Review of Tom and Jerry: The Movie (1993) by Bryson M — 10 Jul 2011

You all remember Tom and Jerry right? Yeah, they were the best. I still remember their animated shorts, my favorite being The Cat Concerto. We loved their Academy Award winning shorts and they will always be remembered. Yet there should be a law barring some things from being made, like...oh, I don't know...THIS! I saw this as a kid, but despite that I didn't remember any of it before I re-watched it for the first time in like 14 years. The reasons behind my amnesia are not so unbelievable, seeing how I probably didn't like this film even though I was a dumb, happy-go-lucky child. Joseph Barbera happened to be the creative consultant for the film, but I doubt he had anything to do with it seeing how it's nothing like the show he and William Hanna created. Gosh, they must be rolling in their graves by the way the cast and crew of this film tarnished Hanna and Barbera's creation by making this eyesore.

If I as a child could tell that this film was a pretty dumb film then certainly all of you will see what makes this a pathetic excuse for an animated film. I mean, none of you are little kids right? The fact that the Tom and Jerry shorts had such a small and simple plot means that a film that ran for 84 minutes would not be able to utilize the same plot concept. So when this film decided to make a broader and more intricate plot it fell apart, kinda like Madonna's film career did. Thus we're given a plot that not only has little to do with our main characters but also has no correlation with the original series. The added characters that join the cat and mouse duo are very bland and uninteresting, and the very poor execution of the character development is a direct source of that insipidness. Believe it or not, but Tom and Jerry actually talk in this film, which is a big no-no for the series in general. Not only that, but also they, and a lot of other characters in the film, can sing songs. The songs are like listening to a cat that swallowed a whoopee cushion getting run over, and maybe a bit of a cicada's sound thrown in there as well. Just to put this film review in a nutshell, you'd be more inclined to watch that cicada grow up as a pupa and die than watch this, and watching that cicada could take another 17 years of your life away. Don't step on that cicada though, step on this film. As for me, I'll stick to the shorts.