TOM & JERRY: A Gross Imposter
Not even a minute into the new Tom & Jerry movie, I wanted to turn it off. Do not fall for its appearance. It may feature some of the longest lasting icons in all of animation. It may feature my entire childhood writ large on screen, but viewers beware: This is not the William Hanna and Joseph Barbera cartoons from the 40s and 50s revitalized. Tim Story’s Tom & Jerry is a gross imposter of what you know and love about the cat and mouse rivalry.
It’s Not Even About Tom or Jerry
This 2021 movie is really about a young woman named Kayla (Chloë Grace Moretz), who cons and lies her way into a job at the Royal Gate Hotel. The humans don’t stop there. Somehow the movie wants us to get to know the owner of the hotel (Rob Delaney), who does nothing but drop awkward quips, and the event manager Terrance (Michael Peña), who plots to ruin Kayla’s hopes and dreams for no clear reason other than the script saying so. Oh, and Ken Jeong is in this movie as an angry chef, as he continues to perpetuate negative Asian stereotypes.
And then there’s Colin Jost and Pallavi Sharda as a young celebrity influencer couple, who plan on having the “wedding of the century” at the hotel. This wedding drives the entire plot; it’s essentially the deadline the human characters must meet. Meanwhile, Kayla tries to prove to everyone and to herself that she’s capable of running a manager position, I guess?
Notice how I haven’t mentioned Tom or Jerry. That’s because they are barely in this. The story is not about them. It just happens to feature them every once in a while. It’s mind-boggling how committed this movie is in not giving us its titular characters.
Bland Human Characters, Full of Cringe
It would appear to me that Story wanted to direct the actors in this to be as overly dramatic as possible, to try to meet the cartoon standards of the animal characters. Even though it’s the right idea, the script gives no substance or any sense of comedy to any human being. They’re more like caricatures than anything else.
Moretz tries her best to make Kayla likable, and at some instances, she performs admirably. From her awkward laughs that turn into snorts to her natural interactions with Tom and Jerry on screen, Moretz proves once again she has star power potential. It’s just a shame the script is constantly reminding us adults of how terrible Kayla is as a role model for kids. The things she gets away with in this movie are incredible, and the movie expects us to root for her regardless.
Meanwhile, Jost runs around being the guy who dials everything he buys up to eleven, from military grade drones to bringing in elephants for the wedding, all while dealing with a stupid “strict Indian father-in-law” subplot. Peña runs around being a forced human antagonist to the story, all while being awkward because he takes people’s comments too literally. He calls social media “InstaBookFace” and “Ticky Tock.” Am I supposed to laugh because he’s saying them wrong? Then there’s a bartender character (Jordan Bolger) who serves as Kayla’s potential love interest, and a bellhop (Patsy Ferran) whose only trait throughout the entire film is she appears out of nowhere and scares people. And then there’s Jeong. All I can say is there’s a moment in the movie where Tom is about to destroy a cake that Jerry is hiding in, only for Jeong to come in and wreck it himself.
It’s all an aggressively unfunny affair, full of annoying human characters running around to make a bland wedding happen.
Great Visual Effects and Moments of Potential
Where the film actually finds some sort of footing is when it’s actually about Tom and Jerry.
The decision to keep them animated, placed onto a live-action backdrop like another Space Jam or Who Framed Roger Rabbit, is an admirable strategy. Actually, every animal in this movie is animated. Unlike the cartoons, which embrace a zaniness to how everything is drawn, the movie really puts things in perspective as to how much chaos and damage Tom and Jerry would really do to a location. We see couches torn, walls broken, pillows shredded; the slapstick remains entertaining and satisfying.
During the Tom and Jerry sequences, not only do we get some voice acting pulled straight from archival recordings, but there are also plenty of visual callbacks to classic episodes. Little details like Jerry walking through Tom’s head and Tom’s face after it’s been hit with an iron will certainly push your nostalgia buttons if you’ve seen those cartoons before. And god, I will never stop enjoying Tom’s screams of pain.
Last but not least, I do have to bring up how the characters look. The visual effects here are gorgeous. Tom and Jerry has never looked this good before in live-action. Their facial expressions stay very true to the original cartoons from the 40s and 50s, with enough 3D depth to them to make them belong in a live-action space. Even classic supporting characters like Spike and Butch look great here.
Not Understanding the Source Material
Unfortunately, a lot of what works here is still marred by some terrible writing and song choices. To start, there is no orchestra, where certain instruments like cymbals or French horns can help highlight the comedy and absurdity of this series. Fans of the original cartoons would associate a viola or a piano to highlight Jerry running around the house, whereas Tom would tend to have some drums in the background to accompany his movement. Violins would be used to signify a character falling or someone laughing. You can listen to a Tom and Jerry episode and guess what’s happening based on the orchestral score.
It’s incredible how much storytelling in the original cartoons came from the music. None of that is found here. Absolutely none. Instead, we get an entire soundtrack full of hip-hop songs that never tonally match what’s being shown to us. Watching Tom catch Jerry to the beat of Eric B. and Rakim’s “Don’t Sweat the Technique” is just confusing. There’s no storytelling effort, where the music walks us through the highs and lows of this cat and mouse chase. Can you imagine if The Peanuts Movie made us watch Snoopy chase the Red Baron to the tune of “Straight Outta Compton” by the N.W.A.? By putting a rap song in the background, the entire sequence just comes off as a set piece now – a noisy set piece. Any potential development on Tom and Jerry’s rivalry also being a friendship is thrown out. These questionable song choices are found from start to finish. This movie literally opens with pigeons breaking the fourth wall rapping “Can I Kick It?” from A Tribe Called Quest.
Meanwhile, I must reiterate that Tom and Jerry are shoved to the sideline. They don’t propel the film forward in the plot, at all. Rather, they just play like motifs on the side; it’s baffling. This is a movie about a young woman getting a job and prepping for a wedding.
Tom & Jerry: It Pains Me Deeply
It gives me no pleasure, as someone who grew up watching the original cartoons on a Saturday morning, to say that Tim Story’s Tom & Jerry is a gross miscalculation. Full of unfunny human characters and a plot that doesn’t even involve its iconic animal characters, this movie is as aggressively dull as a bowl of unflavored gelatin.
Moretz (bless her heart) tries her very best to give the movie charisma, but the script is just not on her side. The filmmakers behind this clearly do not understand (or do not care) why Tom and Jerry is one of the most iconic and influential animated series of all time. This is not just a cartoon for little kids. This is a series that has won several Oscars for Best Animated Short Film, and it still holds the record today for most wins in that category for a studio.
As someone who to this very day would still watch Tom and Jerry shorts like The Cat Concerto and Quiet Please!, I am gobsmacked at this level of execution. In fact, I went back and rewatched an hour of the classic Hanna and Barbera cartoons like a rite of cleansing. It pains me to see franchises like Shaun the Sheep, Peanuts, Looney Tunes get treated with the utmost respect, yet something like Tom & Jerry gets carried out like this. Even Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie was made with love and affection for the original books. Instead of reminding me why the cat and mouse rivalry is one of my most treasured stories, this 2021 Tom & Jerry only reminded me of paychecks and cat litter.
Did you see Tom & Jerry? What did you think of the film? Share below!
Tom & Jerry was released worldwide in theaters and on HBO Max on February 26th, 2021.
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