Haunted Mouse (1965) User Reviews

Stay Away From These Mid-'60s Tom & Jerry Cartoons

[ccthemovieman-1 · 4/10 · 13 February 2007]

This was my second look at a mid-1960s Tom and Jerry and I thought it was just as bad as the other cartoon I had seen ("Is There A Doctor In the Mouse?") Well, from now on I'll know enough to stay away from T&J cartoons made in the '60s. They not only are amateurishly drawn, they aren't funny, either.

Jerry has a magician-mouse friend of his come to visit. He can do all kinds of tricks and he shows some of them off to Jerry by just a click of his fingers. One thing that was a cool: Jerry has an "elevator" in his mouse-hole home, one floor taking him right up into the refrigerator. That was the only neat thing of the cartoon,

Tom later goes after Jerry but winds up with the wrong mouse and is hypnotized by him. However, nothing much is done. The whole story is very slow with little happening.

In summary: skip it; it stinks.

The buzzards come home to roost . . .

[pixrox1 · 8/10 · 6 November 2022]

. . . during HAUNTED MOUSE, as Jones, Maltese and the rest of the Warner transplant crew continue their revenge tour with the objective of permanently dismantling whatever "Legacy" Tom & Jerry may once have imagined that they had in the Saga of Animation History. Jones, talented director of the unforgettable "one-off" ONE F-R-O-G-G-Y EVENING for Warner, illustrates how NOT to create a memorable single-shot cartoon character during HAUNTED MOUSE. First of all, the title is a complete misnomer. The new title character is a magician, NOT a ghost! Secondly, this wand-waving wannabe comes in one ear and goes right out the other, standing totally mute, unlike the gifted singer Michigan J. Frog. The silent rodent does not warble so much as a sea shanty, let alone belt out the Michigan Rag. Finally, the sly Jones provides nothing in the way of a backstory for the boring top hat vermin, even though this was the key aspect of his amphibian story for Warner earlier during his glory days.

The magic isn't there.

[BA_Harrison · 4/10 · 29 May 2017]

Tom and Jerry in a haunted house… sounds like fun. Except that isn't what this is. Instead, Jerry gets a visit from yet another friend/relative, this time a magician/hypnotist who uses his uncanny powers on the cat whenever he causes the mice trouble.

Once again, Chuck Jones seems to have no feel for what is right in a Tom and Jerry cartoon, with the most ridiculous idea being Jerry's elevator in the fridge (which is almost as daft as the swimming pool in The Brothers Carry-mouse-off). I remember the good old days when all Jerry had was a sardine tin for a bed (I guess he must have won the lottery).

By now, I've gotten used to Jones' style of animation on T&J, but that doesn't mean I like it, and the same goes for the humour, which cannot hold a candle to the early Hanna-Barbera/Fred Quimby cartoons.

Predictable and bland with little/no energy

[TheLittleSongbird · 4/10 · 3 September 2010]

First things first, I love Tom and Jerry. I love the animation, the characters, the music, the humour and the chase sequences. Haunted Mouse however is one of my least favourite Tom and Jerry cartoons. Granted, it is not as bad as those abominable Gene Dietch cartoons, but I have to say this is very predictable and bland even for Tom and Jerry. Starting with the good things, I liked Jerry's friend and the concept and the inside of the fridge was beyond cool. However, the animation is pretty bad, one of the worst-looking Tom and Jerry cartoons I think. The colours are okay, but the backgrounds are static and Tom looks really odd and his smile really creeps me out. The music is rather generic, and the sound effects are nothing great. But the biggest problem is that the story is very badly paced and so predictable that next to none of the sight gags work. Overall, disappointing, perhaps worth a look if only once but strictly speaking for the real thing watch the cartoons of the 40s and 50s a vast majority of those are classics. 4/10 Bethany Cox

Later Tom & Jerry cartoon, not that good

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 4 May 2016]

"Haunted Mouse" is a 7-minute MGM Tom & Jerry cartoon from 1965 that features Warner Bros legends Chuck Jones (behind the camera) and Mel Blanc (as voice actor), even if the latter has really little to do here. Unfortunately I cannot say I was too well entertained here. The magician cousin brought a couple good moments, but the result was that Jerry was almost non-existent in this movie, which I found disappointing. And the addition of further animals at the very end punishing Tom was just entirely forgettable. And when did Tom become such a good hunter with all the mice and birds in his stomach? Anyway, I personally think this is one of the weaker T&J cartoons I have seen. i only recommend it to hardcore fans of the duo.