Tom & Jerry
review by Bobby Blakey
Like most from my generation I love all things Tom & Jerry. I can honestly say that I have loved or been entertained by pretty much every iteration that they have taken to this day. Their road in the film world has been hit and miss, but still manage to mostly capture what makes them so great. Now the famous dup are making their way back to the big screen in the aptly titled film Tom & Jerry starring Chloë Grace Moretz, Michael Peña, Rob Delaney, Colin Jost and Ken Jeong with Ride Along and Shaft director Tim Story at the helm. Could this new big screen take on the iconic duo bring the rivalry to a new level of fun or will it be a case of cat and mouse with no laughs?
Tom & Jerry follows the most beloved rivalries in history that is reignited when Jerry moves into New York City’s finest hotel on the eve of “the wedding of the century,” forcing the event’s desperate planner to hire Tom to get rid of him. The ensuing cat and mouse battle threatens to destroy her career, the wedding and possibly the hotel itself. But soon, an even bigger problem arises: a diabolically ambitious staffer conspiring against all three of them.
I am always skeptical when they blend animation and the real world. It’s worked in things to perfection in films like Who Framed Roger Rabbit? And Coolworld, but sadly it typically doesn’t. My love for Tom & Jerry had me excited to give this one a chance and while it doesn’t wholly work for me it does offer up enough of the fun I was hoping for to entertain. Every moment on screen with Tom & Jerry is hilarious and fun, but it’s the humans and the real world that is more hit and miss.
I give them credit for doing a simple thing to explain a way the cartoon characters by just making every animal in the film animated. This at least brings a consistency to the ideal whether it works for you or not. This lets you get past the strange nature of the fusion on some level and just get into the
fun of it all. The story with the real world is fine I guess, but just not overly interesting. It’s a pretty generic story that seems to be one that could have worked just as good if not better as a full animated feature. That being said I give props to the entire cast who all seem to be having a blast here and do decent enough with what they are working with.
Tom & Jerry steal the show as expected and thankfully they give them a ton of time to just do their thing. There are a lot of the classic moments fans love from the original cartoons here and I would be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy everything about them on screen. The biggest positive is that neither of them talked which we all know is a big no, no with them. The animation is beautiful and vibrant capturing all the classic look while still feeling modern. Sadly it doesn’t mesh great with the dirty look of the real world, but I applaud them for creating something unique that worked more than it didn’t for me.
Love it or hate it, any time to watch Tom & Jerry do their thing I am in. If nothing else maybe this will open them up to a new generation to keep the iconic duo in the limelight where they belong. In addition to the film this release offers bonus content including deleted scenes, gag reel, featurettes and more. Grab your copy of Tom & Jerry when it hits PVOD on April 16th followed by digital, Blu-ray and DVD on May 18th from Warner Bros Home Entertainment.