R E V I E W – M O V I E
Faizunnahar Fiza, Rabab Rayan
“Look how they massacred my boy.”
A simple quote from The Godfather, which perfectly describes the new Tom and Jerry film. It is yet another live action remake of a classic from our childhood that failed to recreate the magic that the original show and its characters had.
Sure, the film made us nostalgic by bringing back the legendary Tom and Jerry’s non-stop bickering. But soon, it failed to hold it when the plot pivoted to the other character present, which unknowingly stole the shine from our heroes.
To summarise, the film opens up to a premise where both Tom and Jerry are now homeless. Jerry somehow makes his way to New York City exclusive Royal Gate Hotel which is hosting a lavishing wedding at that moment. The hotel staff, being miffed by him, asked their newly hired staff, Kayla, to outcast Jerry from the hotel. She recruited Tom and hired him to do the task for her. And that’s how the quibbling begins again when they come across opposing circumstances.
Tom and Jerry had been a childhood staple for almost all the kids in the world. They took us to a land of nod where we even believed the fact that Tom doesn’t fall off the cliff until he looks down. And not only kids — the duo even helped adults to escape the monotonous reality with its turbulent moments. Their rant was something which still makes a pitch in everyone’s reminisce. The world hardly can draw a blank about this duo. It also gave us a reality check over the fact that our childhood is over, and now we have to come out of our la la land to survive the harsh reality. This 2021 Tom and Jerry was mainly made to revive all those wistful vibes after a decade.
But sadly, the attempt failed quite miserably.
The majority of the Tom and Jerry shows dwelled on the antics of the duo with Tom trying to catch Jerry while Jerry outsmarting him at almost every attempt. These diversions between them were the highlight of the show which we never got tired of. However, the 2021 film misses this part by a mile.
Their jests in the film were far from funny, with the live action characters just adding cliché to it. Both Tom and Jerry have been the back burner of the film while Kayla (played by Chloe Grace Monretz) was displayed as the pivotal character. It’s not like Chloe did not do justice to her character — she obviously did. But it was the lacklustre script which failed to provide a lucrative podium to our heroes to showcase their jests. Their pranks which us viewers had been looking forward to got outshine by the subplots, making the film an utter disappointment.
Tom and Jerry (2021) is not a complex film that will shake you off your seats with its “dramatic” plot. The film is nothing but a simple venture which, for a while, reminded the audience of the legendary duo of Tom and Jerry, but failed to hold its nostalgic vibe. In short, the miscellaneous plots here outshone the central characters’ chemistry, making the film a lengthy and bumpy ride to watch.
Faizunnahar Fiza is a daydreamer who gets emotional by thinking a lot.
Rabab Rayan is a Business undergrad trying to excel academically but failing spectacularly.