5.5/10
Senior Film Conservator

A definitive 5.5/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. Tee Time remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
Look, if you've got five minutes and a soft spot for the really old school stuff,
Tee Time
is a fun little dip back into early animation. Felix the Cat is, well, Felix. If you're hoping for deep themes or slick CGI, you'll probably just scratch your head and move on. But for anyone who appreciates a bit of silent, rubber-hose silliness, it's a neat watch.So, the premise here is simple: Felix needs to practice piano. Does he? Nah. He ditches that for a golf club. Classic Felix move, right? His teacher, a rather stern-looking cat, looks pretty put out, but our hero is already bouncing away, mischief in his step.
And the golf! Man, he's just not good. Not even a little bit. He hits that ball everywhere but where it's supposed to go. One shot sends it straight into a guy's picnic basket 🧺, and the guy's face? Absolutely priceless. It’s that old-school cartoon exaggeration, just hits different sometimes. Another ball sails into a window, shattering it, and Felix just kinda shrugs. His whole demeanor is, like, 'Oops! Oh well.'
The townspeople are getting pretty fed up, understandably. Their reactions are great though, a lot of arm-waving and angry stomping. You can almost feel the movie trying to make you root for them, but then Felix does something so cheeky you can’t help but smile.
Then things get a bit… wilder. The golf course soon turns into a bit of a chaotic mess. After annoying the townsfolk, Felix somehow finds himself in hot water with a group of what the cartoon calls 'natives' who are not happy with his terrible golf game either. It's a chase, naturally, very much of its era, with lots of running in circles and people getting tangled up.
The visual gags with the chasing are pretty standard for the time, a lot of fast movement and silly expressions. It’s kinda interesting to see how these kinds of sequences were done back then. Not something you'd really see animated the same way today, that's for sure. The whole thing feels a bit like a big, elaborate game of tag.
One shot where Felix uses his tail to grab something, or turns it into a question mark? That’s quintessential Felix. These little bits of impossible physics are what make these old shorts so charming. They don't try to explain anything; it just happens.
It's quick, maybe a little rough around the edges if you're used to super polished stuff, but it's got a certain innocent energy. You don't need to overthink it. Just watch Felix cause some trouble and get away with it, mostly. It’s a nice reminder of where animation came from. Like, a tiny snapshot of pure imagination.

IMDb 6.2
1923
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