Films like Inside out, Soul, Into the Spider-Verse, and more do this extremely well, making the narrative accessible for people of all ages. One way is taking the opportunity to tell a mature story, while also catering towards children with clever humor and storytelling. Tom & Jerry has a recurring theme of working hard and earning the things in life, but it never digs deep enough, and even goes against it at times.įilms made for kids usually go one of two ways. There’s even a subplot with a bartender at the hotel, played by Jordan Bogler, which hints at a potential relationship with Moretz, but they aren’t given enough time for anyone to tell if that’s what the film is actually going for. There’s nothing really exciting done with them, but when all the other players, Tom & Jerry included, don’t really change or grow, it makes even the smallest growth look like big leap forward. The characters who actually feel like they have fleshed out arcs are the celebrity couple, who go through highs and lows of planning their big wedding. While he is good, the script again, doesn’t offer anything. Michael Peña plays the mean manager of the hotel, similar to that of Tim Curry in Home Alone 2, which sounds like a role he would crush. But who can blame her, as the script doesn’t give much to work with.
Chloe Grace Moretz is a great actress and has already proved herself in films like Kick-Ass and Let Me In, but here she just phones it in. The leads in Tom & Jerry drag the entire thing down. None of which is helped by the characters. This on top of the human plot leaves more to be desired, resulting in a hollow experience. It’s not to say these bits are bad, just more of the same stuff we have already seen as kids. Even the Tom & Jerry stuff is boring at times because it’s just the same gags from the cartoons, but shinier. The exception in this film’s case, is that intertwined between that story are sequences of a cartoon cat and mouse chasing and pranking each other. In fact, it’s a frequently used plot of an unqualified lowlife who sneaks their way into a job or team of sorts – learning throughout the film that maybe they can be apart of this group and the meaning of caring for others. While the animation is a definite highlight, the rest on the other hand is dull and uninteresting. This attention to detail is really impressive and makes the scenes shared with humans feel seamless and natural. Every animal seen on screen, from pigeons to random dogs in the background to even a spider in a small corner, is animated in the same way as Tom & Jerry. The characters move and interact with each other in the same vein as the old cartoons, it’s just polished and updated. The animation is actually the biggest highlight of the film, as it’s clean and practically flawless. Most were relieved when the first trailer dropped and got to see that Tom, Jerry, and every other animal in the film would be animated in a more recognizable style.
When it was announced that Tom & Jerry would be an animated/live-action hybrid, fans were worried and hoping that it wouldn’t be another Garfield or Yogi Bear situation. Chloë Grace Moretz and Michael Peña in ‘Tom & Jerry’ courtesy of Warner Bros.