The Unexpected Pest
The Unexpected Pest
| 01 June 1956 (USA)
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Sylvester Cat must catch mice or lose his happy home. When he can't find a mouse inside, he searches out of doors and comes upon one meek, little mouse who agrees under duress to be Sylvester's one rodent to catch and rough up again and again in front of his masters. But it isn't long before the mouse realizes Sylvester needs him alive and decides to stop being Sylvester's stooge.

Reviews
LastingAware

The greatest movie ever!

Ceticultsot

Beautiful, moving film.

TrueHello

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

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Robert Joyner

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

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utgard14

Sylvester's masters are going to get rid of him because there are no mice around and his main job was as the mouse catcher. So Sylvester finds a scared little mouse to be his slave, catching him over and over in front of the masters so they will think he is valuable to the household. But the mouse gets wise to Sylvester's game and turns the tables on him. This is a funny short, thanks in large part to the little mouse. He's a hoot! The animation is bright and colorful with well-drawn characters and backgrounds. The music is lively and fun. Wonderful voice work from the incomparable Mel Blanc. An enjoyable cartoon with great characters and a cute story.

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phantom_tollbooth

Robert McKimson's 'The Unexpected Pest' is a neatly plotted little cartoon with some unusual twists and genuine laughs. When Sylvester's owners realise that they don't need him now that he's got rid of all the mice, the cat has to seek out a mouse to save himself from becoming homeless. Threatening him with being eaten unless he follows his instructions, Sylvester uses the mouse hundreds of times in order to convince his owners that they have an infestation. I won't spoil the fun by elaborating further but the final few plot twists make for some very funny moments indeed. 'The Unexpected Pest' moves at a fairly leisurely pace and isn't much to look at but the script is great and McKimson wisely throws the spotlight firmly on the story. It's best the first time you see it but, with the delicious knowledge of what's to come also enhancing the fun, 'The Unexpected Pest' stands up to repeated viewings too. It's a solid cartoon and it's always a pleasure to see Sylvester without either of the twin drag factors, Tweety or Speedy Gonzalez.

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ccthemovieman-1

Poor Sylvester: his owners sure are cold people. Listen to this: Sylvester is shown sleeping on the couch. The father comes home, spots the wife and says to her, "Marsha, why do we have to put up with that dirty old cat,. scratchin' up the furniture and makin' a mess out of the house?" She answers, "Well, John, we got him to get rid of those mice, remember?""Yeah, but there hasn't been a mouse around the house in months.""Yes, that's right. Well, I'll the society tomorrow and get rid of him."Wow, talk about a pet feeling loved in his house! Sylvester freaks out. "Sufferin' succotash," he says, "I have to get a mouse to keep my happy home."The problem is that there are no mice in house, but our hero spots one outside among the garbage cans. "A lifesaver!" he exclaims.The rest of the cartoon builds on this premise, and then adds a twist near the end when the mouse gets tired of playing "slave" to Sylvester and wises up. It turns out he's a pretty funny mouse. Overall, this is a pretty decent effort with some cleverness, although there are a couple of gags used in previous cartoons, like the mouse dropping dishes from a high ledge and having the cat trying to catch them. However, that might not have been Looney Tunes but a Tom & Jerry. Whatever, this is entertaining overall as most Sylvester stories tend to be. I still prefer to see him paired with Tweety, though.

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Robert Reynolds

This is a very funny Sylvester short which has at its plot base a very interesting idea and that idea is very well handled in this short. Because I want to discuss the short in a little detail, this is a spoiler warning: The short opens with the husband of the house coming home and spotting Sylvester sprawled lazily on the couch. Sylvester's reaction to him is priceless. The husband then asks his wife why they still have "that cat", to which she replies, "to get rid of the mice". When he points out that they haven't seen any mice lately, she decides to "call the Society in the morning." Leaving aside the logical flaw in this decision (after all, if a cat is doing the job intended, you wouldn't be seeing too many mice), this starts Sylvester thinking that he needs a mouse to keep his happy home. So he starts looking for one.He finally catches one and it faints. He revives it with a piece of cheese. He then tells it to go in the kitchen and "scare the lady good, or it's 'down the hatch'". The mouse does just that, Sylvester rushes in and pounds the mouse silly and the wife tells the husband Sylvester just caught a mouse and they had to keep him, as there might be more. Sylvester gives an evil chuckle and says, "Or the same mouse lots of times!" Next comes a montage over a series of torn off calendar pages, showing repeated visits by "mice" that look exactly like the first one-until one day, when the mouse tells him that Sylvester needs him or he'll lose his home. Sylvester starts to threaten him when the mouse jumps in his mouth and dares Sylvester to eat him. A smart cat would do just that and then look for another mouse-but that's what a smart cat would do and this is Sylvester, not exactly a whiz kid on a good day.The mouse starts running around, causing trouble and threatening to do himself in. His antics get Sylvester in trouble repeatedly and finally get him beaten, bandaged and thrown out. The ending is cute and altogether appropriate, so I won't spoil it here.This short is on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection, Volume 4 and is well worth seeing. Recommended.

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