Tom and Jerry: The Movie
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This article is about 1992 version. You may be looking for 2021 version of the same name. |
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_-_Official_Poster.jpg) What kind of Tom and Jerry movie is this?
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Tom and Jerry: The Movie (also referred to as Tom and Jerry (1992)) is a 1992 American animated musical buddy adventure comedy film produced and directed by Phil Roman and released in Germany by Turner Pictures and in the United States by Miramax Films and LIVE Entertainment. It is a feature-length film starring the characters from the Tom and Jerry series and their first one to receive a wide theatrical release. It's also noticeable for being one of the very first Tom and Jerry films to be created and would be later fallowed up by many more sequels. After having its world premiere in Germany on October 1, 1992, Tom and Jerry: The Movie was released theatrically in the United States on July 30, 1993, by Miramax Films.
A live-action/animated film in the veins of Who Framed Roger Rabbit titled Tom & Jerry was released on February 26, 2021 by Tim Story thirty-one years later.
Plot
The famous cartoon cat and mouse is thrown into a feature film. The story starts with Tom's owners moving to a new house, but he is distracted by his pursuit of Jerry and left behind by the moving van. Tom chases the van but is scared away by a bulldog and is forced to stay in the house. The next morning, the house is demolished, leaving Tom and Jerry homeless. After having much more spend time, the twosome tries to help an orphan girl named Robyn find her father, who is being exploited by a greedy guardian named Aunt Figg and a lawyer named Mr. Lickboot. Both are looking for her to get the $1 million bounties on her.
Why It Doesn't Feel Like A Tom and Jerry Movie
- The primary issue with this film, and the reason for its failure, is its lack of the charm found in the classic shorts, coupled with a poor understanding of the source material.
- A major criticism of the film is that the title characters, Tom and Jerry, speak fluently. This is a departure from the classic shorts where they are known for minimal dialogue. Their regular conversation in the film reduces them to a typical cartoon duo.
- It is worth mentioning that although Tom and Jerry had speaking parts in the shorts, these were infrequent and often served as a comedic element—particularly for Jerry, who seldom spoke.
- It is also worth mentioning that Joseph Barbera, the film's co-creator and creative consultant, preferred the main characters to be silent. However, this idea was not well-received by the majority of the film's production team.
- While Richard Kind and Dana Hill are talented voice actors, their casting as the voices of Tom and Jerry, respectively, may seem like unusual choices to some.
- Tom's voice occasionally seems too high-pitched and doesn't resemble his voice from the original cartoons, nor does it match Tom's aesthetic.
- Jerry's voice is frequently deemed unsuitable as it resembles a child's voice and does not match his aesthetic. Moreover, Jerry's voice bears a raspy similarity to Max from Goof Troop.
- Although it is a Tom and Jerry movie, none of the other characters from the original Tom and Jerry shorts, such as Spike, Butch, Nibbles/Tuffy, etc., appear or are mentioned. Droopy makes an appearance in this film (as evidenced by his presence on the VHS and DVD box art, as well as theatrical and digital media posters), but he only delivers a single line of dialogue and is seen just once in Dr. Applecheek's lab when the animals are about to escape, triggered by Jerry pressing the buttons. After this scene, Droopy is not seen or heard from again, which could be attributed to budget cuts, rendering his appearance a mere cameo.
- Tom and Jerry, despite their enduring charm, appear to be sidelined in their own movie, functioning more as side characters while the bulk of the plot and screen time is devoted to Robyn. Their absence wouldn't alter the storyline significantly, as the narrative ultimately centers on Robyn's reunion with her father.
- The film's reliance on musical numbers and a clichéd plot makes it resemble a Disney animated feature more than a genuine adaptation of Tom & Jerry. Indeed, one could remove Tom and Jerry from the movie, substitute them with any generic cat and mouse duo, and it would not affect the film's outcome.
- A major criticism of the film is that the title characters, Tom and Jerry, speak fluently. This is a departure from the classic shorts where they are known for minimal dialogue. Their regular conversation in the film reduces them to a typical cartoon duo.
- False advertising occurs for two main reasons:
- Misleading title: Although Tom and Jerry are the titular characters and receive a fair amount of screen time, the film primarily centers on Robyn Starling, a runaway orphan searching for her father while evading her abusive guardian, Aunt Figg, and her lawyer, Mr. Lickboot. They pursue her because she is worth a fortune, which they intend to use to maintain their wealth. Consequently, Tom and Jerry seem to be cast more as supporting characters.
- Contrary to the movie poster's depiction, Tom and Jerry engage in chases infrequently, with slapstick comedy appearing only sporadically. The chases primarily occur during the opening and closing scenes, and although the writers tried to incorporate more conflict scenes into the plot, these scenes have little relevance to the overarching story.
- Wasted potential: In the film's opening minutes, including the ending, the plot centers on providing Tom and Jerry with significant screen-time. During the first third of the film, they find themselves lost and homeless, debating whether to assist each other in order to survive and return home. This sets the stage for a silent buddy comedy, complete with numerous comedic slapstick and chase sequences, as they encounter various challenges, including Dr. Applecheek. He could have served as the antagonist, with a scheme to kidnap, enslave, and sell the main characters for a fortune, as he typically does with stray animals—a plot the film could have easily followed. Moreover, it's disappointing that Tom's owner fails to search for him while moving to a new house, neglecting to save him from peril, and then forgets about him for the remainder of the film.
- Many of the characters come across as clichéd, uninspired, and poorly developed, adding little value to the film.
- The protagonist, Robyn Starling (while somewhat likable) is a generic and bland one-dimensional runaway orphan character protagonist who not only steals the spotlight from Tom and Jerry (despite getting a decent amount of screen time) but also has little personality apart from just being the typical(and also naive) runaway orphan girl who wishes to reunite with her father only so that the film can have a story regardless of who it should focus on. She is a pale rip-off of Penny from Disney's The Rescuers and Ann-Marie from Don Bluth's All Dogs Go to Heaven.
- Puggsy the dog and Frankie the flea, apart from helping Tom and Jerry talk, setting up the first musical number, and helping them become friends, are both pointless as they don't do much other than being filler since both got caught by an animal control net.
- After the scene where Tom and Jerry meet Puggsy and Frankie with the latter being captured by animal control after the musical number, there's a gang of alley cats that yell at Tom for being friends with Jerry, who is a mouse. They think that cats and mice should be enemies. Other than being there for another musical number(which keep in mind that since the scene with Puggsy and Frankie earlier already has a musical number), they too don't serve any real purpose other than being filler, have no exposition and just come out of nowhere, and feels more like plot device rather than an actual character. After the musical number ends Jerry saves Tom by opening a sewer pipe that causes the alley cat gang to fall in, they are never seen or heard from again.
- Most of the human antagonist characters have very flat and mean-spirited characterization, as everyone tries to kidnap Robyn to get money off of her. It is mainly by Aunt Figg and Mr. Lickboot, which is understandable since they're the antagonists, but still. There's also Captain Kiddie, a captain with Squawk, a parrot sailor puppet first mate who saves Robyn from a boat accident for separated, cares for her, and even helps her find her father, only then to trap her in a freaking Ferris Wheel because he realized that he sees Aunt Figg offers for Robyn's return for $1 million reward bounty for the milk carton with no promise on paying and contacts Figg, who leaves with Lickboot and Ferdinand while Applecheek and the dogcatchers try to beat them there to collect the bounty (Lickboot himself pointed out that people will do anything for money).
- Ferdinand, is a very unfunny and pointless comic relief antagonist character who has zero personality and purely exists just to get a cheap laugh to bring slapstick to the audience, instead of the slapstick normally coming from Tom and Jerry themselves.
- Michael Starling, Robyn's father, is portrayed as a stereotypical and clichéd character, the archetypal dad who leaves his family for adventures, a trope commonly seen in various media. Additionally, he bears a striking resemblance to the iconic Indiana Jones.
- Numerous bad musical numbers, which are heavily derivative of those from Disney movies, there are a total of 6 musical numbers, most of which come out of nowhere with no real purpose and just drag on and on as well as feel like it was for the massive amount of filler and padding (except "I Miss You (Robyn's Song)").
- To add salt to the wound, the crew decided to make the film a musical during production just to cash in on the success of the Disney Renaissance, notably The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin.
- Minor plot hole: When Tom walks out the front door to his old house only to find his owners have left without him, he takes off after them but is chased back home by a bulldog moments later. Yet he can't back in the front door because it's locked, even though he didn't even bother to close it in the first place and everyone else has already vacated the premises.
- Awful and clichéd writing, which doesn't stay true to the original shorts it is based on, and feels more like huge rip-offs of Disney's The Rescuers and Don Bluth's All Dogs Go to Heaven.
- The film may be unsettling and dark for young children despite its G rating. For instance, the scene where Doctor Applecheek approaches the ice-cream cart with a slow, eerie smile, or the climax suggesting Tom and Jerry perished in the fiery cabin while rescuing Robyn (fortunately, they survive). Additionally, the opening credits show Tom being sliced into pieces with a red interior, evoking the appearance of blood.
- Continuity error: In the scene where Tom and Jerry begin speaking fluently, they appear shocked and exclaim, "You can talk!" with Tom questioning Jerry about his previous silence. However, in the original cartoon shorts, Tom and Jerry did occasionally hear each other talk and sing.
- As a high-budget theatrical film, one would expect it to boast animation surpassing that of the classic shorts. Yet, the animation in this movie, despite being a commendable attempt, significantly falls short of the Hanna-Barbera and Chuck Jones eras, appearing rather low-budget for a theatrical release and more akin to a television movie.
- The pacing is very poor and feels rather rushed.
- The whole movie is just clichéd, at least as soon as Robyn is brought in anyway. From that point, the movie turns into a generic Disney-esque musical about a girl trying to find her father, a plot already beaten into the ground by several past much better children's movies, all the while being pursued by a bunch of stock villains from every animated movie you've seen.
- It ended the late Dana Hill's career on a sour note, and this was one of her last roles before her death in July 15, 1996.
- Overall, this movie failed to leave a mark on the Tom and Jerry franchise. Not only did Tom and Jerry cease to have fluent dialogue afterward, but also none of the characters introduced in this film reappeared. Watching the classic shorts, television adaptations, direct-to-video films, and the 2021 theatrical release, while skipping this one, would mean missing nothing of importance.
Redeeming Qualities
- The first 10 minutes of the movie started as good, with additional highlights:
- During those moments of the film and the ending, Tom and Jerry are at least silent with the story focusing on them.
- There is a clever in-joke referencing Tom and Jerry's creators, William Hanna and Joseph Barbera.
- Speaking of which, the opening titles do contain reanimated versions of a few gags. Such as the golf ball hitting Tom's teeth (a reference to the short "Tee for Two") and where Tom gets cut in half (a partial reference to Touché, Pussy Cat!).
- The film's concept, while misleading and confusing could have worked if Tom and Jerry were still the main characters and were still silent and Dr. Applecheek as the main antagonist, who's goal would've been to enslave the main duo for a million dollars which sounds like a much better plot for this movie than the one we got (as mentioned above), but to be fair, the movie actually could've been decent if Warner Bros. didn't advertise it as a Tom and Jerry movie and could've been looked back as an okay movie.
- Decent soundtrack, such as a catchy jazz remix of the classic Tom & Jerry theme song.
- Despite most of the songs being poorly made, Robin's song is pretty good and well done.
- "Money is Such a Beautiful Word" is rather creative with its visuals.
- "What Do We Care? (The Alley Cats' Song)" is really cool and has all the elements of a rock song.
- "Friends to The End" is pretty catchy.
- "God's Little Creatures" matches Dr. Applecheeks' personality very well.
- "I've Done It All" is rather funny.
- The discovered Icelandic version makes the songs even catchier.
- Excellent voice acting, even though Tom and Jerry talk in the film.
- Tony Jay and Charlotte Rae, in particular, do a great voice performance as Mr. Lickboot and Aunt Pristine Figg.
- While not really the best casting choices, Richard Kind and Dana Hill did pretty good jobs voicing Tom and Jerry, despite criticisms of giving dialogue to the titular protagonists, to begin with.
- Admittedly, Richard Kind as Tom is more fitting compared to Dana Hill as Jerry.
- Also, some fans did root for Tom and Jerry to have full dialogue for the first time in history.
- Despite criticisms given to Tom and Jerry's use of fluent dialogue, their personalities and the overall relationship still are one of the few aspects that remain faithful to the source material.
- Though poorly executed, having Tom and Jerry talk fluently was surprisingly a great idea, and was considerably a nice touch to the franchise. It's considerably better for them to talk, and appeals more to young children.
- While nowhere near as good or funny as the original shorts, there are some funny moments here and there, with some slapstick being in the film.
- Speaking of which, as brief as Droopy's cameo appearance is, it's arguably the funniest moment in the film.
- Mr. Lickboots line, "We've got to have... money!" is a classic.
- There are some touching and heartwarming moments, like the scene where Tom worries about Jerry presumably dead during the cabin fire, and it also delivers a very good message about family and friendship.
- Some characters are still likable.
- Tom and Jerry themselves, despite being sidelined as supporting characters, are still their likable and mischievous selves as they maintain their original personalities and didn't get flanderized at all.
- Droopy (despite only having a cameo appearance) is still a likable and hilarious character.
- As mentioned at WIAMT#6*1, Robyn Starling is a likable protagonist despite being one-dimensional and generic and she can also be sympathetic due to her Aunt treating her like dirt and only sees her as a way to make money.
- Despite being pointless and only exist as filler, Puggsy the dog and Frankie the flea can also be seen as likable sometimes.
- Michael Starling, despite having no personality is also likable as he cares for his daughter and thanks Tom and Jerry for helping her, plus as a reward he let's them live with him and Robyn.
- Despite the movie focusing more on Robyn Starling, Tom and Jerry still get a decent amount of screen time and conflict.
- The animation is passable, though it falls short of the Hanna-Barbera and Chuck Jones eras and appears low-budget for a theatrical film.
- Fine direction from Phil Roman.
- Despite its flaws, the film is better than the 2021 film.
Reception
Tom and Jerry: The Movie was not well-received by critics, audiences, or fans alike, with criticisms mostly revolving around the film feeling like a generic animated movie with barely anything in common with the original cartoons, as well as the film's notable similarities in concept to that of Disney's The Rescuers and Don Bluth's All Dogs Go to Heaven. The film was quickly pulled from cinemas in less than a month, earning only $3.5M at the box office, likely because it was released directly opposite the massively successful Jurassic Park. On Rotten Tomatoes, it had a 14% rating and a 41% audience score rating on the same site.
Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert awarded the film thumbs-down ratings on their show Siskel & Ebert. Although they praised the animation, look, and truthful art design of the animated shorts, neither thought that it was a good idea to give dialogue to the two characters. Additionally, they felt that the film suffered from a lack of further slapstick action from past cartoons and that the story was silly, particularly because the character of Robyn Starling occupied more screen time than the titular characters.
Videos
Trivia
- The director, Phil Roman, had previously worked as an animator on the Chuck Jones-directed Tom and Jerry cartoons from the 1960s. Jones had previously become interested in producing a Tom and Jerry movie of his own after his shorts ended, but decided against it after being unable to work out how to make the format work in a feature-length film; something that should probably have indicated this project was a bad idea from the get-go.
- This was the last film role for Dana Hill (the voice of Jerry in the movie) before her death on July 15, 1996.
- New Line Cinema originally were going to distribute the film.
- Many Tom and Jerry fans believed that this was the finale of the Tom and Jerry franchise, as no more were made until 9 years later when Hanna-Barbera produced The Mansion Cat for television.
- However, Tom & Jerry Kids was still airing and producing new episodes around the time the film was released.
- The reason why Tom and Jerry both talked in this film is because the crew felt like most of the audience would feel bored or uninterested in the mute aspect.
- It spawned the "We've got to have... money!" meme.
- Since then, it spawned many direct-to-video movies and a live-action movie adaptation (of the franchise, not of this movie).
- Among the attempts (with Jones involved) was when MGM wanted to make the feature in live-action with David Newman (one of the writers who wrote Bonnie and Clyde) to write the screenplay and for Dustin Hoffman and Chevy Chase to star as the duo, but sometime later, the idea was shelved.
- The Who Framed Roger Rabbit-esque live-action/animated Tom and Jerry movie was both well-received and was better received by fans than the fully-animated Tom and Jerry movie, despite the negative reception, mainly due to it's faithfulness to the original Tom and Jerry theatrical cartoons the film is based on.
- Dana Hill, who voiced Jerry in this film, is rumored to have voiced B.J. the Penguin in the 1990s Kid Cuisine commercials; he and the Chef were later replaced by KC Penguin.
External links
Tom and Jerry: The Movie at the Internet Movie Database
Tom and Jerry: The Movie on Rotten Tomatoes
Tom and Jerry: The Movie on Metacritic
Tom and Jerry: The Movie on Letterboxd
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