The New 'Tom & Jerry' Movie Sucks

The most recent Tom & Jerry movie combines live-action and animation.  The animals are animated, while everything else is live-action.  In it, the iconic cartoon archrivals bring their slapstick cat-and-mouse skirmishes into New York’s fanciest hotel, where a high-profile wedding is scheduled to take place.  As expected, chaos ensues, threatening the employment of fresh hiree Kayla (Chloë Grace Moretz) as well as the actual wedding itself.

Everybody loves old-school Tom & Jerry cartoons.  But frankly, Tom & Jerry movies, on average, aren’t very good.  A lot are stinkers, and if ever there happens to be an enjoyable one, it isn’t memorable.   I guess their formula simply doesn’t translate well beyond short, standalone skits.  Although this latest movie tried to shake things up by mixing live-action and animation, there is still no breakthrough.  On the contrary, this could be the worst so far.

This Tom & Jerry movie has similar vibes as live-action/CG animation mashup movie adaptations like Garfield, The Smurfs, and Yogi Bear.  And reading about its production, it finally makes sense why this movie feels like this.  It was originally conceptualized in 2009, as response to the success of 2007’s live-action Alvin and the Chipmunks.

There is no reason why this movie had to be a mix of live-action and animation.  Nothing fresh was achieved from this approach.  The script lacks worthwhile humor, originality, and cleverness.  It’s boring for long stretches.  It even fails to evoke any feeling of nostalgia for its source material.  There is no real sense of effort and thought put into it, signifying that it’s the kind of movie that was simply made so that some suits could make a quick buck out of it.

Now, I didn’t go into this movie intending to trash it.   Again, when I watched the vintage MGM Tom & Jerry shorts as a kid, I busted my gut laughing.  I even still chuckle now as an adult whenever I come across those clips.  Tom & Jerry has a soft spot in my heart, so I was rooting for this movie to, at the very least, replicate the charm of those classic cartoons.  And with Chloë Grace Moretz and Michael Peña in the cast, I maintained some hope that this movie would have great comedy.

Unfortunately, it turned out just sucking.