Well, I didn't hate them. And my two littlest kids enjoyed them, so I suppose the new Tom and Jerry Tales: Volume Two would make an okay time passer for the most undiscriminating young viewer. But just as an experiment, after watching this collection of twelve cartoons from the recently revamped franchise, I put on some old Tom and Jerry toons - you know, the hard stuff, and my kids went through the roof with it. The young people have spoken.

I don't know if TBS or Cartoon Network show those horrible "new and improved" Tom and Jerrys from the mid-70s anymore. You know, the ones where they're friends, and everything is nice and squeaky clean fun because we all should love each other and we should all be nice to each other, and we shouldn't ever ram pool cues down the kitty's throat or smash a hot iron in the kitty's face or slam a window pane down on the kitty's throat or run a reel lawn mower over the kitty's back? You know; that crap. I think the experience of watching those horrendously safe, stale, generic, and distinctly unfunny 1970s Tom and Jerrys pretty much put me off watching revamped cartoons of any established classic animated character. So I approached Tom and Jerry Tales: Volume Two with more than a little trepidation.

Evidently, this new series premiered on The CW's Kids WB Block (which is currently airing on The Paul's IGNORE Block) on September, 2006. Whether it's popular or not, I couldn't tell you, but DVD sales must have been at least okay for this second volume to be produced. Putting in the disc, I expected the worst, but I have to say, I was more than pleasantly surprised by the effort put into the computer-assisted animation that strived for the look of the older theatrical Tom and Jerry shorts. Obviously, the producers and animators wanted to pay homage to these classics, and their efforts are really quite good. They're good-looking cartoons, with that full, rounded look to the characters, and admirable, fully-realized backgrounds with plenty of shading, that instantly remind you of the classic 1940s shorts. Colors are eye-popping, and the character movements are smooth and fluid.

What didn't come across was the return to the anarchic spirit of those original Tom and Jerrys. I noticed quite a few old gags from the originals reworked here, but fatally, there's no build to the escalating violence that the old Tom and Jerrys were expert at achieving. If you remember the old shorts, the level of violence between Tom and Jerry would mount and mount, until even they both became scared at what they were actually doing to each other - resulting, of course, in audience hilarity. That's missing here. The "we're really just actually friends" feeling keeps creeping back into the shorts (which, admittedly, would occasionally surface in the old toons, as well), negating any progress made in the mayhem department. Perhaps forgetting the main point of the dramatics in most Tom and Jerry cartoons - Tom wants to eat Jerry - that rather disgusting reality is largely absent from these new shorts. Do you remember how Tom would get this totally insane look on his face, when he had Jerry on two slices of bread or when Jerry was sizzling around on a hot skillet? That was the essence of the two characters' interaction - that, and Jerry's subsequent efforts to maim and or kill Tom in retaliation (preferably in as spectacularly gory a fashion as possible). That visceral "kill or be killed" feeling is absent from these new cartoons. So, we're left with a pretty good looking cartoon that apes the old shorts, but comes up shy on actually recreating the feeling of those classic toons. Most of the shorts are amusing on a minor level, though (the Digital Dilemma toon is actually a pretty funny take-off on Tron), and little kids won't mind them - if you don't have the originals on hand.

Octo Suave
Beach Bully Bingo
Treasure Map Scrap
Fire Breathing Tomcat
Medievel Menace
The Itch
Digital Dilemma
Hi Robot
Tomcat Jetpack
Piranha Be Loved
Spook House Mouse
Abracadumb

The DVD:

The Video:
The full frame video image for Tom and Jerry Tales: Volume Two is flawless, with bright, bold colors and absolutely no transfer issues.

The Audio:
You can chose either English or French Dolby Digital Surround Stereo - which is cool, because these shorts rely on music more than sound effects or dialogue, and they're pretty good scores.

The Extras:
There are no extras for Tom and Jerry Tales: Volume Two.

Final Thoughts:
They're certainly not as manic or violent as the original Tom and Jerry classics, but the Tom and Jerry Tales: Volume Two collection of new shorts do imitate the original artwork fairly well, and little kids will probably enjoy them. Rent it first to see if they really like them; chances are, they'll probably want to keep the Tom and Jerry Tales: Volume Two for a buy.