Tom and Jerry (2021)

Tom and Jerry (2021)
Release Date	June 9, 2021
Running Time	25:16
Previous Review	Career Dive: Julie Taymor
Next Review	Scooby-Doo: Curse of the Lake Monster
Link	https://channelawesome.com/tom-and-jerry-2021-nostalgia-critic/

(The Channel Awesome logo is shown, followed by the intro. NC walks into his chair.)

NC: All right, everyone ready for the watch party to begin?

Malcolm: Hell yeah!

Tamara: What's on the docket tonight, Critic?

NC: Well, it's the Tom and Jerry movie!

Malcolm: Hell no!

Tamara: I thought you liked us, Critic.

NC: That's a lie and you know it, but it's not the one you're thinking of with a little girl, one of (cut to an image of the "We've got to have... MONEY!" meme superimposed on an astronaut on the moon) the first memes to walk the internet...

Malcolm: Does it matter? We know it's gonna suck!

NC: Hey, I thought you both were Tom and Jerry fans like me!

Tamara: Yeah, the old cartoons, but everything they've done recently has been shit.

NC: Doh, you two act like they've a long series of missteps, but this one's different. In this one, they meet-

Tamara: The Wizard of Oz?

NC: No.

Malcolm: Willy Wonka?

NC: No.

Tamara: The Nutcracker?

NC: No.

Malcolm: Sherlock Holmes?

NC: No.

Tamara: Robin Hood?

NC: No.

Malcolm: Johnny Quest?

NC: No.

Tamara: The Wizard of Oz again?

NC: No.

Malcolm: Chloë Grace Moretz?

NC: Yes! Now just sit back and enjoy the mayhem!

(NC presses play on a remote, and we cut to the opening of an old Tom and Jerry cartoon)

Tamara: Huh. This just looks like a regular Tom and Jerry cartoon.

NC: Yeah, it said it was the movie.

Malcolm: Well, this is fine, I... I love the original Tom and Jerry cartoon.

NC: Yeah, you're right, let's just sit back and enjoy it.

(Cut back to the cartoon, where Jerry slams a book in Tom's face, causing the three to laugh.)

Tamara: That is so Jerry!

(Cut back to the cartoon where Tom gets his fingers caught in a mouse trap, when we suddenly cut to a scene in Fantastic)

Ben Grimm: Oh, yeah, Ben...

(Cut to NC squinting his eyes from the sudden change)

Ben Grimm (vo): ...a few days in space...

Ben Grimm: ...it'll be great!

Malcolm: What the hell is this?

NC: It looks like all the worst parts from the Fantastic Four movies!

Tamara: So all of them?

NC: No, just the parts where they're trying to be funny.

Tamara: So all of them?

NC: Yes, all of them.

Person: A new day is done! Of the fantastic-

(Jerry bonks Tom on the head with a mallet)

NC: Oh, here we go.

(A bear trap clamps on Tom's tail, he screams. Malcolm, Tamara and NC laugh. Tom screams with his head stuck in the ceiling)

Ben Grimm: That's my seat. Get out of here.

(Tamara and NC grunt)

Ben Grimm: And which one did you pick? The blue ones with the little flowers?

(Cut to Malcolm)

Malcolm: Why is this perfectly good Tom and Jerry cartoon interrupted by these awful live-action scenes?

NC: Congratulations, you got the analogy Malcolm!

(Malcolm squeals. An arm hands him roses)

Malcolm: Oh my god, this is so unexpected.

NC: Tamara! Better luck next time. I'm afraid it's Hell for you.

Tamara: What?

(Tamara falls down to Hell, the Devil laughs)

NC: Jokes.

(Cut to title card)

NC (vo): It's no question we talk about Tom and Jerry a lot on this channel, from (picture of the title card from the original cartoon) good, (poster of Tom and Jerry: The Movie) bad, and (poster of Tom and Jerry: Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory) "yeah, I smoked a whole brick, what are ya gonna do about it?", so there was definitely interest when a new film mixing live action and animation was announced. Critics tore it apart, but audiences seemed to like it fine.

NC: I'm...obnoxiously inbetween.

NC (vo): When it's actually Tom and Jerry, they get the spirit and comedy down pretty good. When it's anything else, um... (a clip from the 1992 movie appears) ...you weren't there in the 90s, man, let us have this! Directed by Tim Story, who helmed (cue posters of Fantastic Four...) ooh... (...Ride Along...) ...ah... (...Barbershop...) ...oh hey- (...and Taxi) ...oh. I guess you could say this is one of the better of his movies as he at least got the main characters down. But the rest... (the clip from the 1992 movie plays again) ...YOU WEREN'T THERE, MAN! It's complicated to talk about, so let's not waste any more time.

NC: This is our favorite cat and mouse team in a movie that's...good?

(the caption "GOOD ENOUGH" appears beneath NC)

NC: Eh, okay. This is Tom and Jerry.

(The Warner Bros. logo plays to the sound of A Tribe Called Quest's "Can I Kick It")

NC: Before we start, let me remind you, there are good scenes in this movie...there are good scenes in this movie.

(We then see a trio of pigeons rapping to the song)

Lead Pigeon: (rapping) Can I kick it? / To all the people who can Quest like A Tribe does...

(Frustrated, NC picks up a bible)

NC: I swear on this fuckin' bible, there are good scenes in this movie!

NC (vo): Yep, I can sense millions of grown-ups just shouting "nope!" and (a cursor clicks off the movie and onto an OnlyFans page) clicking back on that OnlyFans window because you're a goddamn adult!

(As NC speaks, clips from several musical moments from Tom and Jerry cartoons play before cutting back to the rapping pigeons)

NC (vo): On the one hand, Tom and Jerry has always utilised music that was popular at the time, so this isn't 100% out of place, but it is...80% out of place.

Lead Pigeon: (rapping) Rock and roll to the beat of the funk fuzz...

(Stammering, NC raises the number to "90%")

NC (vo): Despite that lame opening, there's...yeah, a lot more lameness, but you'll quickly see a pattern. When a laugh depends on someone talking, the film's pretty awful. But when it depends on something visual, the film's pretty funny. Take this scene for example of Tom and Jerry trying to get set up in New York City.

(The scene is muted as Jerry looks around his potential home, a run-down old car, he's promptly disgusted and horrified when he sees a sketch of a mouse corpse on one of the seats)

NC: That's pretty good.

(The scene is muted again as Tom walks down the street, in front of a Joker-esque poster with Droopy. The camera zooms in on said poster)

NC: That's goddamn hilarious!

NC (vo): But now let's add in the music and dialogue that was originally there.

(The scene with Jerry plays again, but with the dialogue and music intact)

Real Estate Rat (Utkarsh Ambudkar): [Look at that] view! Resplendent, huh? It's got everything. But be careful, those seats are very flammable. I'm kidding. I'm not kidding.

NC: I have a sudden urge to punch anything that comes into view.

(Suddenly, Tamara emerges back onto her couch)

Tamara: Oh my god, why have you abandoned me-

(NC sends Tamara plummeting into Hell once more. Back in the film, Tom imagines himself on a poster with John Legend)

NC: Ooh, John Legend! I can't wait to see his cameo-

(Tom walks off)

NC: I think I just did.

NC (vo): As you may have put together, all the animals are animated, using CGI but adding lines on the outside to make them look both two-dimensional and three-dimensional. It surprisingly works okay, especially considering the more solid and painful the slapstick is, the funnier it comes across. And give the script credit, there are a couple of lines that work.

(A group of citizens admire Tom's piano playing and Jerry's dancing)

Female Citizen: I thought I'd seen it all with the blind, piano-playing cat.

(Soon enough, Tom's ruse is lifted, as a kid picks up his sunglasses)

Kid: He can see!

Female Citizen: He's a fraud! He's a regular cat playing the piano.

NC: That's already one more laugh than I got in (poster of the 1992 film) any of this. The movie deserves a star (a four-star rating with one star highlighted appears) simply on that default!

(As Tom is about to catch Jerry, the latter pretends to see something in his hand)

NC (vo): They do the classic routine of Jerry pretending to see something, and honestly with this scream, it works.

(Jerry quickly punches Tom, who lets out a yelp in pain)

NC (vo): They chase each other, again, resulting in some good slapstick, when suddenly...

(We then see Kayla riding a bike down the road)

NC (vo, as Kayla): Hi, I'm here to kill your movie.

(Tom bowls into Kayla's stack of clothes)

NC (vo): This is Kayla, played by Chloë Grace Moretz, and I think this actress has (posters for Kick-Ass, Let Me In, Suspiria and Neighbors 2 appear) proven time and time again she's a great talent both dramatically and comedically, so I don't really blame her for...

Kayla (Chloë Grace Moretz): No. Please, sir, please, just...you...you...you can't do that.

NC: ...whatever this performance is.

(Cut to a later scene where Kayla hands a hotel receptionist a resume)

Receptionist: Is this your resume?

Kayla: No, it's not.

Receptionist: Wow, this is impressive.

Kayla: My only...copy.

NC (vo): Every word sounds like she was just handed a rewrite and they cut just before she said "wait, that wasn't rehearsal?"

Kayla: (chuckles) Oh, wow. Yeah, you've had a lot of really cool jobs.

NC (as Moretz): Well, that was fun reading that line for my five year old niece, when do we start-WE WERE ROLLING?!