NekoHomey
Purely Joyful Movie!
Gutsycurene
Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.
Ezmae Chang
This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.
Rosie Searle
It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.
Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de)
"The Bowling Alley-Cat" is another Hanna Barbera cartoon starring Tom and Jerry as you may have guessed from the title already, a pretty nice play on words there and even if the title only features Tom, Jerry is the one who keeps having the last laugh like so many other times. At exactly 8 minutes, this one's slightly longer than they usually are and it was released back in 1942, so during the days of WWII, and this means that it had its 75th anniversary last year already, which makes it one of the oldest T&J cartoons and from Tom's looks you can see that pretty well as he changed a lot physically from his original form the more cartoons got released over the years. Actually this is number 007 (Bond anyone?). The two are at the bowling alley and it is really just the duo at that point, o other customers, no other animals, no other employees, just the cat and the mouse he is trying to catch. This results in several funny and witty sequences that in fact not only involve jokes on pins and balls (and their faces), but also jokes on other sports like ice skating very early on. I enjoyed the watch here. It's among the better, but not best Tom and Jerry cartoons I have seen (and I have seen lots) just like it is among the more, but not most, known cartoons starring this duo. Go see it, it's worth it in my opinion.
Otavio-clubpenguin
I Consider the Realistic Animals Tom and Jerry era to start at Puss Gets the Boot and end in Sufferin' Cats.The Story is that Jerry is having some fun at the Bowling Alley, when Tom appears and wants to eat him, leading some fun and inventive gags, that didn't take place inside a House.This is Tom and Jerry first cartoon to take place outside a house. And for me, it's for the best, it allowed some new gags, that weren't seen in the earlier episodes, such as Jerry using a bowling pin as a baseball bat, Or Tom trying to catch a bowling ball like a baseball ball and gets smashed by it. Another Highlight was Jerry teleporting himself to other Bowling Ball inside another far away bowling ball.I recommend it to every Tom and Jerry fan.
BA_Harrison
Early Tom and Jerry cartoons have often been accused of being racistwith Mammy Two Shoes' character possibly being a servant and characters often getting a 'blackface' (amongst other stereotypical ethnic representations)but now I'm starting to wonder whether I'm seeing examples of racism where there are none. I'm sure that there's one bowling ball in this short that is inexplicably made to look like a 'blackface'. Or maybe not.Anyway, regardless of my possible hallucinatory concerns, this is actually a pretty entertaining T&J caper, with the guys escaping the confines of their house to wreak havoc in a bowling alley. The fresh environment allows for a whole new wave of creativity, there are plenty of laughs to be had (as well as much cartoonish violence, as one would expect in a place full of machinery and heavy objects), and the animation is as highly polished as the bowling alley we see Jerry skating on, with convincingly weighty bowling balls that look like they could really hurt.
JonathanDP81
This is one of the early Tom & Jerry cartoons and also one of the best. The animation is superb and extremely well done. The antics of both Tom and Jerry as they try to outwit each other are classic. The parts of Tom trying to bowl with a ball that's much too heavy for him are some of the most fluid and natural looking animation of the entire time period. This and another two other sports shorts they made (Tennis Chumps, 1949, and Cue Ball Cat, 1950) have to be on list of top Tom & Jerry cartoons ever. Definitely one of my all-time favorites.