Courageous Cat and Minute Mouse - The Complete Series

Starring:Dal McKennon
Director: Sid Marcus, Reuben Timmins
Studio: A&E Home Video
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
Comic book and comic strip artist Bob Kane (1916-1998) is best known as the creator of Batman (1939), but he entered animation later in his career. His first effort was a spoof of his most famous character: Courageous Cat & Minute Mouse, which debuted in syndication in 1960. Unlike most cat-and-mouse pairs, Courageous and Minute were allies, fighting crime in Empire City. Four or five of the five-minute mini-stories were shown on each half-hour program. Courageous is a generic-looking cartoon cat, while Minute suggests a bargain-basement copy of Mickey. The animation is almost as limited as Crusader Rabbit or Rocky and Bullwinkle, but without the outrageous humor. The one running gag in the series is Courageous's Catgun, which can shoot a noose, disintegrator rays, a cannonball repeller--everything but a bullet. It proves useful against such villains as Professor Shaggy Dog, Rodney Rodent, Flat-Face Frog, and Iron Shark.

Amazon.com

Comic book and comic strip artist Bob Kane (1916-1998) is best known as the creator of Batman (1939), but he entered animation later in his career. His first effort was a spoof of his most famous character: Courageous Cat & Minute Mouse, which debuted in syndication in 1960. Unlike most cat-and-mouse pairs, Courageous and Minute were allies, fighting crime in Empire City. Four or five of the five-minute mini-stories were shown on each half-hour program. Courageous is a generic-looking cartoon cat, while Minute suggests a bargain-basement copy of Mickey. The animation is almost as limited as Crusader Rabbit or Rocky and Bullwinkle, but without the outrageous humor. The one running gag in the series is Courageous's Catgun, which can shoot a noose, disintegrator rays, a cannonball repeller--everything but a bullet. It proves useful against such villains as Professor Shaggy Dog, Rodney Rodent, Flat-Face Frog, and Iron Shark.

Customer Reviews:

Courageous Cat& Minute Mouse.......2005-10-26

Great print, and looks good on big 42inch TV. Friends and kids love it!

Thanks.Glenn from Jersey

Too much of an OK thing.......2005-05-14

If Batman had been concieved for a "funny animals" comic book, this would be the result. It's not a spoof, so much as a shifting of the concept in a different environment. I find it fairly entertaining with a couple amusing gags in almost each cartoon, but it is severely hampered by the five minute episode format -- there just isn't much story that can be built up. It's a shame Bob Kane wasn't given a chance to work with somewhat longer stories to add a little depth. Still it is very interesting to see how Kane adapted his Batman concept to a totally different framework.

It's a shame they didn't bother to digitally remaster this material. It is watchable but the age definitely shows.

As other reviewers have said, it plays best if you watch only 2 to 4 episodes at a sitting. Of course, this is true of most short cartoons (Looney Tunes is the only series I can think of that holds up well to marathon viewing.) These cartoons were never intended to be watched for hours at a time.

My biggest complaint with this set is that it is just too much. Courageous Cat and Minute Mouse was a decent series and deserves release, but does anyone really need all 130 episodes? It wasn't that popular or significant. I think it would have been better served with a single disc "best of" collection.

One final quibble -- Minute Mouse's voice tends to get on my nerves. It makes sense for a mouse to have a squeaky voice, but his is just a bit too squeaky for comfort. Oh, well.

They made 130 of these?!.......2004-11-26

I'm all for nostalgia and all but this DVD set does little to invoke any sense of it for me. About the best part of the series is the theme music and intro. I remember little else about the series, having last seen it nearly 30 years ago (!) in black & white. Watching these episodes again I find that instead of being fun, the series is ludicrous: the animation is bad, the plots are nonsensical, Courageous Cat's gun-for-every-situation is ridiculous and Minute Mouse is 100% useless; it almost boggles the mind that 130 of these cartoons were created. As another reviewer stated, these shorts can get tiresome quickly and watching no more than 3 or 4 at a time is recommended. Unfortunately, I rented the first disc from Netflix.com and, not wanting to hold onto the disc too long, am forcing myself to watch 11 shorts at a stretch (good thing they're only 5 minutes long) so I can send it back from whence it came as soon as possible. Feels more like a chore than a nostalgia trip.

Great fun!.......2003-06-20

I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw that there was a DVD set for this old series. I can remember watching it way back when I was a little kid in the 70s, but I had no idea there were 130 episodes. I had to buy it.

As I watched the first disk I was sure I'd made a mistake. These cartoons were bad. Bad to the point of being barely watchable. Choppy animation and ridiculous plots. But as I kept watching they grew on me all over again. Yes, they're bad, but they're so bad they're good. By the second disk I was hooked, and I couldn't wait for each subsequent episode. I think the best episodes were some of the strangest, such as the one Cold War shows with the two spies, and Marilyn Mouse, and the constant mentions of atomic weapons. I have to admit that I felt pretty sad when the last episode ended and the menu popped back up. Unlike so many shows which occasionally pop up in other incarnations, the end for this one really was the end. Still, I'd love to see a movie version of this someday.

The shows hold up amazingly well after 40+ years. So much of it is dated, but it's still a simple, somewhat innocent fun. My one complaint with the DVD is that the episodes don't seem to be in order ; either that, or this show has the worst continuity imaginable. But this I can certainly overlook, since it was so much fun to revisit this classic from my childhood.

Awsome.......2003-06-06

THIS SHOW IS AWSOME!!!!! I love the series. I also love all animation. This series is a dream come true. I love comedy and action adventure, so this dvd collection is perfect. If tou are thinking about buying this series..... do it!! You will not regret.

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