He goes to bed dreaming of fame and fortune. Then the fun kicks in as the mouse pictured in the blueprint comes alive, climbs out the drawing and goes to warn Jerry of his impending doom. Later, the cat in the picture comes to life (not Tom) and it's he and two Jerry's - the drawn one and the real Jerry - battling it out from that point with very unique sight gags. That is because the stick figures react differently than the real Tom and Jerry. Suffice to say, this is different.

Watch this if you ever have the opportunity because it mixes brains and slapstick and humor just beautifully.

This was part of disc two on the Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection, Volume One

Designs on a well-designed cartoon gag!

[Antzy88 · 4 August 2001]

Tom is busy planning a complicated trap to ensnare Jerry with, and falls asleep after drawing his plans up before he starts work on the trap itself. Unknown to him, though, the drawn mouse had come to life and alerted Jerry, who does a little something to the plans that is not only virtually unnoticeable, but was enough to change its operation somewhat... The trap itself -- and the whole cartoon -- are very clever and funny. Even though it is one of the later entries in the Hanna-Barbera period of Tom & Jerry cartoons, it's still worth a look!

Designs on Jerry is yet another delight from the Tom and Jerry canon

[TheLittleSongbird · 10/10 · 24 June 2010]

I may sound like a broken record, but I just love Tom and Jerry. They were part of my childhood, and I still adore them. Designs on Jerry is so clever in visuals and constructions it ranks among my favourite of their cartoons. I also love it for its originality and fun. The animation is excellent, the backgrounds are colourful and the characters well drawn but the real delight comes from anything to do with the drawings on the black board. The music has a lot of energy and the gags and chases are clever and fresh. The pacing is fast, the story is original, the ending is hilarious and both Tom and Jerry are their usual likable selves. Overall, just delightful. 10/10 Bethany Cox

Cubed tom

[mforsting · 9/10 · 20 January 2021]

While this was made during the darker time of the Hanna Barbara Tom and Jerry shirts it has a great build up and the ending cracks me up

"If there's anything worse than whipping a dead horse . . . "

[pixrox1 · 6/10 · 15 September 2022]

. . . Winston Churchill stated after watching DESIGNS ON JERRY, "It's doubtless flogging a dead war." The British Prime Minister during WWII, Winston knew overkill when he saw it. After witnessing Jerry getting flattened at the conclusion of this humorless fiasco by a falling safe, Mr. Churchill realized that this hapless cat was named for the pejorative anti-Prussian term applied to the enemy during the battle against the 3rd Reich. "Only foolish folks fight yesterday's wars over and over," Winston concluded. Think about it. WHO defeated Jerry in the 1940's, and WHO represents these gallant Freedom Fighters in this film franchise? America's service people were a major counter force against Jerry, and this cartoon series depicts them as so many mini rats. Though our fighting forces despised rodents and their food-sabotaging, pestilence-spreading ways in Real Life, the House of the Groaning Fat Cat insists upon equating our military heroes with needle-toothed vermin! What kind of "Thank you for your service" is that?!