Tom & Jerry (2021) Review

 

 

Tom & Jerry, the lovable comedy duo has been entertaining kids for 80 years now with hundreds of shorts, several television specials, and a few feature films with only two making it to theaters. 1992's 'Tom & Jerry: The Movie' wasn't anything special but I grew up with it so the nostalgia does hide some the flaws there. 2021's 'Tom & Jerry' holds no nostalgic feeling and instead relies on the same modern tropes and cheap gags of what came before. Replace the two characters with Garfield, Alvin, or even Yogi Bear and I wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

But really another big issue here is that Tom & Jerry just don't work when stretched out to a feature length picture. The shorts hold up because they're fast-paced, full of energy, and some memorable and historic gags. Whereas the 2021 film attempts to weave a story in between multiple short sequences and while it could be forgiven that the story is cliche and dumb if the gags and banter between the two weren't as cringe or stupid. The film falls back on lazy gross out humor and when it does have the traditional slapstick of the cartoons, it botches them spectacularly. 

I'm so sick of writers and directors in Hollywood not only taking these classic cartoon icons and turning them into cheap cash-grabs, but I'm especially sick of writers and directors who think so little of kids and their parents that they refuse to give them anything but gross out humor and bad writing because kids won't know the difference. 'Tom & Jerry' doesn't seem to even care if it exists outside of taking the money of people who deserve better and that's the greatest insult overall.

And yes, the animation you've seen above and in motion throughout the film's trailer and final product is just as bad as it looks. This desire to make everything in live-action around cartoon characters isn't new but it makes everything stick out so badly. Why couldn't we have had this cel shaded style but in an actual animated backdrop? It would still look bad, but it would fit better and be a bit more forgivable. 

The movie is the first major release of the year and with very little else to satiate the movie going crowd, it's likely to make a bundle. But make no mistake, it's a bad movie. A lazy movie. A movie that has no redeemable value and will quickly be forgotten when films like 'Raya' come out because Disney actually tries with their animated fare despite their questionable practices behind the scenes. I recommend a hard pass and waiting until that film next week.

F