utgard14 Fun Chuck Jones short that introduced minor Looney Tunes characters Hubie and Bertie. If you aren't familiar with them, they're two mice (one brown, one gray) who act as the antagonist for some other character, in this case a pampered cat who lives in a wealthy household where he never has to catch mice or anything. So he's lazy and spoiled. He also plays pranks which ticks off the butler so much he quits, leaving the cat alone to fend for himself. Enter Hubie and Bertie to screw with him. The music is quite nice and matches the action well. The animation is lovely. There's one brilliant scene in particular where the cat is freaking out because he's alone. Really good stuff. It's a fun cartoon with some nice Jones touches. As other reviewers have noted, the second half isn't as strong as the first. But it's never bad.

TheLittleSongbird On the most part, The Aristo-Cat is very good and entertaining. Sadly it is rather let down by the second half, the pace starts to lag here, while the outcome is predictable and gives the sense that the cartoon had run out of ideas. The bulldog is a decent enough character but the least memorable and funny character of The Aristo-Cat, kind of too much of a plot device for some sort of conflict for Pussy. Pussy however is a very strong character, for one whose screen time is relatively short, he is highly amusing but you feel sorry for him at the same time. The mice Hubie and Bertie are very funny and interesting too, though they are in the part of the cartoon that doesn't quite do their talents justice. The animation is wonderful though, bright, colourful, fluid and detailed. The highlight is Pussy's breakdown, a startling and brilliantly strange sequence, it's been said that it is one of the best breakdowns/mental collapses in cartoon history and personally there is no dispute there. The music has nearly always been a large part of any animated short(Looney Tunes and Disney are especially true to this), that's true with The Aristo-Cat as well. It sounds beautiful and full of energy and character, the use of pre-existing classical pieces are enough to delight any fans of classical music(raising a very proud hand here). The dialogue and gags in the first half are hugely entertaining, and while the story is very thin structurally the first half is paced well, second half not so much, and has its charm. The voice work is terrific, you can never go wrong with Mel Blanc, one of the gods of voice acting. On the whole, definitely recommended though the second half doesn't quite live up to what was so good about the first. 7/10 Bethany Cox

ccthemovieman-1 Well, after reading a couple of the other reviews here, I feel a little better. I thought maybe I missed something, thinking this animated short was pretty weak. Apparently, others agree.It might have been a landmark of sorts with the introduction of Claude The Cat and the two mice, Hubie (his name wasn't mentioned in this cartoon) and Bertie, but that doesn't mean it was entertaining. It wasn't, except for some of the artwork. This was the first of seven "Hubie and Bertie" cartoons.Claude was just not-funny stupid, and sadistic. Forced to fend for himself after "Meadows" the butler quits after being abused by the cat, Claude finds himself clueless. He has no idea how to do anything for himself. Apparently he doesn't even know what a mouse or a dog looks like, despite the fact there is a dog in the house.When he encounters the mice, he is scared out of his mind and runs for the hills. Finally, he winds up talking to them and they take advantage of the situation. Overall, this offers almost nothing in the way of laughs except one quick scene when Claude first meets the bulldog, face-to-face.

Robert Reynolds This cartoon tries, but it just misses the mark. Something about it simply doesn't quite gel, which is a shame. It has some good moments, but the whole is less than the sum of its parts. Because I want to discuss a few details, this is a spoiler warning: The short starts out promisingly enough, with the pampered cat of a rich dowager making the life of the butler, Meadows, an unhappy one. First, the cat squirts grapefruit juice in his eye and then causes him to slip on a bar of soap, each time laughing hysterically. So Meadows quits.The cat panics and begins searching for food and reads that cats are supposed to eat mice. He and Hubie (Hubie is a mouse) spot one another simultaneously and both are terrified. Hubie realizes the cat is frightened and learns that the cat doesn't know what a mouse looks like, so he introduces his pal Bert (another mouse) and then clues Bert in on their new "friend's" ignorance. They then convince him that a bulldog is actually a very large mouse. The cat tries to eat the bulldog, in what is probably the best visual scene in the short.Immediately after this scene, the short falls apart, probably because the cat then sees pictures of a mouse and a bulldog and realizes he's been tricked. At this point, the funniest premise in the short (a cat who doesn't recognize either mice or dogs) is removed as a plot device and nothing tangible is left to carry the rest of the short. for a good example of a much better use of the same characters where this mistake wasn't made and the short is infinitely the better because the funniest concept wasn't abruptly yanked away, watch Cheese Chasers, done eight years later.The ending to this short partially salvages the cartoon, but it could have been so much better than it finally turned out. Still, it is worth seeing for the characters. This short is available on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection, Volume 4, which is highly recommended.