Purely Joyful Movie!

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

I'm 99% sure that Robert McKimson intended "The Unexpected Pest" as purely wacky entertainment, and it certainly entertains. However, I noticed that the plot - Sylvester forces a mouse to be his slave, but then the mouse uses the predicament against Sylvester - is not unlike situations that we see in geopolitics. One example is US-Saudi relations: Saudi Arabia's government can't survive without US support (lest the people rise up against the government), and the US economy can't survive without Saudi Arabia's oil (if Saudi Arabia's government cut off oil shipments, what do you think would happen to our country?). Beyond that, the US government considers Sudan's government a terrorist government, but can't criticize them over atrocities in Darfur because Osama bin Laden once lived in Sudan, and so dictator Omar al-Bashir can give us information about him. At every turn, one country uses a tense situation to blackmail another country, and what the hell kind of neurosis would prompt anyone to relate this to a silly cartoon?!!!!!!!!! OK, I'll stop. The point is, this is a pretty funny cartoon. Far from the greatest cartoon, but I like how the mouse turns the situation on Sylvester. Is he just a doomed cat or something? Worth seeing.

Directed by Bob McKimson, "The Unexpected Pest" could hardly rate among the top Warner Bros. cartoons featuring Sylvester the cat, but it is still entertaining. Sylvester's owners make it a requirement that he consistently catch mice in order for them to consider keeping him around the house. Sylvester eventually finds a mouse that he can repeatedly chase around (and subsequently dupe his owners into believing he is chasing a different mouse each time), until the mouse grows tired of being a slave to the slobbering feline."The Unexpected Pest" unfortunately does not boast many laughs, but here are a couple. While loafing on the couch, Sylvester gives a rather funny "Eeyew!" reaction upon spotting his owner staring at him. He is also funny when he yells upon getting his hand caught in a mousetrap and when he gets crowned on the head by an iron. Enough said.

Poor Sylvester: his owners sure are cold people. Listen to this: Sylvester is shown sleeping on the couch. The father comes home, spots the wife and says to her, "Marsha, why do we have to put up with that dirty old cat,. scratchin' up the furniture and makin' a mess out of the house?" She answers, "Well, John, we got him to get rid of those mice, remember?""Yeah, but there hasn't been a mouse around the house in months.""Yes, that's right. Well, I'll the society tomorrow and get rid of him."Wow, talk about a pet feeling loved in his house! Sylvester freaks out. "Sufferin' succotash," he says, "I have to get a mouse to keep my happy home."The problem is that there are no mice in house, but our hero spots one outside among the garbage cans. "A lifesaver!" he exclaims.The rest of the cartoon builds on this premise, and then adds a twist near the end when the mouse gets tired of playing "slave" to Sylvester and wises up. It turns out he's a pretty funny mouse. Overall, this is a pretty decent effort with some cleverness, although there are a couple of gags used in previous cartoons, like the mouse dropping dishes from a high ledge and having the cat trying to catch them. However, that might not have been Looney Tunes but a Tom & Jerry. Whatever, this is entertaining overall as most Sylvester stories tend to be. I still prefer to see him paired with Tweety, though.

This is a very funny Sylvester short which has at its plot base a very interesting idea and that idea is very well handled in this short. Because I want to discuss the short in a little detail, this is a spoiler warning: The short opens with the husband of the house coming home and spotting Sylvester sprawled lazily on the couch. Sylvester's reaction to him is priceless. The husband then asks his wife why they still have "that cat", to which she replies, "to get rid of the mice". When he points out that they haven't seen any mice lately, she decides to "call the Society in the morning." Leaving aside the logical flaw in this decision (after all, if a cat is doing the job intended, you wouldn't be seeing too many mice), this starts Sylvester thinking that he needs a mouse to keep his happy home. So he starts looking for one.He finally catches one and it faints. He revives it with a piece of cheese. He then tells it to go in the kitchen and "scare the lady good, or it's 'down the hatch'". The mouse does just that, Sylvester rushes in and pounds the mouse silly and the wife tells the husband Sylvester just caught a mouse and they had to keep him, as there might be more. Sylvester gives an evil chuckle and says, "Or the same mouse lots of times!" Next comes a montage over a series of torn off calendar pages, showing repeated visits by "mice" that look exactly like the first one-until one day, when the mouse tells him that Sylvester needs him or he'll lose his home. Sylvester starts to threaten him when the mouse jumps in his mouth and dares Sylvester to eat him. A smart cat would do just that and then look for another mouse-but that's what a smart cat would do and this is Sylvester, not exactly a whiz kid on a good day.The mouse starts running around, causing trouble and threatening to do himself in. His antics get Sylvester in trouble repeatedly and finally get him beaten, bandaged and thrown out. The ending is cute and altogether appropriate, so I won't spoil it here.This short is on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection, Volume 4 and is well worth seeing. Recommended.