Tom & Jerry film review: Animated legends don’t translate to film
Since 1940, Tom and Jerry have been a staple of animation, influencing almost every cartoon that followed. With family movies proving big business during the pandemic, Warner Bros are giving these two a shot at a feature length film, a Roger Rabbit style hybrid of animation and live action.
Tom & Jerry puts the pair in modern New York, where Tom dreams of becoming a celebrated musician, and Jerry simply wants to find somewhere to live. They both find their way to a swanky New York hotel, where Jerry decides to take up residence. At the same time, jobless New Yorker Kayla (Chloë Grace Moretz) lies her way into an event manager’s position at the hotel, in charge of a high-profile celebrity wedding. With Jerry causing chaos and threatening her job, Kayla hires Tom to eliminate the scourge. However, not everything goes according to plan.
Tom and Jerry have had a rocky relationship with the feature length format over the years, mainly because the nature of their comedy doesn’t really suit anything longer than a few minutes. 1992’s Tom and Jerry: The Movie tried to reinvent the duo by having them talk (big mistake) and work together (even bigger mistake). Many straight-to-video movies have followed, but we’ll forgive you if you don’t remember such classics as The Fast and The Furry or Tom and Jerry: Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory.
Here, director Tim Story (Ride Along) tries to strike a balance. Tom and Jerry get plenty of opportunities to have some old-fashioned chaos, and thankfully don’t speak; while Moretz does her best to wrap a plot around their shenanigans. The result is mixed, with the slapstick working quite well as the animated characters trash real life settings, but nothing in Kayla’s story ever feels that engaging.
Moretz is a whirlwind of energy, fitting the cartoonish tone perfectly but has little to do other than repeatedly fast talk her way out of trouble. She’s joined by a whole of comedic talent, including Michael Peña as her increasingly suspicious boss, and Ken Jeong as the hotel’s temperamental chef. Standing out above all of them is British newcomer Patsy Ferran as a quirky bell hop who has a habit of appearing out of nowhere. As charming as everyone can be, however, they always feel like filler around the main attraction.
Tom & Jerry is not a terrible film, but it doesn’t do enough to justify a 100-minute running time. While very small viewers won’t mind the wafer-thin storytelling, anyone with an age in double figures will agree these two are more suited to shorter bursts of anarchy.
Tom and Jerry is available on demand from Thursday 25th March