Konterr Brilliant and touching

Donald Seymour This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Allison Davies The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Kamila Bell This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

TheLittleSongbird Love animation, it was a big part of my life as a child, particularly Disney, Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry, and still love it whether it's film, television or cartoons.Chuck Jones deserved, and still does deserve, his status as one of animation's most legendary, greatest and most important directors/animators. He may have lacked the outrageousness and wild wackiness of Bob Clampett and Tex Avery, but the visual imagination, wit and what he did with some of the best-known and most iconic characters ever were just as special. 'Tom Thumb in Trouble' may not be one of his best cartoons, but it shouldn't be dismissed as it can easily be for being a subdued effort for Jones that is more reliant on heartfelt emotion than it is hearty, witty humour.Pacing may lack the zip that one would expect for Jones, something that early Jones cartoons have been criticised for. But really there is very little to criticise 'Tom Thumb in Trouble' for.All three characters are immensely engaging and have a wonderful rapport with each other, very easy to relate to Tom Thumb. The friendship and love is realised beautifully and with a lot of heart. Shepperd Strudwick does understatement beautifully in his voice work.Story is effective in its simplicity, is high in charm and cuteness and is very touching. It is easy to dismiss 'Tom Thumb in Trouble' as a sentimental cartoon that cloys too much, but actually to me the sentiment wasn't overdone and was well-meaning and poignant.'Tom Thumb in Trouble' is beautifully animated. It's fluid in movement, crisp in shading, vibrant and atmospheric in colour and very meticulous in detail. Jones does direct very solidly. Ever the master, Carl Stalling's music is typically superb. It is as always lushly orchestrated, full of lively energy and characterful in rhythm, not only adding to the action but also enhancing it. The use of pre-existing music is inspired. Overall, excellent. 9/10 Bethany Cox

slymusic "Tom Thumb in Trouble" is an absolutely sweet, cute, innocent cartoon made at Warner Brothers. It was directed by Chuck Jones, and he most likely got in trouble for it. The Warner Bros. cartoon studio was known for its lively, fast-paced, hilarious cavalcade of animation treasures, and Leon Schlesinger, the "big guy" himself, declared that he didn't want any cutesy Disney-type cartoons. Chuck Jones fortunately followed Schlesinger's order, but for now, let us turn our discussion to the beautifully-made "Tom Thumb in Trouble". With its careful attention to detail, this film boasts interesting camera angles; a superlative usage of light & shadow; a fine music score by Carl Stalling; and a wonderful rapport between the adorable Tom Thumb, his kindly lumberjack father, and a sweet little bird.My favorite moments from this cartoon? Tom is hilarious as he struggles to pin down an alarm clock ringer. While performing all his daily chores, Tom sings a cheerful tune. The ink/paint department did a fantastic job on the facial shadows of Tom's father as he opens his window and calls out to Tom during a violent snowstorm. When the father enters his home and glares menacingly downward at the bird, the effect is absolutely terrifying! As you began reading my commentary for "Tom Thumb in Trouble", you might have predicted that the tone of my writing was going to be negative, but no, this is a cartoon that I highly admire, even if it does not have the wacky, looney spirit of the Warner Bros. animation department. As children, I'm certain we can all relate to Tom trying to explain something to his dad, who refuses to listen. Everything works out fine in the end, though.

Lee Eisenberg During his first few years as director, Chuck Jones actually veered more away from the zany comedy that had come to characterize Warner Bros. animation (although he did direct a few wacky cartoons, it seems like his work only turned to the totally crazy once he started directing Bugs Bunny). Two of his cartoons from this era - both stripped of their opening credits in the Blue Ribbon reissue - were so bereft of zaniness that it's a surprise that they even came from Termite Terrace: "Old Glory" and "Tom Thumb in Trouble".The latter portrays a woodsman and his minuscule son Tom (would so tiny a boy actually use the mature form instead of the diminutive Tommy?) living alone in a log cabin. When the dad goes out and Tom nearly drowns, a bird flies in and saves the tyke. And then the dad arrives home and assumes that the bird attacked little Tom! Has the world run completely amok?! Here's what I mean by calling this cartoon a combination of Wagner's music and Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds". In the scene where Tom walks through the snow-laden forest in search of the bird, we hear "Ride of the Valkyries" (which Chuck Jones later used in "What's Opera, Doc?" when Elmer sings "Kill the wabbit! Kill the wabbit! Kill the wabbit!"). The Hitchcock connection arises in the scene where the dad finds the bird with Tom. It's clear that the bird crashed through the window - you may recall the scene where Jessica Tandy's character finds the man with his eye pecked out - and it looks as though the avian has turned violent.OK, so I'm probably the only person who interpreted this cartoon like that. It's just that with the more saccharine cartoons, I like to maintain full sanity by coming up with weird interpretations. Overall, this one's okay in a pinch.

TxMike The TCM network shows film "shorts" as a time filler between movies and this one was shown right before the 'Tom Thumb' feature length movie with Russ Tamblyn. This animated short shows a typical winter day for Tom and his dad. Tom is so small, he takes a bath in the water held in dad's hands. When dad goes outside to labor, Tom uses a tiny mop and suds to clean a plate, as a normal size person might clean a kitchen floor. But Tom has a mishap and falls into a pot of soapy water and cannot get out, the sides are so slippery.A bird about Tom's size is watching from outside, and flies so hard into the window to break it and rescue Tom. Dad, who looks much like 'Bluto' of the Popeye, comes back to find the broken window, Tom wet and barely conscious, and tries to swat the bird before it flies back out the window. Tom writes a very large (for him) note at night telling dad he is going out to find the bird that saved him. Dad is worried but Tom finds the bird, and flies home on the back of the bird which is about his size. The story ends with the three of them sleeping soundly, the bird making its nesting place in dad's beard. Cute animated film short.