Tom & Jerry

Modern family adventures during the 2000s and 2010s have fallen into some dull patterns when trying to connect with audiences connections to older properties. Typically the familiar formula for these involve introducing a human protagonist in crisis with their loved ones, they meet famous cartoon characters in computer animation, they go through a series of destructive shenanigans while lying to those around them, they get caught in a lie, and somehow work together in resolving the conflict. The movies most commonly associated with this include Alvin & the Chipmunks film quadrilogy and the Smurfs duology, which ended up being forgettable and dull to watch based on their writing and direction. This brings us to another feature in that area, Tom and Jerry, which was directed by Tim Story and simultaneously debuted on HBO Max and theaters. I was definitely familiar with that iconic slapstick cartoon duo and was curious about this movie. After watching it, it's safe to say that this is the better version of what Chipmunks and Smurfs wanted to do but it still has the same problems. 

What's it about? The story follows the titular duo getting into mishaps at a hotel as those employees are getting ready for a wedding event. What certainly goes into the favor of this premise is establishing it as a reality where humans and animated cartoon animals exist. The creature interactions lives up to how you would expect them to treat if you've seen any Hanna Barbara show. This narrative has the basic familiarity that the Smurfs and Chipmunk flicks had but feels less obnoxious and without any forced product placement involved (unless it slipped past my viewing). 

However, the problems it does have almost overwhelm the good aspects too much and that lies in one area: the humans. The arcs with these characters are the basic types that can be pulled from a recycling bin: lying to get a job, miscommunication in a relationship, and having a somewhat flirty dynamic while keeping up with a lie. It juggles around those plot points quite a bit while still having to leave some screen time for creature shenanigans. Something to note is the screen time ratio between humans and animals leans more towards the former over the latter (something like 60-40), which kinda makes sense as their budget can only animate so much. The human problem wouldn't be much of a problem if the script was engaging with great jokes, which isn't the case here.

 

How are Tom and Jerry? As for the titular duo themselves, it's clear that the effort towards their slapstick and computer animation was a priority. Their well-known personalities remain intact as ever with their dynamic being consistent between their violent annoyance with one another and occasionally coming to a truce for a goal given to them. Due to the fact that they are silent (ignoring Tom's yells of pain or Jerry's laughter), they have the advantage of avoiding the cringe dialogue that can pop up here (unlike Smurfs or Chipmunks) and focus on their specialty. In fact, Tom's pain durability and their wacky physical feats of creating insane traps (or lifting objects like a bowling ball onto piano) adds to the fun factor. 

How are the actors? In regards to story importance, the actors to focus on are Chloe Grace Mortez and Michael Pena. Chloe gives a competent performance to where she takes advantage of opportunities to her benefit while having to adjust to destructive antics from those around her. Michael is struggling on-screen as he suffers from having a weak script to work with as his lines don't give him chances to be funny (he only has 1 good joke). Honorable mentions goes to Rob Dulanye for feeling like he put in the most effort for the support cast. Dishonorable mentions goes to Ken Jeong for being the most unnecessary supporting actor as his incredibly small amount of screen-time makes his feel like an afterthought.

 

Overall Consensus: Tom & Jerry struggles to be a decent family comedy as its weak recycled script does bring any engaging laughs or memorable moments for its human cast but does a pretty good job utilizing its animated animal antics. ⭑⭑3/4 Runtime: 1 hour 41 minutes PG

 

Reasons to watch it: You are a fan of the aforementioned actors and/or director Tim Story. You like the Tom & Jerry franchise and wanted to see how they are utilized. You don't mind copied and pasted storylines. 

 

Reasons to avoid it: You aren't a fan of the aforementioned actors and/or director Tim Story. You like the Tom & Jerry franchise but don't want to see how they are utilized. You are bored with copied and pasted storylines. You aren't in the mood for yet another family feature that takes place in New York.