I'm surprised that it took this long for this classic duo to get the Smurfs treatment. Tom & Jerry has been in development hell since its first announcement in 2009, after the success of Fox's Alvin & the Chipmunks, originally a live-action-animation hybrid, then announced as an animated movie. Then, when Tim Story, the mastermind behind the 2nd worst Fantastic Four adaptation, was brought on to direct, it went back to the hybrid again. But I think most people can admit when the trailer came out that the film looked very different from what they were expecting; the designs of the animal characters did look like a faithful adaptation, and the CG looked like 2D animation in 3D form. But how does the film itself hold up? Let's take a look!
THE STORY
In this film, Tom & Jerry are basically bums in New York City looking for homes. Jerry finds one at a five star hotel where a girl named Kayla, played by Chloë Grace-Moretz, has just been hired as an assistant to the events manager to help with a huge wedding of two celebrities I've never heard of before. But when Jerry gets spotted, she's put in charge of getting rid of him, and she hires Tom as nature's exterminator, as she puts it.
WHAT'S GOOD ABOUT IT
If technology was an obstacle for why Disney hasn't made another Roger Rabbit, this movie may have provided an answer. The CGI here is impressive in how it recreates the style, textures, color, and lighting and shading of 2D animated characters in a 3D environment. Tom & Jerry look exactly like their old selves, and the rest of the animals do look like cartoon characters that exist in the same environment as the live actors.
One thing that has bothered me about recent family media is how restrained it can be. Tom & Jerry was known for violent slapstick that has been so censored these days that Fairly Oddparents made fun of it at one point. If you're going into this movie expecting that same restraint, fear not, because this has all the violence you've been waiting to see!
WHAT DOESN'T WORK ABOUT IT
This has to be Chloë's worst performance ever. She stammers and stumbles so much, it's almost like Ed Wood or Tommy Wiseau took over directing for a second. None of the actors talk like normal people or even cartoon characters, the latter of which I ironically would have been okay with here. On top of that, though, I guess because of Tom & Jerry's silent nature, the humans' dialogue drags out ridiculously. It gets annoying fast.
Again, because Tom & Jerry has never really had experience of keeping focus for longer than five minutes, the plot gets jumbled fast. At first, it seems like it's in the right place with Tom chasing after Jerry, but then, an engagement ring goes missing, and then the duo needs to just leave the hotel for the duration of the wedding, and... There's not much of a central focus in the plot.
Tim Story is not an inherently bad director; Barbershop was suitably laid back and cultural. But he does have a tendency to overreach with big blockbusters like Fantastic Four and Shaft, and this is no exception. His laid back, R&B style does not match the cartoony tone of Tom & Jerry; it's just as bad of a match as Michael Bay doing Transformers.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
My rating:
