Tom & Jerry (2021)
Back in 2009, after the success of hybrid animated/live-action features that bring back old cartoon characters like 2007’s Alvin & The Chipmunks and the Scooby-Doo flicks from 2002 and 2004, Warner Bros. put into development a property they acquired in 2006, “Tom and Jerry”. The film languished in development hell for over ten years under a variety of different story directions and screenwriters, finally getting things together for a 2021 release, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is going out on two platforms: in select theaters and on the HBO Max streaming service.
If Tom & Jerry succeeds at anything, it’s in making entertainment every bit as mindless as they did back in the heyday of the Hanna-Barbera characters who appeared in a number of Oscar-winning short animated films for MGM in the 1940s and 1950s. This marks the second attempt to catapult the cat and mouse to the big screen as a feature film after a not-so-successful effort by Miramax in 1992. Unfortunately, most adults have long since grown out of the slapstick violence of cartoons depicting Tom the cat chasing Jerry the mouse for several minutes at a time which showed incessantly on morning TV in their childhood, while kids might grow a bit bored by having to follow the antics of the live-action players who are the actual stars of the film.
Set in New York City, (but filmed in England), Chloe Grace Moretz stars as Kayla, a street-wise con artist who steals the resume of a highly qualified applicant and lands a temp position with the upscale Royal Gate Hotel. Through a series of mishaps, Jerry the mouse ends up taking unofficial residence in the five-star establishment while Kayla hires Tom the cat to be the exterminator that will preserve the immaculate reputation of the hotel, especially as they are set to host the “Wedding of the Century” between a couple of social media celebrities. Meanwhile, Kayla’s rival within the hotel, Terrance, is out to make sure she fails before she gets the advancement he’s been sucking up for years to attain. Unfortunately, with a mouse, a couple of cats, a bulldog, and some elephants roaming around, trying to keep calamity from ensuing is going to be a near-impossible task for all of them.
Tom & Jerry is directed by Tim Story, whose only stamp of auteurship seems to be his choice to infuse the film with a lot of decades-old rap and a score by Story-fave Christopher Lennertz that dips into outdated funk rhythms throughout, existing neither in the present-day setting nor reminiscent of anything you’ve heard in Tom & Jerry’s past. The original shorts used a lot of big-band jazz, which Story felt might date the film too much if employed in a modern effort. It’s an attempt to make the classic characters seem cool, but its style seems stuck in the 1990s when Story was cutting his teeth as a director of a slew of R&B and hip-hop music videos.
Although the screenplay passed through a lot of hands over the last several years, Kevin Costello gets the sole credit for the script. Unfortunately, he fails to live up to the promise of his debut with Brigsby Bear by making material that lacks much in terms of ingenuity or the stamp of originality. Many other
The film retains the stylistic choice of Tom & Jerry not speaking, although they clearly can read, write, and sing when they want the situation calls for it. Most of their animal brethren (every non-human is animated in the film) can talk as freely as they desire. One other thing that hasn’t been toned down is the level of comic violence employed by the animated characters. They still engage in battle royales, trying to kill each other without any regard for the consequences for each other or the environment around them. Giving credit where it’s due, Story is a huge fan of the cartoon characters and wanted them to be exactly how they are in the shorts he grew up loving.
However, while the cartoon characters are as violent as we remember, there is an element of potty humor introduced in 2021’s Tom & Jerry that seems unwarranted. In one scene, Spike the bulldog being taken on a walk decides to squat and defecate in the middle of a crosswalk for about a half-minute as some sort of way to humiliate Terrance at the other end of the leash who inquires in disgust having to pick up the mess, “How many burritos did you eat?”. Flatulence also bubbles up from a few of these characters at regular intervals during inopportune moments.
The cast is full of actors who have done better work in the past but joined on perhaps thinking they should do something family-friendly. Unfortunately, none of them can elevate the material into something amusing or entertaining. The producers originally wanted Jennifer Lawrence as Kayla and Peter Dinklage as her rival Terrence but they weren’t interested, so they cycled through many alternates before landing on Chloe Grace Moretz and Michael Pena. Moretz studied films featuring Sandra Bullock and Jennifer Aniston where they played women who maintained likeability despite doing some things that weren’t so nice. She also watched “I Love Lucy” for how to handle physical comedy. Oddly, Pena is supposed to be the actual villain of the film, but he comes off as likable throughout as well.
The mix of live-action with cartoon animation will remind many viewers of Who Framed Roger Rabbit. It was deemed a commercial choice by the studio because filling the screen with live actors helps with promotional interviews for a film where the two main stars don’t even have voice actors to tout.
While the animation is reminiscent of the cartoons of old, the live-action elements that dominate most of the run time are not nearly entertaining enough to keep the attention of most members of the audience for its 100-minute direction. The characterizations are generic and it’s not nearly clever enough to evoke much more than an occasional chortle in the comedy department, leaving only the rampant violence between the animated animals as the only way to hold the attention of toddlers throughout.
Adults nostalgic for the characters might do better to search for their classic cartoons online than sit through a largely unfunny and noisy modern take. Meanwhile, most kids who are likely to find this initially appealing may not find it delivers enough humor or moments of interest for them to want to see their earlier and more inspired work. At least those sated one’s desire for animated mayhem in under ten minutes.
Qwipster’s rating: D
MPAA Rated: PG for cartoon violence, rude humor, and brief language
Run time: 101 min.
Cast: Chloe Grace Moretz, Michael Pena, Rob Delaney, Colin Jost, Pallavi Sharda, Jordan Bolger, Ken Jeong, Patsy Ferran
Voices: Bobby Cannavale, Lil Rey Howery, Nicky Jam, Tim Story
Cameo: Joe Buck
Director: Tim Story
Screenplay: Kevin Costello