You have to hand it to the folks at Warner Home Video, they have found ways to package, re-package, and now re-re-package the same classic Tom and Jerry cartoons on DVD. I went into the new Tom and Jerry: Deluxe Anniversary Collection knowing fully that this release wasn't aimed at collectors like me. After all, I already own the three Spotlight Collections and last year's Chuck Jones Collection. This set's target audience, you would assume, was the more casual cat-and-mouse fans who may be introducing the duo to their kids (but then again, isn't this who the ongoing series of Greatest Chases discs are aimed at?). No, I think the true target audience of this is either the woefully uninformed or the impulse shopper (to put this in perspective, at Wal-Mart or Amazon, for example, you can buy this new "Anniversary" DVD with 30 cartoons spread across two discs for about $20.00. For roughly the same price, you could buy --- at the time of this writing --- TWO volumes of the T&J Spotlight Collection and snag yourself a total of 80 cartoons!).
 Disc One highlights Tom and Jerry's best. The focus seems to be on their earliest shorts and cartoons that either won or were nominated for Academy Awards. No complaints about the selections. It is an excellent sampling of T&J at their finest. However, whoever was overseeing the set was either asleep or just didn't care. Errors and edits abound. "The Lonesome Mouse" has the modern-day re-recorded Mammy audio track and "The Little Orphan" and "The Milky Waif" are the edited versions. Yes, these were the versions that were originally used in error on the first two Spotlight Collections. The WHV folks went so far as to issue replacement discs and used the corrected copies in all future Spotlight pressings back when this originally occurred. Yet here they are again. It makes no sense. To make matters worse, instead of the beautiful restored widescreen transfers that were released on the third Spotlight Collection, "Touche, Pussycat!" and "That's My Mommy" are pan-and-scan (cropped) fullscreen versions. While "The Egg and Jerry" and "Tops With Pops" are widescreen, they are NOT enhanced for widescreen televisions (like the package clearly says), unlike the versions included on T&J Spotlight, Volume 3. In other words, if you are watching it on a widescreen TV, there are black bars on the top & bottom and on the sides. These are apparently the old laserdisc versions.
DISC 1 CONTENTS:
- Puss Gets the Boot (1940) - first T&J cartoon
- The Midnight Snack (1941)
- Dog Trouble (1942)
- Fraidy Cat (1942)
- Puss 'n' Toots (1942)
- The Lonesome Mouse (1943) - re-recorded audio track
- Yankee Doodle Mouse (1943) - Academy Award winner
- Mouse Trouble (1944) - Academy Award winner
- Mouse in Manhattan (1945)
- Quiet Please! (1945) - Academy Award winner
- The Milky Waif (1946) - edited version
- The Cat Concerto (1947) - Academy Award winner
- The Little Orphan (1949) - edited version; Academy Award winner
- Saturday Evening Puss (1950)
- The Two Mouseketeers (1952) - Academy Award winner
- Johann Mouse (1953) - Academy Award winner
- Touche, Pussy Cat! (1954) - pan-and-scan version; Academy Award nominee
- That's My Mommy! (1955) - pan-and-scan version
- The Egg and Jerry (1956) - CinemaScope remake of "Hatch Up Your Troubles" (1949)
- Tops With Pops (1957) - CinemaScope remake of "Love That Pup" (1949)
Cropped version of "Touche, Pussycat!" (1954).
 Disc 2 takes a different route and gives us an overview of Tom and Jerry's cartoon career "Through the Decades". A fun idea that kicks off with the live action/animated scenes from the MGM features Anchors Aweigh with Gene Kelly and Dangerous When Wet with Esther Williams. This would have been a golden opportunity to include one or two of the incredibly bizarre T&J cartoons made by Gene Deitch which have not been issued on any DVD yet*, but none are to be found (they are mentioned in the bonus featurette, though). In fact, the Deitch T&J cartoons are the ONLY incarnation of the duo that don't get represented at all on this disc. Another goof-up worth mention is that the Chuck Jones cartoons included here are the fullscreen versions, not the matted enhanced widescreen transfers from the Chuck Jones Collection DVD. This isn't really a big deal (the fullscreen editions are the ones that have been in television circulation for decades), but, again, this isn't what was promised on the package. Rounding out the disc are examples of the made-for-TV Tom and Jerry revivals from the past four decades. Three of these made-for-TV shorts make up the only new-to-DVD content this set has to offer. (The 2000 short "The Mansion Cat" made by Cartoon Network was originally mentioned among the contents on the original press release for the set, but is not included here on the final product).
Gene Deitch's "Dicky Moe" (1962) is prominently featured on a Disc 1 menu screen, but is nowhere on the set.
DISC 2 CONTENTS:
- Excerpt from Anchors Aweigh (1945)
- Excerpt from Dangerous When Wet (1953)
- Penthouse Mouse (1964; Chuck Jones)
- The Cat Above the Mouse Below (1964; Chuck Jones)
- The Cat's Me-Ouch (1965; Chuck Jones)
- Cosmic Cat and Meteor Mouse (1975; from the TV series The Tom and Jerry/Grape Ape Show, Hanna-Barbera)
- Jerry's Country Cousin (1980; from the TV series The Tom and Jerry Comedy Show, Filmation)
- Flippin' Fido (1990; from the TV series The Tom and Jerry Kids Show, Hanna-Barbera/Turner Entertainment)
- The Karate Guard (2005; Warner Bros. Animation)
- A Game of Mouse and Cat (2005; from the TV series Tom and Jerry Tales, Warner Bros. Television Animation)
Tom & Jerry Kids opening title card from "Flippin' Fido" (1990).
A new 24-minute featurette chronicling the history of the characters is the only bonus feature (on Disc 1). It is somewhat interesting, but covers the same familiar ground as the similar featurettes on the three Spotlight Collections. It is careful not to mention the specific years any cartoon was released, making the "Anniversary" the title of the DVD set is referring to pretty vague to any non-cartoon buff.
In the end, I sadly can't recommend this set to anyone. While it is a solid collection of T&J's best, the quality control was seriously lacking and nothing new is really brought to the table. Casual T&J fans can stick with the Greatest Chases discs or even just buy the Spotlight Collections which offer more cartoons for your dollar. This just feels like a lazy and quick attempt to milk a few extra dollars out of the "Tom and Jerry" name.
* Reader Burt "Geezil" Stein reminded me that one Gene Deitch T&J short is available on DVD in the United States. "The Tom and Jerry Cartoon Kit" (1962) can be found on Tom & Jerry: Paws For a Holiday.
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