Tom and Jerry has been a staple of countless childhoods for generations- and for good reason. A supremely entertaining marriage of whizz-bang animation and gleefully farcical slapstick, the venerable cartoon has imbued adolescents and adults alike with unencumbered joy by utilizing its signature energy and endearing characters. Tom, an aggressive and buffoonish cat, and Jerry, a clever and resourceful mouse, entrench themselves in a literal game of cat-and-mouse as Tom attempts to fulfill his feline duty of eradicating all vermin from the Earth. However, animated hijinks, both in form and tone, inevitably ensue with Jerry shrewdly evading Tom, inflicting immense yet hilarious pain upon him in the process. Most episodes conclude with Tom and Jerry forging a fleeting moment of earnest friendship only to revert to their more adversarial state.
This amusing cartoon was certainly never high art, but it was also completely cognizant of that, providing mass audiences with concise slices of enjoyment. Tom and Jerry was never Shakespeare. It was, well, Tom and Jerry, a mostly unique experience that was light on substance and story but nevertheless involving, unrestrained fun. The program was dependable, undoubtedly and always providing precisely defined lead characters who would spur the humorous actions of the show. The 2021 film adaptation, directed by Tim Story of Barbershop fame, though, almost never achieves this balance.
The film initiates with an average aerial establishing shot of New York City before zooming into a small herb of rapping pigeons, who serve as a framing device that introduces the landscape of the film. It quickly shifts to both the supposed leads of the picture, the titular cat and mouse, as they each respectively arrive in the city with Jerry hunting for a place to live and Tom relentlessly pursuing him, occasionally after Jerry taunts him. The film does quite impressively implement hand-drawn animation into a live action setting.
However, some nifty visual tricks only entertain so much. One may not only ponder but fret at this point how the short altercations between two sworn animal foes will occupy the narrative of a feature film, and Story and company attempt to rectify those fears with the introduction of the actual lead character of this film in Kayla (Chloe Grace Moretz), a young woman who swindles her way into a temporary position at a posh hotel (the same establishment that Jerry resides and Tom, therefore, also tries to inhabit) that is hosting a high-profile wedding between two celebrities.
This is the film’s first transgression: They make Tom and Jerry passive characters to Kayla as she attempts to rid the hotel of Jerry the mouse, which is obviously not ideal for a celebrity wedding, by employing the help of Tom. One of the paradigms of storytelling is to establish interesting and engaging characters to drive the plot, and this film entirely neglects that. Kayla, in addition to the other human characters, including the affluent bride and groom, oblivious hotel manager, and conniving event manager, are all thinly realized and deeply pedestrian. They are simply never compelling, never justifying the disproportionate screen time they are allotted, which takes precedence over Tom and Jerry.
Story’s broad and generalized direction further exacerbate the dull, hollow characters and story. A more refined comedic voice and tonal palette could have greatly improved the storytelling, but, unfortunately, this film is generic in those areas as well. The style is flat and inert, and the comedy almost exclusively adheres to cheap gags. Story seems to think that overbearing music or heavy-handed modern references will make the film more palatable, especially to a younger audience, but it ultimately renders a more contrived and disingenuous experience.
This film almost endlessly plods from each plot point without weaving in anything distinct or worthwhile. The structure of the film is precarious at best with intermittent Tom and Jerry brawls interrupting the actual story and vice versa, and those sparse battles are almost entirely bereft of the intricacy and cleverness of its predecessors (The construction of these scenes believe that the novelty of slapstick is the physical afflictions when, in actuality, it is a well-crafted lead-up). The movie attempts to supplement this with ill-advised attempts at themes of honesty and friendship, but the entire scope is so meager and dissonant with its atrocious characters and narrative.
Tom and Jerry certainly never pulls its punches on a surface level with bombastic and erratic scenes that never coalesce into a consistent plot, but it certainly does on a basic filmmaking and storytelling level. Perhaps the brief, charming tales of a feline and vermin battling for supremacy were never fit for the expanded cinematic format, but this film excruciatingly tries to prove otherwise.
Grade: D-
Tom and Jerry is currently in theaters and streaming on HBO Max through March 28.
Photo Credit / Warner Brothers
