Tom and Jerry: The Movie
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Tom and Jerry: The Movie is a 1993 animated feature film produced and directed by Phil Roman starring cat-and-mouse entertainers, Tom and Jerry and the only feature to be theatrically released worldwide, although Tom and Jerry: The Fast and the Furry was theatrically released in select cities of the United States by Kidtoon Films. The film is a departure from the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer shorts. The two have a new look in this picture, giving spoken dialogue they seldom have in the original shorts and the flick contains numerous musical numbers akin to the MGM musicals. Richard Kind and Dana Hill provided the voices of the oscar-winning duo respectively. The characters' co-creator and Hanna's partner, Joseph Barbera served as creative consultant for the picture.
Plot
Tom and Jerry together with their owners are about to move to a new home. The moving van is at their old house waiting, and Tom doses in the back of the car. However when he notices Jerry he puts him on a stick, and Jerry, noticing no escape and knowing that he will fly, he grabs hold of Tom's whiskers so they fly together into the garden. Jerry quickly dashes into his mousehole and locks the door, Tom nailing wooden planks on the door. When Tom tries to get in the moving car, he ends up with a bulldog and ties up his ears so he cannot see. Tom runs into the house for safety and stays there for the night. Next day, Tom and Jerry notice that the house is broken down to make a new apartment as a replacement. Now homeless they meet a dog named Puggsy and his friend Frankie Da Flea that tries to teach Tom and Jerry to be friends. Then they all agree to have a 'feast' at their place and Puggsy makes a 'buffet' by collecting leftovers in the bin. When Puggsy's tray is crammed, a dogcatcher captures Puggsy and Frankie and lock them in their car.
Tom and Jerry then meet an eight-year old girl named Robyn Starling, the daughter of Mr. Starling, whose mother died when she was a baby and is left behind with her horrid and evil guardian Aunt Figg when her dad goes away. Robyn runs away after her locket is thrown out the window and that's how she began to run. Jerry said to her that if she runs, her things won't be with her but Robyn said to them that Aunt Figg may seem sweet but she's real mean.
Cut to Aunt Figg crying in the house, scared of losing Robyn. With the help of her evil lawyer, Lickboot and her overweight dachshund, Ferdinand, make a reward of a million dollars for the return of Robyn, who they wish to sell for a ransom, engulfed by love of money. Robyn is recaptured, but manages to escape yet again, after Tom and Jerry are kidnapped by Dr. Applecheek and are sent to a city pound where animals are abused. At this point, everybody is looking for the million dollar girl, and Aunt Figg and Lickboot manage to get to Robyn's escape destination first. What was planned as another capture quickly goes wrong when an oil lamp is knocked on the floor. As the house goes up in flames, Mr. Starling comes and rescues Robyn. Tom and Jerry are rescued too and taken to a new home where they both promise not to trick each other ever again. But the pair have soon reverted back to their old ways, and the movie finishes with a fun, loving classic scene of Tom chasing Jerry into the distance...or just in their new home.
Reaction
Critical reception
Tom and Jerry: The Movie received extremely negative reviews from critics and audience members at the time of it's release. It had no connection to the continuity of the original 114 shorts. It is the only adaptation where the two continuously speak, while they didn't in other adaptations (except for Jerry's speaking voice in the duo's appearance in Anchors Aweigh). Siskel and Ebert gave the film two thumbs down. Rotten Tomatoes ranked it as "Rotten" with only 17% percent of reviews being positive.
Box office performance
The film made $3,560,469 at the box office, a very substandard amount, largely due to the fact that it was released in direct competition with Rising Sun, Robin Hood: Men in Tights and So I Married an Axe Murderer . However the film was made on a budget of only $3.5 million, which makes it only a moderate box office loss. Today, this motion picture is seen as some sort of Tom and Jerry special, as in many parts of the world it is played amongst other episodes randomly.
Trivia
For the first time in their 53-year history, the duo makes a comeback to the silver screen to star in their first motion picture and in it they talk and sing (they sing Friends to the End with Puggsy and Frankie), for the first time.
Chuck Jones was set to make a Tom and Jerry film in the 1970s, but eventually pulled out after being unable to find a suitable script.
This was the only animated film by Miramax to be released on VHS by Family Home Entertainment. It was re-released on VHS in 1999 and released on DVD in 2002 by Warner Home Video.
Since The Walt Disney Company owned Miramax, this was the first animated film released by Miramax Films through Disney and also the first animated film that is distributed but not produced by Disney.
The train at the end of the film is Union Pacific 3985.
Retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_and_Jerry:_The_Movie
