Customer Reviews

The Complete Animated Adventures of Van Beuren's Tom & Jerry

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I received "The Complete Animated Adventures of Van Beuren Studio's
TOM AND JERRY" animated films on DVD and was thrilled, it is a real
treasure. These cartoons are a great example of rubber-hose-arms-and-legs animation, an excellent study for all cartoonists and
animators everywhere. It shows animation can have great storyplots
and music added together with simplicity and imagination and lots
of whimsy. Original films like "WOT A NIGHT" and "ROCKETEERS" and
"PIANO TUNERS" and "PENCIL MANIA" and "TIGHT ROPE TRICKS" and
"JOINT WIPERS" and "POTS AND PANS" is tops human TOM & JERRY
animation at its most excellent. Viewing this is great for school
teaching of animation, for inspiration of making animation yourself, and can show you more information than a dozen animation
books put together. Make effort to get this DVD, or you will forever regret it.----- Cartoonist Luisa Felix, Hoboken, New Jersey.

I'm a big fan of early sound cartoons, and am often frustrated in my search for good, clean prints of them. I'm happy to report that these restorations from Thunderbean are far and away the best copies I've ever seen of these forgotten Tom and Jerry shorts. As others have said, anyone with even a casual interest in early animation simply must see these.

What you're getting (and for a very attractive price) is all 26 of Van Beuren Studio's T & J shorts, plus 4 bonus "Waffles and Don" (sort of a primitive animated Abbott & Costello meets Felix the Cat duo), and a handful of essays and promotional materials from the vaults.

For the uninitiated who may not have seen a Van Beuren Tom and Jerry cartoon, you're in for a treat. These were the anything-goes days of cartoons, where characters were exaggerated, inanimate objects sprang to life, and music was a major theme. And while their humble antics paled next to the more-polished efforts of Disney or other major studios, these rough-and-tumble little gems have a unique charm that really sets them apart.

It is also unlikely that better prints will ever surface, so place your order now and support this labor of love from Thunderbean. Highly recommended.

These are black and white cartoons that are fun and naively un-PC. They are genuinely "anything can happen" cartoons - which is what cartoons should be.

A well packaged set with informative extras. A bargain.

It is indeed refreshing, when a fellow cartoon fan, has his eyeballs treated to such a fine collection as this! Seeing these Tom & Jerry Cartoons all together in one collection is a classic animation fan's, dream come true. So many of these Van Buren cartoons have popped up on numerous low quality transfers, as part of shoddy discs, that seeing them here restored from the finest elements possible, is worth anyone's time and money. Reasonably priced to boot! You and your family (Even thou black and white, the kiddies love these!) will harken back to the days when cartoons were done by hand, not by moving a computer mouse. From the first cartoon to the last, you will be entertained and maybe just (Gasp!) educated about a long lost art form.

Thunderbean has done a wonderful job restoring the animation of Van Beuren for future generations. Regardless of tight budgets, the New York studio produced some bizarre and underrated cartoons - particularly those featuring the musical antics of Tom & Jerry. The long-awaited "Complete Animated Adventures" includes the duo's 1931-33 output in the best existing condition. Apart from an occasional misfire such as "Plane Dumb," the Tom & Jerry shorts maintain a good batting average. "Wot a Night," "Piano Tooners," "Pots and Pans," "Joint Wipers" and "The Tuba Tooter" are standouts in this two-disc set. The special features and bonus "Waffles and Don" cartoons provide extra value for money.

The Van Beuren studio was a crazy place, where cartoons seem to have been written and animated at random. As a result, they have a crazy charm that no other studio can approach.
Long before the cat & mouse duo, Van Beuren created their Tom & Jerry, two human characters who evolved from an earlier pair, Waffles the Cat and Don Dog. Oddly enough, Waffles & Don, though they only appeared in a few cartoons, have more clearly defined personalities than Tom & Jerry. However, in short, Tom (formerly Waffles) is tall and skinny, somewhat timid, too; Jerry (Don) is short and round and more daring. They can do most anything - being cartoon characters they can abandon the laws of physics at will - and the results, while no threat to Disney's supremacy, are a lot of fun. Thunderbean once again has done a fine job assembling all the Tom & Jerry cartoons - with the Waffles & Don cartoons thrown in!

From the moment I first viewed "Piano Tooners" I was hooked and heartbroken - hooked because it was so odd and funny and heartbroken because I surmised (wrongly, I'm happy to say) that the odds of ever seeing more than a handful of the Van Beuren studio's 'Tom & Jerry' cartoons was exceedingly slim.

That was three years ago.

Heartbreak turned to despair when Thunderbean appeared to fall on hard times and their releases were no longer commerically distributed.

To my lasting delight, not only do they continue to exist but they have had a stronger and finer animation output than any other entertainment company!

There has been nothing I wanted more than this set, a complete collection, and it only disappoints in that the framing is seemingly a little tight at times and I'd rather have the film cel edges visible than lose picture, but that aside this has been the funniest cartoon set since Popeye Volume one.

Since you're here (of all places), I will assume that you know what you're looking at and not go into details. For those uninitiated few ("Wanna be a member?") I can tell you that "Tom & Jerry" is very Fleischeresque - it reminds me of Betty Boop/Talkartoons "Dizzy Dishes" in it's rubbery, dynamic and slightly unwholesome style. In short, it's a rhythmic and musical delight!

One of the most striking things about them is that the character's (especially Tom's) reactions to stimuli will not be found duplicated in any other studios cartoons - Van Beuren studio's visual acting style here is truly original, bizarre and funny as hell!

$25.00 shipped for two DVD-Rs and thirty cartoons may seem like a lot but trust me, you get your money's worth and all support of Thunderbean is crucial to allowing laymen like myself access - virtually unprecedented until recently - to complete and quality collections on DVD of truly wonderful and rare cartoons.

This and the "Complete Little King" set are what the classic animation lover in your life needs this holiday season!