Don't get me wrong I adore Tom and Jerry, but Switchin' Kitten didn't work for me, and I do think it is quite possibly their worst cartoon.
The animation is usually outstanding for its time in Tom and Jerry cartoons, and one of the reasons why the cartoons work so well. Here it is very poor, which is highly unusual for a Tom and Jerry cartoon. The backgrounds were flat, dull and tacky and the characters were very wonkily drawn, Tom especially.
The music is not the rousing, lyrical and fun motifs I am used to. Here it was forgettable at best, and I think what ruined it were some of the most bizarre sound effects I have heard in a cartoon ever. Not only did they not sound like Hanna Barbera sound effect standard, but some of them were even poorly placed.
The story I initially had no problem with. It was different, and it would have been interesting to see Tom and Jerry doing something unique and different. Alas, the pacing was quite sluggish, and a vast majority of the funny gags are deliriously misconceived. And the violence? I know Cue Ball Cat was quite violent, but the violence was funny and breakneck. In Switchin' Kitten, the violence is crude, sadistic and even sickening. And it probably doesn't help that that cat who inflicts the violence on poor Tom who I felt so sorry for at the end of this was so unlikeable I couldn't relate to him at all. And Jerry was woefully underused here, Jerry usually inflicts the violence on Tom but here he seemed to have backed down to the thoroughly unlikeable character and in the process almost ignored.
All in all, I didn't like it. Nice premise but messy execution. 1/10 Bethany Cox