Tom and Jerry: Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory

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Tom and Jerry: Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
Told ya slamming beloved classic cartoon characters into beloved classic movies was a bad Scrumdidilyumptious nightmare of an idea...
Genre: Animated
Musical
Fantasy
Comedy
Directed by: Spike Brandt
Produced by: Spike Brandt
Tony Cervone
Written by: Gene Grillo
Based on: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory by Mel Stuart
Tom and Jerry by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera
Starring: Spike Brandt
JP Karliakw
Jess Harnell
Lincoln Melcher
Mick Wingert
Lori Alan
Jeff Bergman
Rachel Butera
Kate Higgins
Dallas Lovato
Emily O'Brien
Sean Schemmel
Kath Soucie
Jim Ward
Audrey Wasilewski
Lauren Weisman
Distributed by: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment
Release date: June 27, 2017 (Digital)
July 11, 2017 (DVD)
Runtime: 79 minutes
Country: United States (production)
South Korea (overseas animation)
Language: English
Franchise: Tom and Jerry

Tom and Jerry: Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory is a 2017 American direct-to-video animated musical fantasy comedy film starring the cat-and-mouse duo, named Tom and Jerry. Produced by Warner Bros. Animation and Turner Entertainment Co., it is the first Tom and Jerry direct-to-video film to be distributed by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment internationally and is also the final Tom and Jerry direct-to-video film to be involved with Warner Bros. Animation's founder Hal Geer, who died on January 26, 2017.

The film is an animated adaptation of the 1971 film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (which in turn is based on the 1964 book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl) with the addition of Tom and Jerry as characters and seen through their point of view. The film was released via digital media on June 27, 2017, and released on home media on July 11, 2017.

Plot

In a re-telling of the 1971 classic film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, Tom and Jerry must help Charlie Bucket attain and find one of the five Golden Tickets (found by Augustus Gloop, Violet Beauregarde, Veruca Salt and Mike Teavee) and secretly accompany him alongside Grandpa Joe into Willy Wonka's entire chocolate factory to not only prevent Mr. Arthur Slugworth (later known as Mr. Wilkinson), one of Wonka's rival competitors and Spike, one of Tom's enemies, from stealing a special candy known as the Everlasting Gobstopper, but also experience the wonderful world of the chocolate factory with the guide of Tuffy, a mouse who is about becomes a real Oompa-Loompa.

Why It's NOT A Pure Imagination

  1. The concept of a crossover film featuring Tom and Jerry with Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory seems unnecessary. The creation of such a movie stems from Paramount Pictures, the initial distributor of the 1971 film, forfeiting the rights. These rights were then obtained by Warner Bros. Pictures through their acquisition of Wolper Productions, allowing them to retain the rights to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, thus leading to the peculiar timing and pairing of the two films.
    • The crossover of the Tom and Jerry franchise with Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory in the film appears quite contrived and ill-suited, as the two franchises share little in common beyond being Warner Bros. properties.
      • Indeed, Tom and Jerry have participated in crossovers with other franchises, such as in Hanna-Barbera's 50th: A Yabba Dabba Doo Celebration, featuring various Hanna-Barbera cartoons from the 1950s-1970s, Tom and Jerry and the Wizard of Oz and its sequel Tom and Jerry: Back to Oz, which cross paths with MGM's The Wizard of Oz (1939), and Tom and Jerry: Spy Quest, a crossover with Hanna-Barbera's Jonny Quest. These collaborations are sensible, as Tom and Jerry share common ground with these franchises in one way or another. For instance, Tom and Jerry and The Wizard of Oz (1939) were both originally part of MGM during the Golden Age of Hollywood, and Tom and Jerry, along with various Hanna-Barbera cartoon characters like Jonny Quest, were created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. This contrasts with the crossover film involving Willy Wonka, who is not part of the MGM or Hanna-Barbera properties.
  2. Cheap and laughable character designs. For example, Mike Teevee looks uncannily similar to Louie from We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story and Veruca's father, Mr. Salt's appearance looks nothing like his 1971 live-action counterpart. Wonka himself appears to have slightly darker skin than he did in the 1971 film, making him look uncanny.
  3. Horrible pacing that makes the plot feels rushed. An example of this is how the five Golden Tickets are found within the first few minutes of the film for gluttonous Augustus Gloop, spoiled Veruca Salt, chewing gum-addicted Violet Beauregarde, television addict Mike Teavee, and finally honest and generous Charlie Bucket and the scene where Charlie's grandpa starts walking again after twenty years.
  4. Several characters make creepy facial expressions.
  5. Many poor attempts at humor, which lack the charm of the 1971 and 2005 film as well as original book. Most of the scenes from the original film are turned into generic cartoony slapstick.
  6. There is a pointless filler scene where Tom and Jerry try to return Charlie's forgotten ticket, and later saved after the birds got stolen to the nest.
  7. As likable as they may be, both Tom and Jerry are reduced to pointless comic-reliefs rather that actual main protagonists, They also serve little-to-no purpose to the plot, so it wouldn't make a single diffrence if you would just write them out of the film, considering that most of the film is just an animated shot-to-shot remake with Tom and Jerry slap in it.
  8. Mr. Slugworth has been miscast as a legitimate main antagonist in the film for no discernible reason, which makes the ending plot twist take of him not being revealed to be a villainous person confusing, who is really unfamiliar of fans to the Roald Dahi's book or movie adaptations.
  9. Badly suggested on this film, where at the end of the 1971 film, Mr. Wilkinson (a person who works with Willy Wonka) pretends to be Arthur Slugworth to pass the test for Charlie. However, in this version, Mr. Wilkinson (who's pretending to be Arthur Slugworth) and Spike are going to steal the everlasting-gobstopper from Tom, Jerry and Charlie by threatening them. Later Wilkinson returns and asks if Charlie and the others passed the test, but just gives it for no reason.
  10. The film butchers all of the original songs, particularly the tunnel song sung by Tuffy.
  11. Some scenes can be pretty disturbing, such as the one infamous scene where Tuffy goes completely insane in the tunnel, which can be creepy and even nightmare-inducing.
  12. Extreme lack of subtlety.
  13. Very poor timing, due to it being released less than a year after Gene Wilder's death on August 29, 2016.
  14. Tuffy's sub-plot about becoming an official Oompa-Loompa is not all that interesting.
  15. At the end of the film, when Mr. Wilkinson tells everyone that they are just pretending to be villains, Tom shrinks both Wilkinson and Spike, locks them in a drawer, and we never see or hear from them again.
  16. For some pointless, inexplicable and unexplained reason, Mr. Slugworth steals Veruca's song "I Want it Now".
  17. The movie and musical songs are so mostly carbon copy-and-paste that they are almost exact-replicas, like "The Candy Man" and "Pure Imagination".
  18. The animation of Violet's iconic blueberry inflation scene is poorly executed. For instance, when she turns blue from chewing gum that encapsulates a full three-course meal—tomato soup, roast beef with a baked potato, and blueberry pie with ice cream—the effect resembles a purple light flashing on her, likely mimicking the original film's technique. Moreover, as she inflates, her belt remains intact, unlike in the original film, and once fully swollen, she appears overweight instead of resembling a blueberry.
  19. Several scenes and dialogues differ from the original movie. For instance, in this film, Veruca Salt begins singing "I Want It Now" midway through the song, unlike the original film where it starts from the beginning. Additionally, during Violet's transformation into a blueberry, Willy Wonka utters "Stop, don't, come back," in a nonchalant tone, suggesting boredom and a desire to rush through the scenes. In contrast, the original film had Wonka saying this line during Mike Teavee's shrinking scene.
  20. The film destroys the meaning and continuity of most scenes as well as faithfulness of the book, like when Tom, Jerry and Tuffy as well as Charlie Bucket and Grandpa Joe are fighting Mr. Slugworth and Spike via Wonka-vision for getting the Everlasting Gobstopper back, they turn to multiple sizes before returning back to normal, when in the original film and the book, there was no way to do that, especially since Charlie and Grandpa Joe don't fight Arthur Slugworth for Wonka-vision.
  21. Several errors between this and the original film, like how here is the lickable wallpaper is in the inventing room as well as sticky in this movie (which is unexplained) and in the original film, it is in a corridor outside of the inventing room as well as non-sticky.
  22. Hypocrisy at its finest here: It was revealed that the real reason why Willy Wonka doesn't like cats, especially in this case Tom, is because in fear of vandalising his entire chocolate factory and violations the factory contract rules. Yet he doesn't mind hiring both Spike and Tuffy (which we remind you are both a dog and a mouse respectfully) to work at his factory.
  23. Plot hole: When Willy Wonka refuses to give Charlie and Grandpa Joe their lifetime supply of chocolate in the climax, he states that Charlie violated the contract he signed. Although the scene of Charlie signing said contract exists in the original film, this version features no such equivalent, rendering this key plot twist incomprehensible.
  24. There are lots of stupid moments, like Spike has been inflation by blueberry and Tom just drinks the fizzy lifting drink for the air balloon by Jerry, since Willy Wonka doesn't allowed everyone to drink the fizzy lifting drink that might bumped into the roof ceiling that has to be washed (except Charlie Bucket and Grandpa Joe).

Redeeming Qualities

  1. While the plot is badly rushed, there's still a fair amount of focus on Charlie and Wonka's side of the story.
  2. Jeff Bergman returns to voice Droopy for the first time since 2010's Tom and Jerry Meet Sherlock Holmes.
  3. This film has the scary tunnel scene from the original film, but this one is considered way crazier than the original one and it has the same rhymes verbatim. Tuffy even says the word "hell" uncensored (yes, no joke). It's very clear that Kath Soucie was really enjoying herself when recording this scene.
  4. The visuals for Slugworth's rendition of "I Want It Now" are very creative, despite the scene being pointless.
  5. Although the film was mostly a carbon copy of Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory in narrative, we do get to see a scene where Mr. Salt finally stands up to his daughter and roughly pulls her ear and saying he's going to be more strict with her.
    • The scene also confirms that Veruca Salt and her father did survive their fall into the garbage incinerator, which is good as the original film left ambiguous whether the bratty kids survived or not unlike the book and the 2005 film. By showing this, it can be assumed that Augustus Gloop, Violet Beauregarde and Mike Teeave survived as well.
  6. Some of the slapstick with Tom and Jerry is actually kinda funny.
  7. Splendid animation that is a step up from the previous Tom & Jerry direct-to-video movies.
  8. The voice acting is decent, especially Jess Harnell as he does a spot-on impression of Jack Albertson, Grandpa Joe's actor from the original film and JP Karliak as he does a good impression of Gene Wilder, Willy Wonka's actor from the original film.
  9. Violet being a redhead instead of a brunette is accurate to the book.
  10. Droopy's cameo, as usual, is superb and clever. Even picturing him as Alberto Minoleta seems funny!
  11. The film can be enjoyed by some people who think that it’s so bad, it’s good (tellingly, it has its own Narm subpage on TV Tropes).

Reception

The film's trailer was met with a negative reception, after it was released on April 2017, with questioning why the film was made and was insensitive to release a Charlie & The Chocolate Factory movie less than a year after the death of Gene Wilder, who portrayed Wonka in the original 1971 film. Ryan Scott of Movieweb reacted to the trailer by describing it as "just the latest in a long line of these uncalled for mashups."

Upon released, Tom and Jerry: Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory was met with overwhelmingly negative reviews, with some critics questioning its existence. Criticisms revolving around the fact that it is basically a shot-per-shot rehash of the original Willy Wonka film but with the addition of Tom and Jerry inserted onto the story despite their lack of relevance in the film.

In a review of the film, Beth Elderkin of Gizmodo wrote: "Tom and Jerry: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is not just stupid, it's insulting. It's a cheap mock buster with a cat and mouse artlessly, needlessly inserted."

This film ended up being the last direct-to-video Tom & Jerry film, at least until the announcement of the direct-to-video Tom & Jerry film Tom and Jerry: Cowboy Up! that was released in 2022, while Roald Dahl's estate revoked the license for Dahl's works from Warner Bros. and gave it to Netflix instead. However, a prequel titled Wonka, which focuses on Willy Wonka's origins, was released by Warner Bros. on 8 December 2023 in the UK, and in the USA on 15 December 2023, by Paul King. The third major film to feature the character, Wonka himself is portrayed by Timothée Chalamet.

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Trivia

  • The film's premise has inspired a lot of parodies involving Tom and Jerry taking part in more absurd crossover ideas of WB classics, such as Tom and Jerry in Goodfellas and Tom and Jerry in 2001 A Space Odyssey.
  • The film being referred to as "DeviantArt: The Movie", due in no small part to the Off-Model animation and blatant fetish-pandering going on at numerous points. It's also worth noting that there's a community of people on DA that are REALLY into making crossover fan fictions that consist in shoving their OCs or characters from other media into a movie, tagging along with the protagonist.
  • The film is dedicated to Gene Wilder despite the poor timing.
  • TCM originally referred to it as Tom and Jerry: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, in line with the book. It was likely changed to avoid confusion to the 2005 adaptation.
  • Willy Wonka's infamous smile at the end of the film became an internet meme.
  • This film is infamous for it's extremely negative reception mainlly from the critics who questioned why the film was made and the animation press for it's quality of animation.
  • This is, to date, one of the very few mockbuster films produced by a major Hollywood studio's direct-to-video unit (in this case, Warner Bros.' television animation unit Warner Bros. Animation).
  • This is the second Tom and Jerry direct-to-video mockbuster, after Tom and Jerry and the Wizard of Oz, which was produced six years prior.
  • 19 years before this film came out, Warner Bros. also previously did an animated direct-to-video mockbuster of a pre-existing live-action classic film as early as 1998 in order to co-incide with the studio's 75th anniversary, in this case is The Mighty Kong (1998), an animated musical remake based on RKO Radio Pictures' original King Kong (1933) film, which wasn't even a musical or a family film to begin with. Like many other cheap direct-to-video mockbusters produced by major studios such as Tom and Jerry: Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, The Mighty Kong was very negatively received by both critics and audiences alike, with most criticisms targeted at their unnecessary existence as well and the films' dumbing down of the original films' source materials for its target audience of children.

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