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Film: Tom and Jerry: The Movie

Y'see Tom and Jerry there, chasing each other like old times? Yeah, you'll find none of that here. EVER! Also, Jerry looks huge.

A feature length Tom and Jerry movie released during The Renaissance Age of Animation.

Well, it does have Tom and Jerry in it, as supporting characters at best, with almost no slapstick.

The film starts with Tom and Jerry going off on their own after their home is demolished, only to discover that they can talk — and sing — as they become friends. They encounter an orphan girl named Robyn Starling, who becomes the main figure in the story as our cat and mouse duo try to help her find her father, while evading her greedy, evil Aunt Figg and her lawyer Mr. Lickboot. And then there's the dog on a skateboard, two dogcatchers who look like either burglars or Mexican wrestlers, a performing ship captain and his puppet parrot, and a doctor who kidnaps rich pets and holds them for ransom.

Needless to say, the film bombed, and the Direct-to-Video Tom and Jerry films made since have, to their credit, tried to stay closer to the original formula.

Tropes used in this movie

Advertised Extra: Droopy. Despite what the cover looks like, don't expect to see much of him. His cameo is less than 10 seconds long.
Amoral Attorney: Lickboot. Lampshaded by Aunt Figg.
Figg: You're a lawyer! Scheme!
Animated Musical: Oh, dear!
Animate Inanimate Object: Captain Kiddie's hand puppet Squawk seems to have a mind of his own, noticing Robyn's picture on a milk carton before Kiddie does and sings with Kiddie. He also eats cookies and drinks milk.
Award Bait Song: "Do I Miss You", the song Robyn sings.
Badass Mustache: Robyn's father.
Big Damn Heroes: Robyn's father rescueing her from the burning house via his helicopter.
Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Aunt Figg and Dr.Applecheecks.
The Cameo: Droopy makes one.
Captain Ersatz: Robyn's father has an uncanny resemblance to Indiana Jones.
Chewing the Scenery: Tony Jay as Lickboot. Especially when delivering the "We've got to have money!" line.
Conspicuous CG: The boat our heroes ride on during the final chase scene.
Cross-Dressing Voices: Dana Hill as Jerry.
Dueling Movies: The film was released the weekend after Jurassic Park. Yeah, you can probably guess how that little battle turned out.
- Another animated film was out at the same time as well; Once Upon a Forest. Interestingly Hanna-Barbera was involved in the production. Both films were crushed by Jurassic Park however.
Disney Acid Sequence: Lickboot and Figg's money song.
Disney Death: Tom and Jerry themselves.
Epic Flail: When Tom is hit by a wrecking ball that destroys their home early in the film.
Evil Aunt
Even Evil Has Standards: When the cabin is burning down Lickboot seems genuinely concerned for Robyn's safety.
Evil Overlooker: Aunt Figg on the above poster.
Expy: This video sums it up perfectly.
- Also, Aunt Figg is an obvious expy of Madame Medusa.
Face Heel Turn: Dr. Applecheeks. Although he may be Evil All Along.
- Don't forget that even though he's pretty creepy, Captain Kiddie isn't really a bad guy when we first meet him either. But when he finds out Robyn is worth a fortune, it's all downhill from there.
Fake Out Opening: The opening titles of the film are a montage of classic Tom & Jerry gags at high speed, with an awesome jazz soundtrack by Henry Mancini himself.
Fire-Forged Friends: Tom and Jerry, in this movie.
Five-Bad Band: You can kind of see the bad guys in the film as this.
- Big Bad - Aunt Figg
- The Dragon - Lickboot
- The Evil Genius - Dr. Applecheeks
- The Brutes - The Mexican wrestler dog catchers.
- The Dark Chick - Captain Kiddie
- Team Pet - The dog on the skateboard, and to a lesser extent, Squawk.
- Also, the singing cat gang.
Follow the Leader: The pathos filled orphan plot? The musical numbers? The hammy bad guys (one of whom is voiced by Tony Jay)? Its very obvious that the film was a shameless attempt at cashing in on Disney's renaissance during the early 90's, with Tom and Jerry thrown in for marquee value. Suffice to say, it didn't work.
Human Focused Adaptation: Suprisingly, not on Tom And Jerry. Focused on the human characters.
In Name Only: How many ways does this movie deviate from the original shorts? Lets count the ways:
- First, there is very little of the series trademark slapstick in the film. The few times it appears are in the opening, the scene in Aunt Figg's mansion (although that was Figg's weiner dog chasing Tom and Jerry that resulted in it, not the duo themselves) and at the very end. This is also coupled with the total derailment of Tom and Jerry as characters, as they decide to become friends via song.
- Second, Tom and Jerry talk the whole time, something that only sporadically happened in the original shorts. And the voices in question don't seem to fit the characters at all.
- Third, the movie may as well as have been called "The Adventures of Robyn Starling, co-starring Tom and Jerry" since they become supporting characters at best when Robyn appears and becames the central figure of the film.
- Four-there are the musical numbers, obviously thrown in to cash in on the Disney musical craze of the early 90's. And no sign of the original Tom and Jerry theme on top of that.
Mind Screw: The final chase scene, where Tom and Jerry are escaping on a boat with Robyn from Aunt Figg and Lickboot, a weiner on a skateboard, a ship captain and his hand puppet Squawks, two burglars, and Dr. Applecheeks on an ice cream cart.
Missing Mom: Robyn Starling's mom died when she was little, another reason she's the designated Woobie.
Money Fetish: Aunt Figg and Lickboot.
Money Song
Mood Whiplash: Dr. Applecheek's song after the first few verses.
No Time For Taste: The singing cat gang.
Odd Friendship: About as odd as they come, knowing the history Tom and Jerry have.
Off Model: Look at the page picture, what do you see wrong with Jerry?*
If you guessed that he's huge, you're correct.
Out of Focus: Tom and Jerry, in their own movie.
Pep Talk Song: "Friends to the End"
Pounds Are Animal Prisons: Dr. Applecheek's 'animal shelter' is more like a jail.
The Power of Friendship
The Renaissance Age of Animation
The Runaway: Robyn, when Tom and Jerry meet her.
Shout Out: Early in the film, Tom and Jerry get kicked out of a restaurant named Bill and Joe's.
Surely that has to symbolize something...
- Figg and Lickboot's money song also makes a shout out to Citizen Kane of all movies.
Something Completely Different
Spotlight-Stealing Squad: Poor Tom and Jerry. Every single other character steals the movie from them. Special mention goes to the dog on the skateboard, who steals most of their slapstick.
Suddenly Voiced And Singing: This is THE reason that every fan likes to pretend that this movie doesn't exist.
Villain Song: "Money is such a beautiful word..."
- "Yes, animals is our business, A moneymaking business"
- "What do we care about nice?, What do we care about sweet?"
- [technically this, since he's revealed to be a villain later] "I've done it all!"
The Voiceless: Tom and Jerry, for the first ten minutes of the film anyhow.
Wham Line: the first dialog exchanged between Tom and Jerry and Pugsy, less in terms of the plot and more in dashing the audiences' expectations.
What Happened to the Mouse?: Tom's owner drives off without him (seemingly unintentional) at the beginning of the film, but never comes back for him. Was she planning on abandoning him the whole time?
Wolverine Publicity: It seems like Tom and Jerry were pretty much thrown in as an afterthought just to make people interested in seeing it.
X Meets Y: It's like The Rescuers only with Tom and Jerry...and lots of singing.