(The Disneycember logo is shown, before showing clips from Tom and Jerry: The Movie)
Doug (vo): Bet you didn't know the same studio that distributed Pulp Fiction also distributed Tom and Jerry: The Movie. It's so weird to think that for a very short period of time, Tom and Jerry could be considered Disney characters. But man, if this is what they were going to do with them...how'd Merlin put it?
Merlin: Believe me, you can have it.
Doug (vo): Yeah, Tom and Jerry: The Movie was one of the earliest Nostalgia Critic videos I ever did. A lot of people really like that review and I had a lot of fun doing it. But again, I kind of played the Nostalgia Critic as a character back then. So, what are my real thoughts? Well, they're not that much different. This movie is awful, everybody knows it. It practically goes against everything that Tom and Jerry is. Even when we saw trailers as kids, we were like, "That's going to suck." But seeing how I'm talking more as myself and not as the NC, is there anything good about it? Like, even in a "so bad, it's good" way? Um...sometimes.
Story[]
Doug (vo): Tom and Jerry are once again found in a suburban home, but out of nowhere, their owners leave and they're left alone just as the house is being demolished. They try to find a new place to live when they bump into an alley dog named Puggsy who helps them commit two of the biggest crimes you just don't commit with Tom and Jerry. He tells them to be friends and he also encourages them to talk.
Tom: I'm Tom.
Jerry: I'm Jerry.
Tom and Jerry: You talked!
Doug (vo): So, okay, let's just get that out of the way. From this point on, Tom and Jerry are basically dead. These are not the same characters, this is not who they are. Everybody knows it, everybody makes fun of it. So let's just look at the film outside of that, which yes, is very difficult. It's called Tom and Jerry: The Movie. How are you supposed to judge it as Tom and Jerry: The Movie when they completely get Tom and Jerry wrong? Well, don't worry, they have a lot of other craziness going on. You see, they bump into a little kid named Robin who's running away from home and they try to encourage her, "Hey, you should go back home. No little kid should run away. No house can be that bad." And, uh, yeah, whoops, I guess it is that bad. She's under the care of Aunt Pristine Figg and, no joke, Mr. Lickboot, whose motivations are very vague. We just know...
Lickboot: We've got to have...money. (A GIF of a dancing clown appears with the words "Meme Me" being heard)
Doug (vo): After they realize their mistake, they try to help Robin escape, but they're caught by an evil veterinarian named Dr. Applecheek. (beat) I don't know what's up with these names, either. So now, Tom, Jerry and Robin are trying to escape on their own and once again, come across a bunch of colorful characters, if that's what you can call them. One of them is Rip Taylor playing a sea captain (Captain Kiddie) who has a puppet parrot (Squawk). He discovers that Robin is worth a lot of money, so he instantly becomes a villain. Yeah, that's kind of the thing, everybody turns into a villain, unless you're Robin's father, Indiana Jones (Mr. Starling). Yeah, I know I made that joke before, but there's no other joke to make. It's Indiana Jones who just kind of isn't in the picture and then kind of just shows up at the end to say, "Oh, hey, sorry for being a deadbeat dad, I guess. I don't know, we're reunited." There's not really any logic in this movie.
Review[]
Doug (vo): So yeah, as you may have put together, this movie is totally bonkers, and this is a franchise that has a lot of bonkers additions. (posters for Tom and Jerry Blast Off to Mars, Tom and Jerry & The Wizard of Oz, Tom and Jerry: Robin Hood and his Merry Mouse and Tom and Jerry: Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory are shown) How does it rank compared to them?
(Footage from Tom and Jerry: Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory and some of the 60s Tom and Jerry shorts are shown, along with more footage from Tom and Jerry: The Movie)
Doug (vo): Well, unlike that phase where they didn't really know what to do with Tom and Jerry, so they just kind of teamed them up with different characters and movies—you know, things you can very distinctly say are very 2010s—this is very much early '90s not knowing what to do with Tom and Jerry. And surprisingly, there is a very long history of people just not knowing what to do with these characters, which is so baffling. It's all right there, just have them fight each other, have them chase each other around and just have them do it in different places and different locations. Sometimes, some Tom and Jerry movies do that, but for whatever reason, sometimes, they got to make them friends or make them talk or really change up the dynamic in just the worst way. And sometimes, those takes are really boring, but this one to its credit is not boring. It is bananas crazy and can be a little fun.
(Footage focusing on the animation and some of the more violent moments is shown)
Doug (vo): The animation varies from actually okay to laughably bad, but again, you can always sense it's kind of trying. Like, when this aunt comes out of the shadows here, what am I even looking at? That is terrible. But you kind of give them credit for even trying to do an "out of the shadows" shot. I mean, again, look at some old-school bad Tom and Jerry when they didn't know what to do with them, like, they wouldn't attempt that. The film feels like it was either meant to be something else...like, maybe this girl teaming up with some different made-up characters and going on this adventure...or they were just given Tom and Jerry. They were told to do something different with them, "We want to reboot them" or something. And I don't know, maybe parents were complaining about too much violence because that was a thing in the early '90s. Then again, some of this gets really violent. Like, look at this, that was in the opening credits! But okay, as long as they're not fighting themselves and they sing a song about friendship and they just hurt other characters, I guess that's okay. Yeah, again, that's early 1990s parenting logic.
(Footage focusing on the characters is shown)
Doug (vo): I guess I can give credit to the voice cast. It isn't that bad. I mean, there's good people in here: Tony Jay, Henry Gibson, and yeah, I kind of like Rip Taylor. I know he can be annoying, but I don't know, there's a preciousness to his annoyance. Richard Kind and Dana Hill, who played Tom and Jerry, I'd be lying if I said they were the voices I imagined they would have if they ever talked. But at the same time, they don't sound out of place. Dana Hill had a very infectious voice that could kind of play anything, could play a boy, could play a girl, could play a grown-up, could play a kid. And it's a voice I think just kids like to hear. It's a very bouncy, energetic voice, so I think that matches Jerry. Richard Kind, in my opinion is just a national treasure. I don't think he can do any wrong, whether it's on screen or doing a voice or playing a nice person or playing an a-hole, he just always nails it. He is so good and so funny. And his voice for Tom isn't bad, it matches. Okay, I honestly just wish he would use more of his original voice. Like, you can tell he's trying to do a little bit of a shtick, like (nasally) make it a little bit more high-pitched, kind of up there. (normal) And I don't think you need to. I think his natural voice is entertaining enough and I think would make the moments when he's angry and cynical funnier.
(Footage focusing on Tom and Jerry is shown)
Doug (vo): But again, that's kind of a big leap because that's indicating that anything in this is funny. I actually think the first maybe couple of minutes are okay. They're not talking and it's just kind of a traditional Tom and Jerry cartoon. And even when they leave the house and they're on their own, I like how Jerry doesn't really know where to go and he's just kind of used to Tom. Like, he doesn't like him, but he's familiar with him. He's kind of the only world that he's aware of, so he doesn't want to leave, even though Tom wants him to go away. There's a good movie here, honestly. I kind of thought if the whole film just kind of went this direction, it would have been interesting, and it bizarrely felt kind of organic. It's when they start putting in elements that just clearly don't belong in this idea where everything goes to shit.
(Footage focusing on the musical sequences is shown)
Doug (vo): I got a lot of flak for saying the Henry Mancini songs weren't that great. And don't get me wrong, I love this dude. (The soundtrack for The Pink Panther is shown) I mean, this guy's done a lot of amazing music I'm still humming in my head. This isn't one of them. I mean, can I expect that much? He's tasked with writing a song about making Tom and Jerry friends, there's literally no universe where that can work. But even outside of that, the songs just feel very rushed and very generic and it just feels like a paycheck. I mean, are you really going to bring your A-game to Tom and Jerry: The Movie singing about friendship? I don't know if I would. Or who knows? Maybe this was the best he could do and the movie is just giving him nothing to work with. Either way, I don't really see people mentioning this when they mention his best work.
Final thought[]
Doug (vo): And let's be honest, nobody's going to bring Tom and Jerry: The Movie up when mentioning their best work. But I will give it this, it is so insane, it can sometimes be enjoyable. And so in search of an identity, it'll just try anything, and sometimes, that desperation just makes me laugh. I mean, again, how did Indiana Jones work his way into this movie? I mean, I guess it makes about as much sense as Willy Wonka, but...no, no, I'll say it, this is weirder. These films that just take Tom and Jerry and put them in already existing movies, like, they already have an identity. This one has to make an identity practically from scratch without acknowledging the identity that it's supposed to have. And it can make for some laugh-out-loud shit. But that is what it is, clearly shit. It's not a good movie, it's one of the worst things Tom and Jerry has ever put out. But even in the realm of that godawfulness, it can ironically and accidentally get a good laugh.
(The scene where Tom, Jerry and Puggsy sing Friends to the End is shown)