It's Christmas Day in the home of Granny, and her pet cat Sylvester delights at chasing her new Tweety Bird and takes fright at the bulldog unwrapped from under the tree.
Similar titles
Reviews
Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!
Simply Perfect
There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.
Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.
I'm sure I'm not the only one who believes that the Looney Tunes franchise of cartoon shorts are some of the best sources of slapstick comedy in all of cinema. Next to Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner, another duo that is known for the chase scenario is Sylvester the Cat and Tweety Bird, both of which are performed brilliantly by the man of 1000 voices himself Mel Blanc."Gift Wrapped" is the Christmas-themed Sylvester and Tweety cartoon from 1952. It isn't often that we see a Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies cartoon that takes place around Christmas time, but in this film, it is the perfect set-up for Sylvester's on-going lust to finally catch and eat Tweety. This is similar to the concept of the 1941 Tom & Jerry short "The Night Before Christmas", in which the famous cartoon duo does their usual shtick in a Christmas setting. But that's another story.Sylvester wakes up on Christmas morning after failing to obtain a single mouse. He finds his present, only to find out it's a rubber mouse. All hope is lost for him, except a moment later, he hears Tweety singing "Jingle Bells". Peeking inside the wrapped cage is his long-awaited snack. However, Granny catches him in the act, and thus the good ol' scheming routine begins, with Sylvester failing every single time, with his only obstacles being Granny (obviously) and eventually a bulldog Sylvester finds in a present most likely for Granny.As I said before, the usual Sylvester and Tweety set-up and having it take place on Christmas day is a unique and welcome idea. The background artwork in the film catches the Christmas atmosphere to a tee, and the animation is top-notch as usual thanks to Friz Freling's (credited as I. Freling in this picture) direction. My only issue is that it could've gone on a little longer, as there were plenty more opportunities to be done. But it's a short film meant to fill in 7 minutes before the beginning of the main feature it's supposed to accompany (most likely a Christmas movie like "Christmas in Connecticut" or "The Shop Around the Corner").All in all, this is one of my favorite Sylvester and Tweety shorts, because it keeps to the formula while also making it a funny short to watch when it's on television during Christmastime, especially for those whose favorite Looney Tunes are Sylvester and/or Tweety, and I'm not just whistling Dixie, brother. The short alone can also be found on Volume 2 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection and Volume 2 of the Looney Tunes Platinum Collection if you are a collector.
Friz Freleng's 'Gift Wrapped' is a decent entry in the lacklustre Tweety and Sylvester series. A Christmas cartoon set entirely in a house on Christmas morning, 'Gift Wrapped' adheres to some pretty standard and not terribly funny jokes involving dynamite and surprisingly effective toy guns. Such gags can be made fresh again with the right execution but in the Sylvester and Tweety cartoons Freleng always seemed content to just play them the way they'd already been played a million times before. The addition of Granny and a Bulldog to proceedings adds a little colour and Tweety is not excessively annoying this time round either but the main thing that saves 'Gift Wrapped' from being as weak as the worst Tweety and Sylvester shorts is the impeccably realised festive atmosphere which gives the cartoon a pleasingly cosy feel. I used to love seeing 'Gift Wrapped' at Christmas when I was young and that happy memory has not totally deserted me as I watch it again. But sentiment is not enough to make a great cartoon and 'Gift Wrapped' remains merely OK, a mildly enjoyable trip down memory lane which opens with its best moment ("You just ain't whistling Dixie") and then fails to live up to it.
When it comes to Christmas-themed cartoons, Friz Freleng's GIFT WRAPPED is my favorite. I can watch it innumerable times and laugh.It is Christmas Day and Sylvester is all excited. He opens a gift for himself and finds a rubber mouse and is angry. He then hears a voice singing and he sees that Granny, his owner, is getting a Tweety Bird. Sylvester then closes up the box with the rubber mouse and then he changes the tags so that he gets the gift wrapped cage with Tweety and Granny gets the rubber mouse.So starts another set of misadventures for Sylvester as Tweety, Granny and Hector The Bulldog stymie him from his required meat intake.Highlights? How about the RUMP-A-RUMP-A-RUMP music as Sylvester is the victim of a stick of TNT? Of course, the great Native American scene is one of the best. I love the part where Sylvester captures Tweety with his suction cup arrow and pulls him in and the music changes as Sylvester shakes some salt or pepper on Tweety and proclaims "Hmmm....Shish Kabob" while Tweety shakes his head from the spices falling on him.An absolute gem from Looney Tunes, one of their best ever. Granny is at her catty best. Teletoon Retro shows the uncut version when they air The Road Runner Show. Check this one out next Christmas and laugh away. Great fun.
This is another winner from the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume Two, with fantastic artwork that captures the colorful Christmas setting magnificently.We open with a beautiful depiction of an old house under a snowfall. It's "the night before Christmas and all through the night...."Sylvester interrupts the calm narrative voice and spits out "oh, goody, Santy Clause has been here and I've been a good pussycat" as he admires all the gifts under the tree. He opens one of them and discovers a rubber mouse, which doesn't exactly thrill him. In seconds, he hears a bird singing "Jingle Bells." It's Tweety in his cage, gift-wrapped "to Granny." Sylvester switches tags and puts "to kitty" on the birdcage instead.Suffice to say, without spoiling anything, Sylvester is not in Christmas spirit, only wanting to eat Tweety, and when a big bulldog jumps out of another present and eats Sylvester, Granny has to keep on top of things or there will be nothing left of either Tweety or Sylvester.Granny sums it up best: "Land sakes alive: what a house!"