Mighty Mouse's theatrical series consisted of 80 cartoons running from 1942 and 1961. They vary in quality. Some, as far as the previous cartoons in the series go, are quite good, such as 'The Mouse of Tomorrow', 'Mighty Mouse and the Wolf', 'Bad Bill Bunion' and 'The Wicked Wolf'. Others were quite weak, such as 'Eliza on the Ice', 'The Two Barbers', 'At the Circus' and 'My Old Kentucky Home'. The others are in between mediocre and slightly above average.
1949's 'The Catnip Gang' is one of the mediocre ones. It is not quite one of the worst of the series, but it is yet another case of doing nothing new with a premise that has been done to death in the Mighty Mouse series and has felt repetitive for a while. It is a shame that the series went from one of its best in 'A Cold Romance' to a cartoon that is closer to the bottom end in this, although 'The Catnip Gang' does have its moments and good things it is very mediocre.
Am going to start with the good. The most consistent asset of all Terrytoons' output was always the music, and it is once again the best asset here. Being one of only two things to be outstanding. It is its usual lush and characterful self, not just adding to the action but enhancing it as well and also love how wild it is. The animation is equally great in quality, especially the backgrounds and landscapes, the characters are well drawn and the colours are really beautiful on the eye.
The cats are good adversaries, despite cats being very familiar foes in the series (for obvious reasons though) and are the characters that have the most personality without being stereotypical.
Sadly, there are too many bad things as well. The mice are very, very bland characters and basically more of the same variations (with nothing distinct) of the typical mice in peril characters seen a lot in Terrytoons characters. The conflict badly lacks tension, as it too predictable and one knows how it's all going to end as all Mighty Mouse cartoons end the same way.
As for Mighty Mouse, he doesn't make things better. Like too many of his cartoons he feels too shoehorned in, his presence being pretty pointless other than plot device material that could have been filled by any character, and despite being the titular character is merely a very underused supporting character reduced to very more of the same action tacked on at the end. Apart from a few moments, there is very little funny here and nothing is inspired (pretty stale actually).
One of the biggest problems is the story, or should we say lack of it. The story is paper thin to the point of non-existence and takes forever to get going. The action has glimpses of amusement but has very little spark or tension, as well as being very predictable with everything practically being seen from miles away. Despite the cartoon being short, 'The Catnip Gang' really does struggles with having enough content to sustain the length which meant that the first half drags badly and feels padded. Little more than bland and repetitive cat and mouse conflict.
In summary, mediocre. 4/10.
1949's 'The Catnip Gang' is one of the mediocre ones. It is not quite one of the worst of the series, but it is yet another case of doing nothing new with a premise that has been done to death in the Mighty Mouse series and has felt repetitive for a while. It is a shame that the series went from one of its best in 'A Cold Romance' to a cartoon that is closer to the bottom end in this, although 'The Catnip Gang' does have its moments and good things it is very mediocre.
Am going to start with the good. The most consistent asset of all Terrytoons' output was always the music, and it is once again the best asset here. Being one of only two things to be outstanding. It is its usual lush and characterful self, not just adding to the action but enhancing it as well and also love how wild it is. The animation is equally great in quality, especially the backgrounds and landscapes, the characters are well drawn and the colours are really beautiful on the eye.
The cats are good adversaries, despite cats being very familiar foes in the series (for obvious reasons though) and are the characters that have the most personality without being stereotypical.
Sadly, there are too many bad things as well. The mice are very, very bland characters and basically more of the same variations (with nothing distinct) of the typical mice in peril characters seen a lot in Terrytoons characters. The conflict badly lacks tension, as it too predictable and one knows how it's all going to end as all Mighty Mouse cartoons end the same way.
As for Mighty Mouse, he doesn't make things better. Like too many of his cartoons he feels too shoehorned in, his presence being pretty pointless other than plot device material that could have been filled by any character, and despite being the titular character is merely a very underused supporting character reduced to very more of the same action tacked on at the end. Apart from a few moments, there is very little funny here and nothing is inspired (pretty stale actually).
One of the biggest problems is the story, or should we say lack of it. The story is paper thin to the point of non-existence and takes forever to get going. The action has glimpses of amusement but has very little spark or tension, as well as being very predictable with everything practically being seen from miles away. Despite the cartoon being short, 'The Catnip Gang' really does struggles with having enough content to sustain the length which meant that the first half drags badly and feels padded. Little more than bland and repetitive cat and mouse conflict.
In summary, mediocre. 4/10.
