Tom & Jerry (2021 film)

Tom & Jerry (marketed as Tom & Jerry: The Movie) is a 2021 American live-action/computer-animated slapstick comedy film based on the titular cartoon characters of the same name created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, produced by the Warner Animation Group and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It is the second theatrical film based on the characters following 1992's Tom and Jerry: The Movie. The film follows Jerry taking refuge in a fancy hotel, which has a young employee teaming up with Tom to exterminate Jerry before an important wedding takes place.

The film is directed by Tim Story and written by Kevin Costello. It stars Chloë Grace Moretz, Michael Peña, Colin Jost, Rob Delaney, Pallavi Sharda and Ken Jeong in live-action roles, with Nicky Jam, Bobby Cannavale, and Lil Rel Howery in voice roles. The titular characters are voiced by William Hanna, Mel Blanc and June Foray via archival recordings, alongside Frank Welker, Kaiji Tang and André Sogliuzzo, though the characters are listed as themselves in the credits. Originally announced as a live-action/computer-animated film in 2009, the film languished in development hell for several years. Plans eventually shifted to producing an entirely animated film, in the same vein as the original theatrical shorts, in 2015. The film again became a live-action/animated hybrid in 2018, with animation produced by the Warner Animation Group, and filming beginning in 2019.

Tom & Jerry was theatrically released by Warner Bros. Pictures in the United States on February 26, 2021, along with a one-month simultaneous streaming release on HBO Max. The film received generally negative reviews from critics and has grossed $108 million worldwide, making it the eighth highest-grossing film of 2021.

Plot
In Manhattan, Tom Cat, who dreams of becoming a pianist, plays in Central Park, while his longtime rival Jerry Mouse is in search of a new home. During one of Tom's performances, Jerry picks a fight with him which ends with Tom's keyboard destroyed, followed by a chase.

Kayla Forester, a street-smart young woman doing odd jobs while living by her wits, ends up bumping into Tom while he is chasing Jerry. Looking for a position at New York's fanciest hotel, the Royal Gate, Kayla is tasked with helping event manager Terence Mendoza to set up a high-profile wedding, after presenting a stolen resume as her own. At the same time, Jerry takes up residence at the hotel, where his regular shenanigans involve stealing food and items to ramp up his new lifestyle. Meanwhile, Tom comes up with various strategies to enter the hotel in order to pursue Jerry but failing every time and gets an alley cat gang led by Butch caught by animal control.

Local celebrities Preeta Mehta and her fiancé Ben, along with their pets Spike and Toots, arrive at the hotel, where they are met by Kayla and Terence, who both greet them, unaware of Jerry stealing from Preeta's handbag. As the couple is escorted to their rooms, Jerry's presence is made known, which puts the wedding and the hotel itself at risk. Kayla offers to help catch Jerry without anyone knowing, which impresses Henry Dubros, the hotel's general manager. In her failed pursuit to catch Jerry, Kayla befriends a bartender named Cameron. Meanwhile, a depressed Tom, after many failed attempts of entering the hotel, falls into despair with his destroyed keyboard, until he notices Jerry inside one of the hotel rooms. Through the influence of his devil, an enraged Tom goes after him, leading to the pair fighting and destroying the whole room. Kayla comes to check, due to noise complaints. She befriends Tom, and, persuades Dubros on hiring him to catch Jerry, despite Terence's disagreement.

After many failed attempts, Tom designs a big mouse trap and finally succeeds in getting Jerry out of the hotel. Meanwhile, Kayla learns from Preeta that her engagement ring is missing and offers to help without Ben knowing, sparking a friendship between the two. Preeta also reveals that Ben has not been listening to her ideas about the wedding and has ordered various animals. Learning that Tom has gotten rid of Jerry, Kayla and Tom celebrate with Cameron, with Tom playing a song on the piano to impress Toots. However, Jerry returns and reveals to Kayla that he had Preeta's ring with him and agrees to give it back to her if she lets him stay in the hotel. Before Kayla can agree, Terence returns from walking Spike. Jerry hides in Kayla's coat pocket, sparking a chase during which Spike, Tom, and Jerry demolish the hotel lobby.

Terence is put on leave, while Kayla takes over as event manager for returning the ring stolen by Jerry. To prevent any more of Tom and Jerry's shenanigans risking the wedding, and, thus her job as well as Tom and Jerry's own chances of wanting to live in the hotel, Kayla tells the cat and mouse that they have to get along and spend the whole next day far away from the hotel, if they want to stay, to which they agree. While Kayla manages the wedding with the hotel crew, Tom and Jerry bond during their trip, but are taken to a pet compound after they inadvertently disrupt a baseball game. After Butch and the same gang of alley cats, whom Tom caused to get captured before, fail to manipulate Tom into eating Jerry, a vengeful Terence separately visits Tom and Jerry in different interrogation rooms and secretly tells lies to Tom about Jerry and Jerry about Tom (behind their backs), angering them both. At the start of the wedding, Terence incites Tom and Jerry to fight, which ultimately results in the rest of the hotel getting wrecked, the wedding ruined, and Kayla admitting her deception and leaving in shame, while Tom is physically kicked out by Terence.

Knowing it is their fault the wedding was ruined (through Terrance's influence), as they are also left without a chance of shelter due to the hotel's destruction, Tom and Jerry finally put their differences aside, and convince Kayla and the hotel crew, which includes a reluctant Terence, to work together and salvage the wedding alongside them. Tom and Jerry pursue Preeta on an electric skateboard and aerial drone and lure her to Ben, which results in the wedding being held at Central Park, better than originally planned. Ben apologizes to Preeta and admits that he was only trying to impress her and her father and he got carried away, while Kayla, along with Linda Perrybottom, the woman from which she took the resume, gets jobs at the hotel. Tom and Jerry both get to stay, with Tom also achieving his career as the hotel's pianist.

As the film ends (with Tom pulling a curtain featuring the classic "The End" headline from the cartoons), the wedding continues, until a mishap caused by Jerry reignites his longtime cat-and-mouse battle with Tom.

In a post-credits scene, Ben finds he is being charged full-price for both weddings but thinks it's a joke. Mr. Dubros though tells him that Terence crunched some numbers and it doesn't look good for him, then leaves along with Terence as Ben just stares with bewilderment.

Cast
Main article: List of Tom and Jerry characters
 * Chloë Grace Moretz as Kayla, a young employee of the Royal Gate Hotel and a wedding planner who hires Tom to remove Jerry before the wedding.
 * Michael Peña as Terence, the no-nonsense turned scheming event manager of the Royal Gate Hotel and Kayla's boss.
 * Colin Jost as Ben, the groom of the wedding the Royal Gate Hotel is planning and hosting. Ben is also the owner of Spike.
 * Rob Delaney as Mister Dubros, the wealthy general manager and owner of the Royal Gate Hotel.
 * Ken Jeong as Chef Jackie, a chef, and baker at the Royal Gate Hotel.
 * Pallavi Sharda as Preeta, the bride of the wedding and Ben's fiancée. Preeta is also the owner of Toodles "Toots" Galore.
 * Jordan Bolger as Cameron, a bartender at the Royal Gate Hotel.
 * Patsy Ferran as Joy the Bell Girl, an awkward Royal Gate Hotel bellhop.
 * Daniel Adegboyega as Gavin, the doorman of the Royal Gate Hotel.
 * Christina Chong as Lola, one of the receptionists at the Royal Gate Hotel
 * Ajay Chhabra as Mister Mehta, the father of Preeta
 * Somi De Souza as Mrs. Mehta, the mother of Preeta
 * Camilla Arfwedson as Linda Perrybottom
 * Gianni Calchetti as the reporter
 * Ozuna as Wedding Staff Member
 * Paolo Bonolis as Wedding Guest

Voice cast

 * William Hanna, Mel Blanc and June Foray (via archival audio recordings), alongside Frank Welker, Kaiji Tang and André Sogliuzzo as:
 * Tom, a stray tuxedo cat and Jerry's rival hired by Kayla to get rid of him. He is also a professional piano player. Tom is listed in the credits as "Himself".
 * T-Pain as Tom's singing voice (archive recording)
 * Jerry, a mischievous house mouse and Tom's rival who has taken up residence at the hotel. Jerry is listed in the credits as "Himself".
 * Nicky Jam as Butch, a disgruntled black alley cat who is the leader of a gang of alley cats in Manhattan who antagonizes Tom.
 * Bobby Cannavale as Spike, a brutish yet goofy American Bulldog who has a extreme dislike for Tom and is also Ben's family pet.
 * Lil Rel Howery as Tom's shoulder devil and angel.
 * The Plastic Cup Boyz as:
 * Joey Wells as Lightning, an orange alley cat who is a member of Butch's gang.
 * Harry Ratchford as Topsy, a gray/beige kitten who is a member of Butch's gang.
 * Na'im Lynn as Meathead, a brown alley cat sporting a red toupee who is a member of Butch's gang.
 * Spank Horton as Ash, a lanky brown/beige alley cat who is a member of Butch's gang.
 * Utkarsh Ambudkar as Real Estate Rat.
 * Tim Story as Pigeon Announcer.
 * Ben Shephard and Kate Garraway as Cecil and Malcolm, two elephants at Ben and Preeta's wedding.

Additionally, Goldie the Goldfish and Toodles "Toots" Galore also appear in silent roles. Droopy (voiced by an uncredited Jeff Bergman) also appear in a brief cameo.

Development
Plans for a live-action Tom and Jerry film were announced in 2009, after the success of Alvin and the Chipmunks, and would’ve followed Tom and Jerry's origins over a Chicago backdrop. The film would’ve been produced by Dan Lin, from a script written by Eric Gravning.

On April 6, 2015, plans shifted from a live-action film to a fully animated film, that would stay "in the same vein as the source material".

In October 2018, it was announced that Tim Story would direct a live-action/animated Tom and Jerry film for Warner Bros., which would begin filming in 2019. It was reported that Story was in discussions with Warner Bros. executives about what he was interested in directing, even before directing the new Shaft film. When the Tom and Jerry film was brought up, Story immediately "mentioned his admiration for the characters and how he'd love tackling that property."

Casting
In March 2019, it was reported that Zoey Deutch and Olivia Cooke were frontrunners for the lead live-action role of Kayla, "who teams up with Tom to stop the pesky Jerry from ruining an important event for herself." Additionally, Sofia Carson, Elle Fanning, Jennifer Lawrence, Ariel Winter, Naomi Scott, Meg Donnelly, Hailee Steinfeld, Yara Shahidi, Kelly Marie Tran, Becky G and Isabela Moner were all in consideration for the role. Later that month, it was reported that Peter Dinklage was being considered for the role of Terrance, Kayla's boss and the human antagonist of the film. In April, Chloë Grace Moretz was in final negotiations to star in the film. Moretz described Kayla as "a lot like Jerry" and as "a girl who gunned for what she wanted to achieve but realizes that time and honesty is what will prevail in the end", as well as "a total goofball", the latter aspect which allowed Moretz to "lean into who [she is] in real life". She also said Kayla is "a little unlikeable with some of the decisions she makes", yet she still wanted the character to feel likeable. Moretz was inspired in her performance by Bob Hoskins' performance as Eddie Valiant in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, as well as by actresses Sandra Bullock, Jennifer Aniston, Lucille Ball, and Meg Ryan. In May 2019, Michael Peña joined the cast in the role Dinklage was eyed for. Colin Jost, Ken Jeong, Rob Delaney, Jordan Bolger and Pallavi Sharda were added to the cast in July. Patsy Ferran was revealed to be part of the cast in September 2019.

In November 2020, Nicky Jam and Lil Rel Howery revealed that they have been cast in the film in voice roles. On December 2, 2020, Jam revealed that he will be the voice of Butch Cat in the film.

Filming
Principal photography began in July 2019 at Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden in Hertfordshire, England. The film was shot by cinematographer Alan Stewart, on the Sony VENICE cinema cameras and Panavision Primo 70 and Primo Artiste Lenses. Animators were present during filming, allowing cast members to improvise while figures of the titular characters were handled by puppeteers. Filming ended before the industry's shutdown in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Animation
Animation services were provided by Framestore, who hired 3D animators with a passion for 2D animation for the project. The strategy the animators used was to base the animation off a stylized 3D/CGI VFX modeling medium through a vintage 2D finish by creating innovative rigging, animation techniques used to create 2D animation, and custom tools such as lighting and rendering, resulting in the film's 3D/CGI animation maintaining the look, feel, and spirit of 2D animation, in the vein of the original classic shorts in the 1940s and 1950s. The animators also used early Tom and Jerry shorts as reference and inspiration for the animation sequences. Work on the animation was done remotely during the pandemic, with the filmmakers doing creative exploration on certain shots, and finalizing material through production groups.

Music
On July 22, 2020, it was announced that Tim Story's recurring collaborator and composer Christopher Lennertz is set to compose the score of the film. The album was released by WaterTower Music on February 12, having 30 tracks.

Theatrical and streaming
Tom & Jerry was released in the United States on February 26, 2021, by Warner Bros. Pictures, in theaters and for a month streaming on HBO Max. The movie coincidentally released on Tex Avery's birthdate, in which the movie stars for a brief second one of Avery's characters, Droopy, in an animal shelter and on a Joker parody billboard. It is the first film to officially debut the new Warner Animation Group logo to match with the new shield that Warner Bros. debuted in November 2019. It was originally scheduled to be released on April 16, 2021, but was pushed up to December 23, 2020. The film was then pushed back to March 5, 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, before moving up a week in order to avoid competition with Disney's Raya And The Last Dragon. Samba TV estimated that 1.2 million U.S. households streamed the film over its opening weekend on HBO Max.

On March 8, 2021, some HBO Max viewers who attempted to watch the film were accidentally shown Zack Snyder's Justice League, a movie which was supposed to release 10 days later. HBO Max quickly fixed the issue within two hours.

Marketing
A float of the characters appeared in the 94th Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade to promote the film.

On September 1, 2020, it was announced that Australian toy company Moose Toys made a deal with Warner Bros. to make merchandise for the film along with the upcoming film Space Jam: A New Legacy.

On February 20, 2021, Warner Bros. released two new shorts onto HBO Max titled Tom and Jerry Special Shorts to honor the 81st anniversary of Tom and Jerry, as well as to promote the film. These shorts share the style and crew of the other HBO Max original Looney Tunes Cartoons, also produced by Warner Bros. Animation.[better source needed]. The shorts were removed a month later for unknown reasons.

On March 6, 2021, Rob Delaney had been the star guest Announcer for Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway, whereas the titular characters made an appearance themselves with Sir Tom Jones.

Home media
The film was available for rent on April 16, and released on DVD, Blu-ray, and digital on May 18, 2021 by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment.

Box office
As of May 2, 2021, Tom & Jerry has grossed $44.2 million in the United States and Canada, and $64.2 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $108.4 million.

In the United States and Canada, the film grossed $4 million from 2,479 theaters on its first day of release. It went on to debut to $14.1 million, the second-best opening weekend of the pandemic behind Warner Bros.'s December release Wonder Woman 1984 ($16.4 million). The opening weekend audiences were 51% female and 46% under the age of 17, while 35% was Hispanic, 33% Caucasian, 21% African American, and 11% Asian. David Gross, who runs the movie consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research, said of the figure: "With half of theaters still closed, the pandemic still a threat, and Tom & Jerry available at home, this is a very good opening." In its second weekend the film grossed $6.6 million and in its third made $4 million, finishing second behind newcomer Raya and the Last Dragon both times.

The film was initially released in seven international markets, grossing $1.45 million; Singapore led with $457,000. By its second weekend of international release the film was playing in 16 markets, including debuting at number one in Brazil ($746,000) and Mexico ($395,000).

Critical response
Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports that 31% of 121 critics have given the film a positive review, with an average rating of 4.70/10. The site's critics consensus reads, "It isn't the worst of the long-squabbling duo's feature-length adventures, but Tom & Jerry is disappointingly short on the anarchic spirit of their classic shorts." According to Metacritic, which has assigned the film a weighted average score of 32 out of 100 based on 20 critics, the film received "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported 79% of audience members gave it a positive score, with 60% saying they would definitely recommend it.

The Hollywood Reporter's John DeFore said audiences should just "rewatch Roger Rabbit instead" and wrote: "Tim Story's Tom & Jerry is five to ten minutes of action that might have worked in one of the cartoon duo's shorts, surrounded by an inordinate amount of unimaginative, unfunny human-based conflict."

IGN gave the film a score of 6/10, and wrote: "Tom & Jerry is a sufficient family offering with a cool cast, a sparkling soundtrack, and occasional fun. It's too bad that Tom and Jerry often feel like afterthoughts in their own film and that there wasn't much more for them to do other than serve the story of others." Peter Debruge of Variety said: "Yes, this movie is a hybrid, which means Tom and Jerry have a full cast of flesh-and-blood co-stars, but [director Tim Story] set a simple rule from the opening scene, and he sticks to it: Every single animal in the movie, from singing pigeons to an executive-suite goldfish, is presented as an endearingly designed cartoon character... it's good enough to go down easy."

DiscussingFilm gave the film 2/5, highlighting that even its beloved characters and detailed animation can't save its "dull and uninteresting" plot. They label it a "hollow retelling of films already seen before" with subpar writing, acting, and imagination.