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Tom & Jerry Movie Review Rating: 1.5/5 Stars (One and a half stars)
Star Cast: Chloë Grace Moretz, Michael Peña, Colin Jost, Pallavi Sharda
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Director: Tim Story
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What’s Good: It’s releasing at a time where not many people will actually show up to the theatres, to witness their childhood crashing down right in front of them on a big screen
What’s Bad: Shows the kid in me how Tom & Jerry would look in 2021, rather than taking me back to how they were in the 90s.
Loo Break: Take a break to watch this and you’ll need to watch it in episode-style because things get very monotonous
Watch or Not?: Watch it on a lazy Sunday, when you’ve absolutely nothing to do & even then if you can, rewatch the show
User Rating:
For some strange reason, the makers decide to start the movie with a totally irrelevant A Tribe Called Quest’s song, Can I Kick It? I mean, if Timmy boy says the song has an underlying relationship with the plot, I don’t care. This is Tom & Jerry, I want lame, and I don’t want to use even a teeny weeny part of my brain. Okay, getting back to the story, we’ve Jerry the mouse hunting for a place to live & he somehow lands in this luscious, exquisite Royal Gate Hotel.
That’s the hotel where Kayla (Chloë Grace Moretz) is cheating to get a job as an assistant to the deputy hotel manager Terrence (Michael Peña). The hotel is currently hosting a big fat Indian wedding & that’s where all the mess begins. To save the reputation of taking a dip, Kayla is asked to take care of Tom & Jerry. Is that even possible? That’s what this episode… ahem… the movie is all about!
Once a great man/woman (username:
anxietyresister) said, “There are three things that must be obeyed in life: a)The Pope must be Catholic. b) British summers must get shorter and wetter every year. c) Tom and Jerry must never be allowed to speak.” 1992’s Tom & Jerry, among all the other significant mistakes, made the cat & mouse speak, but its latest live-action predecessor filled the former loophole but has repeatedly many of the already attempted mistakes again. Director’s last name is (Tim) Story, but that’s what is missing from the film.
There is a reason why the original makers (William Hanna, Joseph Barbera) of the show wanted this idea to be a show and not a feature film. The lead human character in the movie, Kayla, says to Tom & Jerry, “It’s like you’re fighting for years”, and that’s precisely where the problem lies. Now, just like you all fans, even I’ve binge-watched the show repeatedly for hours without getting bored, but that’s not the same case here. Kevin Costello’s story couldn’t maintain the balance between persuasive nostalgia, innocent whimsy & quality comedy to keep us intrigued.
There were two ways this could’ve got proper justice, either go all way the lame or pen the smartest comedy better than anyone ever has. This clearly goes nowhere towards neither of those directions. This is just a lazy attempt at milking our textbook prolonged yearning for things we left in childhood. Why didn’t they go all cartoon? The only real people affected by this Tom & Jerry’s live-action buffoonery are those who are watching them on-screen.
Thankfully Tom & Jerry don’t speak, so there’s no real voice-cast to talk about them. From the actors in human flesh, Chloë Grace Moretz holds the most crucial role in the film, which works at certain levels. She’s overqualified for the job, and so is Michael Peña’s suffocating portrayal of Deputy Hotel Manager Terrence.
None of the actors gets their moment of fame for even a single scene. Peña ends up being a laughing stock, as he follows a very unimpressive character-arc. The moment I felt makers had got something with Patsy Ferran’s out-of-the-box weirdo Joy, unfortunately, the result remained to the opposite of her character name. Colin Jost, Pallavi Sharda as the wedding’s Groom & Bride, are good, but they are not for this picture.
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The biggest issue with the film is hiring someone like Tim Story & Kevin Costello to delegate them the most important aspects of the narrative. This one needs people from the universe. Tom & Jerry have grown for the audience. Even if not for all the childhood memories attached to it, this is still a story with flat jokes & forced comedy.
The problem with the soundtrack is it has very limited SFX from the show to work upon. There are just a couple of sound-effects that will excite the 90s kid in you. With songs like A Tribe Called Quest’s song Can I Kick It? & Jacob Banks’ Something Beautiful, the motive of composer Christopher Lennertz doesn’t make sense. Where’s Bruno Mars’ Count On Me, which gelled so well with the theme in the trailer? A disappointment nevertheless.
All said and done; there’s no way the show’s fans are liking this. It fails to achieve the only thing it’s designed to do – make you laugh.
One and a half stars!
Tom & Jerry releases on 26th February 2021.
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