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5.2/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 5.2/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. Trouble remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
You should absolutely watch Trouble today if you love weird, pre-code animation that feels like a fever dream. Cartoon nerds will find it fascinating, but anyone expecting normal logic or the famous cat-and-mouse duo will probably hate it. 🪓
First off, these are the Van Beuren human characters named Tom and Jerry. They look like they are made of wet spaghetti and have no bones in their bodies.
In this one, they are ambulance-chasing lawyers. The movie starts with them literally waiting around for people to get hurt so they can sue someone.
The pacing is incredibly frantic. It has that same cheap, rushed energy you find in silent comedy shorts like Double Reward.
There is a great, stupid moment where a car crash happens and our main guys literally fly out the window. They land right next to the victim with a contract already in hand.
The drawing style is so loose that things change shape constantly. At one point, a horse looks like a dog, then a donkey, then back to a horse. I don't think the animators really cared, and honestly, I love that.
Also, the music is just blaring the entire time. It feels like the jazz band was in a completely different room and had no idea what the cartoon was actually about.
Some of the background characters just wobble in place to save on animation budget. It looks super lazy but it gives the whole thing a creepy charm.
I noticed a weird error near the middle where Jerry's hat disappears for exactly one frame. It is the kind of mistake you only see when people are working way too fast.
It is definitely not a masterpiece, but it is a fun little relic from a time when cartoons were just pure, unhinged chaos.