The eternal war moves to New York – a review of the movie “Tom and Jerry”

Post-lockdown waiting

It’s hard for me to describe what my expectations were when I went to the cinema to see this film. Certainly, my reception was positively influenced by the fact that it was my first visit to this place in a very long time, and all because of the closing of the screening rooms due to the pandemic. I didn’t expect much from the production itself, just wanted to go to the movies. There were probably many more people like me around the world, as the commercial results of the film must have surprised the filmmakers themselves! Tom and Jerry is a simple, childish story of the struggle of eternal enemies, which we all know from childhood. Here, however, the struggle itself moves to New York. I really like the surroundings of this city shown in the movies, so it increased my expectations for production even more.

Let’s move the war to NYC

Tom and Jerry is a new, refreshed version of the adventures of these two heroes. But is the idea itself fresh? The mouse moves to New York, where he quickly finds a cozy apartment in a hotel. As you can easily guess, the rodent is not a welcome guest there. The mission of its removal is entrusted to a new employee, Kayla. The girl won this job by trickery, so she must complete each task flawlessly. To confront the mouse, she decides to hire her natural opponent, Tom’s cat. In this way, the circle closes and we return to the roots, i.e. the mouse-tom-cat fight which is destructive for the environment.

Joker – Hannah/Barbera edition

At the very beginning, a huge plus for all geeks, i.e. numerous references to popular culture. At the very beginning, we see in the background a poster known to fans of the Joker cinema , but the role played by Joaquin Phoenix was played by … the dog Droopy! The protagonist, known for his slowness and almost sad expression, is shown here with clown make-up, and the image itself is signed “Put on a happy face”. A great flavor and a wink at older viewers at the beginning of the projection. Unfortunately, the creators did not follow this path further. The only thing I could spot in the later minutes of the film were occasional scenes taken straight out of old animations about Tom and Jerry. It was nice to see gags that we had seen on TV screens in the comfort of our own home. Nostalgia guaranteed.

Zmarnowani gwiazdorzy

What is the situation with the plot? Unfortunately, it is very simple. However, this could be explained by the fact that the production is dedicated to children. It is worse when boredom creeps into the picture, which we experience a lot here. The rather poor main plot is made up for with more gags involving Tom and Jerry, but it will not always be possible to fix the main plot in this way. The actors also do their best to get the most out of the storyline. Chloe Grace Moretz, who plays Kayla here, despite the simple role, fares very well. Sometimes her facial expressions seem too obvious, like from an elementary school theater, but this is what the plot of the film requires. We will also meet two stars of comedy cinema here, Michael Pena and Ken Jeong. The first one, unfortunately, plays Kayla’s rather annoying supervisor, the second one,The Hangover appears in the movie for maybe less than a minute. Wasted potential of a genius actor.

Well, on average I would say

As I have already mentioned, I entered the cinema hall with great hope, but I left it with a feeling of disappointment. I have been loving productions with Tom and Jerry since I was a child, but here we get a title that tries to be modern, without much idea for a plot. The moments of boredom and sometimes embarrassing jokes do not help. However, I think the target audience of the film, i.e. the children, will have fun playing it. Let’s end with a positive accent – Polish dubbing is really fine (and it doesn’t happen often).

For the film Tom and Jerry, visit the Cinema City cinema network!