. . . Warner Bros.' Looney Tunes Think Tank came up with a far more practical solution to stem the periodic incursion of unauthorized North-Bounders: Land Mines. After spending the first five minutes of MEXICALI SHMOES--pointedly set in a border town--illustrating that even crack law enforcement teams (represented here by felines Manuel and Jose) are absolutely no match for any determined Homeland Invader (epitomized during SHMOES by Speedy Gonzalez), the action of the next minute suggests that land mines will slow if not entirely dry up the incoming Red Tide. (Mr. Gonzalez will be a little less Speedy minus a leg or two.) The remainder of SHMOES' running time is devoted to showing the consequences of NOT mining the Southern U.S. border: murder by gun-waving thugs. Few if any Americans would anticipate the U.N. giving us grief about duplicating the success of the current border between North and South Korea. However, to avoid any appearance of inconsistent favoritism, America probably should mine her Northern Border, as well, to safeguard us against baby seal clubbers gone rogue.

Once again, some less-than-intelligent cats go after Speedy Gonzales, only to have him foil every one of their schemes. OK, so not only do pretty much all of Speedy's cartoons have basically the same plot, but they totally stereotype Mexico. Well, as I understand it, many Hispanics like that these cartoons portray our southern neighbor positively. So, Speedy does his usual stuff in "Mexicali Shmoes", always showing himself to be one cool dude; no wonder all the female mice love him. As for his cousin Slowpoke Rodriguez (the slowest mouse in Mexico)...well, clearly he has a reason for existence. Anyway, this one's worth seeing.

Apart from a few early Speedy Gonzales shorts, the rest were very pitiful and annoying. In fact, in the 1960s, they actually paired Speedy with Daffy Duck in some shorts that made absolutely no sense (why would a duck hunt a mouse?) and were perhaps the worst cartoons Warner Brothers made.Despite all this, this is still a very good cartoon--probably the best Speedy Gonzales cartoon of them all. Two stupid cats try again and again to catch Speedy and they end up getting the stuffing knocked out of them by the rodent. Then, in a very funny conclusion, they given up on chasing Speedy Gonzales and one of them quickly chases after "Slowpoke Rodriquez"--the slowest mouse in Mexico. But his friend begins yelling at him to stop, as he then explains that Slowpoke also carries a gun! Well, unfortunately for the other cat, this warning comes a bit too late and you see a wonderful scene of a very lazy mouse carrying a huge smoking revolver!

This cartoon, nominated for an Oscar, is the best of the Spedy Gonzales cartoon shorts that were made in the Golden Age of Warner Brothers. I saw this cartoon again recently and found it was much better than I originally thought it was years ago. The highlight of the cartoon for me has to be the appearance of "Slowpoke" Rodriguez, one of Speedy's cousins. Hilarious! Cartoon Network may or may not air this one. A bit difficult to find but well worth the effort. Recommended.