Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

There are better Looney Tunes cartoons than the Sylvester and Tweety series but the series is still entertaining and nice to watch. Sylvester and Tweety are not among Looney Tunes' greatest duos, but at least their duo makes sense and doesn't feel odd(unlike Daffy and Speedy). Tweetie Pie signals their debut together- having been seen before solo- and it is a great one and one of their better cartoons. The cruelty of Sylvester/Thomas' owner is a turn-off point, the one character here who you dislike from the get go, but that's a personal nit-pick above all else. The animation is vibrant and detailed and with plenty of bounce, both Tweety and Thomas/Sylvester well and recognisably drawn and Thomas/Sylvester's facial expressions are expressively done. Carl Stalling's music not only is orchestrated beautifully but rhythmically it bursts with character and it gives great energy to the action. It's not just it sounding nice and that it's action-enhancing but also how well it accompanies the gestures and expressions of the characters and even the sound effects too. The dialogue is sharp and the gags while not surprising are made funny, in some instances hilarious(especially the one with Thomas/Sylvester trying to fly up to the cage via an electric fan), by the interactions between the duo and Thomas/Sylvester's facial expressions. Which like with Wile E. Coyote induces some of the laughs on their own, I don't think the fireplace gag would have worked quite so well without his reaction to that he was burning. Tweetie Pie is violent but actually not in a sadistic or bizarre way that it churns the stomach like the Gene Deitch Tom and Jerry cartoons did. Tweety has the cute- but not too sickly sweet- persona that he is now famous for but he also has shades of the anarchic personality that was given to him in the Bob Clampett outings. But Thomas/Sylvester makes the biggest impression, not just because he has the funniest moments but you also root for him, and this is in general not just here. He may have a different name and be fatter but the voice and the catchphrase are unmistakable. The two work great together and as aforementioned at the beginning of the review their chemistry makes sense, plus as usual Mel Blanc voices superbly. All in all, a great debut for this bird and mouse duo, one of their best if not their very best. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Sylvester (here called Thomas) the cat first meets Tweety bird in the debut cartoon of the duo that would go onto star in a great many lackluster efforts. This was the best of the bunch which trust me isn't saying that much at all as I actively loathe Tweety bird as a character and always tried to avoid his shorts when I was a kid. Perhaps if the first one didn't win an Oscar the Tweety shorts wouldn't have been so numerous, but who knows, perhaps that's merely wishful thinking on my part. This animated short can be seen on Disc 3 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 2 and also features an optional commentary by Greg Ford.My Grade: B

The first pairing of Tweety Bird and Sylvester was also an Oscar winner. Quick, violent and absolutely hilarious. And every time I hear Tweety say "I tawt I taw a puddy tat" I break up. Well worth catching. Also the print I saw had bright, vivid color. TCM usually shows this around Oscar time--look for it!

This is not only the first Sylvester and Tweety short but the first Warner Bros. animated short to win an Oscar! The Oscar was well deserved and long over-due. I must point out that perhaps Friz Freleng's inspiration for this duo was Tom and Jerry. In a way this short resembles the first Tom and Jerry short. However this short is WAY better then the first Tom and Jerry short! Also if you think about it Sylvester and Tweety are basically Tom and Jerry's competition but in my opinion there is no winner! Now what I find unique about this short is that the characters are already fully developed! Then again this isn't the first Sylvester or Tweety short. They had already been introduced before. However, this is the first short where Tweety is fully developed. While Sylvester however, is a unique character cause since his first appearance he was already fully developed. 4(****)out of 4(****)stars