[Review] Tom and Jerry(2021) {5.5/10}

Directed by Tim Story with a screenplay from Kevin Costello, stars Chloë Grace Moretz (Kayla), Michael Peña (Terence), Colin Jost (Ben), Rob Delaney (Mr Dubros), Pallavi Sharda (Preeta) and Ken Jeong (Chef Jackie). It is an american live-action/computer-animated slapstick comedy film based on the cartoon characters and animated theatrical short film series of the same name created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera.

The plot follows Jerry taking refuge in a fancy hotel, which hires Tom to exterminate him before an important wedding arrives, until the duo put their differences aside to save the hotel, its planned wedding, and Kayla's (Chloë Grace Moretz) career.

This is primarily a movie about people, not about the beloved cartoon characters. I caught myself smiling every time the dynamic duo was doing their thing and shrugging mildly many times, when the rest of the live-action characters took center stage. Tom and Jerry are great when they're front and center. I just wish they were front and center more. It's really a pretty ordinary movie from both a story perspective and the acting in general. Despite a promising visual approach combining live-action with hand-drawn style animation, these iconic cartoon characters are badly let down by a limp script and unambitious direction. An adequate don't-pay-extra-to-see-it kind of medium-bad time-waster that's FKO (For Kids Only). It is one of those frenzied animation-live action hybrids in which neither element is particularly amusing and smashed together they're pretty deadly. Just because kids will laugh at the chase scenes and poop jokes doesn't make the movie worthy of a family-night selection.

Tom and Jerry is now playing in theaters and streaming on HBO Max.