Headscratchers / Tom and Jerry: The Movie

• This has always bugged me since the first time I saw the film, but why Tom's Owner didn't return for him after Tom was left behind? Did she really planned to leave him behind if given the opportunity? She didn't care for him at all?
• If all the members of the Alley Cat Gang hate each other, why then they are part of a gang? The small cat seems to be the leader, the fat one seems to be the muscle and the three taller ones seem like just other members. But if they hate each other, why they don't fight for the title of leader or are together to begin with? And if they hate domestic cats like Tom, why they wanted to convince Tom to join them?
• What's the Alley Cat Gang's purpose in the story after all? They aren't interested in money like all the villains in the film (minus the bulldog who caused Tom to get lost in the beginning) and they just appear during their musical number and never appear ever again after Jerry tricks them into falling into the sewers. By having a musical number in a movie, such character(s) should have an important role in the plot, but the gang's role amount nothing to be precise...
• What was Applecheek hoping to gain by locking Tom and Jerry up in the cellar at all? His entire money-making scheme is to kidnap pets from unsuspecting owners and then ask for ransom. His henchmen pretend to be pound employees and Applecheek's "home for neglected furry little creatures" is a good cover for why he has so many cats and dogs around. So far that's a good plan. But since Figg had brought Tom and Jerry fair and square, wasn't there much more to gain by treating them well so he'd get a handsome fee when Figg came back, than by lumping them with the kidnapped pets in the cages? ^note I am assuming Figg was going to come back for Tom and Jerry later on, or at least assuming that Applecheek assumed this, because if he knew Figg didn't give a damn about them then why wouldn't he just let them go since there was no money to be made off them?
  • It's stated by Dr. Applecheek that "Pristine Figg has paid for the privilege of doing them." Figg wanted them out of the way as fast as possible so Robyn wouldn't know about her father being confirmed to live after the avalanche, so Applecheek took it on for a nice paycheck.
• Why Dr. Applecheek had Jerry thrown into a cell along with Tom if Jerry is a mouse and could slip through the cell just like Jerry does later on to free the other pets? He shouldn't have locked Jerry in some other place like in a jar or a box? That would have been more intelligent...
• Why is the fact that Tom and Jerry talk (and have musical numbers) such a Berserk Button for the fandom? Yeah, they never held conversations before, but in the theatrical shorts, they talked occasionally and sang all the time. It's not like this was an Ass Pull on the filmmakers' part.
  • It's probably from association with the film not being very good, or indicative of what Tom & Jerry were about. There's very little of the slapstick that made the original shorts popular, and since the talking and singing take up so much of the movie's time, it isn't unfair to assume that the humour of the source material got stripped out in favor of it. Ergo, the talking and singing are bad because they replaced what made the theatrical shorts appealing to begin with.
    • Doug and Rob Walker explained it best in their commentary track: "They inherently aren't talking characters. Just because Mr. Bean gives a little speech in a movie, that does not make him a 'talking character'".
  • Could be the Negative Continuity that the movie implies about the past scenes where they've spoken/sung. The movie makes it clear that neither knew the other could talk, but instead of the few short lines and songs, they talk for the entire movie. Basically, it seems like the movie was disregarding all the old cartoons and treating it like a new gimmick, which pushed away long-time fans.
  • It's a Misblamed part. The movie very much seems to have thrown Tom and Jerry into a project where two completely new characters may have done better. This is what probably angers most of the T&J public, but the whole "they talk?" thing is overblown by a much smaller but much louder team. The internet no doubt helped that group seem larger than they are, since, after all, if those people had watched more Tom and Jerry over the years, them talking, singing, and being friends are all more Mythology Gag material than insults.
• During the film's climax, why Mr. Starling just rescued Robyn but left Tom and Jerry behind, only coming back for them when his daughter tells them that they were her friends and after the house has been destroyed by the fire? I get that his daughter was his top priority above all, but he could have well had enough time to rescue the cat and the mouse who were with her. Leaving them to the flames of the burning house isn't a bit too cruel?

---