Movie Review: Tom and Jerry

 

Michael's Movie Grade: B

Classic cartoon shorts of the 1930's, 40's and 50's were one of the main reasons I became a film buff in the first place and I hold these great shorts in high regard. After reading so many extremely negative reviews of this movie right after it came out made by people who hold the original Tom and Jerry shorts in the same regard I do, I began to fear the worst but as a Tom and Jerry fan felt obligated to watch the movie regardless. As rapping pigeons appeared on screen at the very beginning, I felt certain these reviews were right. However as Tom and Jerry first appeared and got into their usual slapstick, I was surprised to find myself enjoying the movie. By the end I recognized the film's faults but none of them ever stopped me from having fun watching this. 

The most important part of a Tom and Jerry movie is certainly the slapstick. Luckily this is done very well. Though many jokes are lifted straight from the classic shorts, a funny gag is still a funny gag and I still laughed. While the pure mastery seen in the classic shorts can never and will never be recaptured, I felt this film did a really good job whenever it came to simple cartoon chase gags. Honestly in this regard I will say I think they did Bill and Joe proud. An aspect of this film that I was worried about was if Tom and Jerry themselves would fit in with the live action story. Most of the cat and mouse's feature length endeavors have been like a late Marx Brothers or an early Abbott and Costello movie. That is to say that there are two stories, one with the comedy team and one with another group of characters. The cat and mouse have had various levels of success with this, but I am happy to say this was a success. Tom and Jerry are fit into this story very well and the human leads never feel like they are in a different movie. In fact while nothing great I found the human story to be kind of charming in its own way. In fact there are even a couple of good gags from the human characters. Yet even with this story the film never forgets that people come to the theatre (or stream the film) for Tom and Jerry. While I am stating what I liked about the movie, I have to mention that two cameos from Droopy were really funny.

Where this movie did not work was whenever it tried to be current or hip. Many of the hip current voices for various cartoon characters simply feel out of place with Tom and Jerry and so do some of the hip hop songs on the soundtrack. Worse is forced uses of "Tik-Tok" or "Instagram" that feel really forced. This movie can also feel quite padded at times and some time in the cutting room could have helped. Of course there are also some jokes that fall flat but this is not as often as one might think. 

I understand why so many dislike this film, but I also have to admit that I really enjoyed it.