Since this was only the third Tom & Jerry cartoon, you can be sure of one thing--exquisite animation. In the early 1940s, MGM suddenly began making the most artistic animated shorts around--even nicer looking than Disney or Looney Tunes. In particular, the backgrounds are delightful works of art. While the Tom & Jerry cartoons remained well animated into the early 1950s, the quality then rapidly went downhill. Now I am not saying the early ones were always the funniest (sometimes they were, sometimes they weren't) but they were so beautiful that even today they stand out as high points in the history of animation.
In "The Night Before Christmas", Tom and Jerry naturally are fighting with Christmas ornaments and decorations strewn about the house. They also interact using the children's' toys--such as the train set and boxing gloves. What follows is mostly predictable--with lots of bonking and kicking. However, a holiday-infused schmaltzy ending follows. While it's not too bad, I personally wanted more bonking! Still, with such lovely animation, it's no wonder this one was Oscar-nominated.
In "The Night Before Christmas", Tom and Jerry naturally are fighting with Christmas ornaments and decorations strewn about the house. They also interact using the children's' toys--such as the train set and boxing gloves. What follows is mostly predictable--with lots of bonking and kicking. However, a holiday-infused schmaltzy ending follows. While it's not too bad, I personally wanted more bonking! Still, with such lovely animation, it's no wonder this one was Oscar-nominated.