MOUSIE COME HOME (1946)
Article 4767 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 2-24-2015
Directed by Shamus Culhane
Featuring the voices of Dick Nelson and Walter Tetley
Country: USA
What it is: Andy Panda cartoon

Andy Panda and his dog, tired of trying to get rid of a mouse, decide to move to a new home. The mouse, traumatized by their departure, contemplates suicide.

It looks like I’m in mouse-chasing cartoonland mode for the second day running; Andy Panda even consults a book on how to catch mice as Tom did in yesterday’s cartoon. At least, that’s how the first half of this cartoon plays out; it’s a series of gags in which Andy and his dim-witted dog are outwitted by a crafty mouse. The second half turns unexpectedly dark when the mouse makes several unsuccessful attempts to commit suicide, though it’s played with typical cartoon aplomb. The cartoon is well-animated and sporadically funny, but it suffers from the fact that the characters aren’t particularly fun. The dog comes off best, though he’s little more than a stupid cartoon dog cliche. Andy Panda is practically a non-entity, but he’s obviously the least important character here. The biggest problem is the mouse; instead of being charming and zany, he’s tiresome and annoying, plus he has a truly horrible trademark laugh. Since the mouse is the main character, this is definitely a problem, and his presence drags the cartoon down a bit. Still, it has its moments, and I couldn’t help but notice that in its short running time, the cartoon makes two separate joke references to Carmen Miranda.