BEFORE: Last night's film had a cat and a mouse working together, but let's get back to the classic cartoons, where they're mortal enemies (I think). Last night's film also had the theft of a ring as a plot point, so that worked out rather well.
THE PLOT: Tom is left in charge of a priceless magical ring by his young wizard master. He is then horrified when the ring gets stuck on Jerry's head, who then runs off into the city.
AFTER: Ah, I remember the classic Tom & Jerry cartoons from the 50's, which I enjoyed on TV throughout the 70's. I always noticed, though, when they dropped in one of the newer cartoons, maybe from the late 60's, and they just didn't hold up. The sound was all muted, the characters spoke like they were under water, and the concepts were just far out, like Tom & Jerry on the moon. What the heck were they smoking over at Hanna-Barbera during the late 60's? (Don't tell me, I think I know...)
This hour-long cartoon from 2002 is better than those late 60's shorts, but not by much. And it sure doesn't measure up to the classic 4-minute T&J shorts from the 50's. Introduce the characters, set up the conflict, chase scene, fight scene, owner comes home, wrap it up. Classic scenarios that fit in perfectly with a young boy's (lack of) attention span.
When stretched out to an hour, a Tom & Jerry plot (or lack thereof...) just doesn't hold up. Jerry gets a magic ring stuck on his head. That's it? Then 57 minutes of chase scenes? Are you kidding me? There's no coherent overarching storyline - for example, having to deliver the magic ring across town. It's simplistic, but that would be more of a plot than we actually get here. Other classic characters are introduced more or less at random, and more chase/capture scenes follow, with each character having their own flimsy motivation for obtaining the ring.
And yet, no one truly understands or appreciates the MAGIC-ness of the ring. From what we see, it can do almost anything, mostly transforming characters into other objects, or making them liquid, or making heavy objects appear over their heads. That's a GREAT story device for a cartoon, and yet its potential goes largely untapped here. Why not magic up a great big bone to distract the bulldog chasing you? While you're at it, turn that car into a giant fish for Tom, and wish up some cheese for yourself while you're at it. Nope, no one thinks of stuff like that.
One of my favorite cartoons of all time is Tex Avery's "The Great Poochini". A magician tortures an opera singer by using his magic wand to turn him into a country singer, a singing baby, making TNT appear in his hand, etc. etc. It's a great example of what you can do in a cartoon with magic, and the only limits are the animator's imagination. Unfortunately, they don't show it much on TV any more, since the opera singer gets turned into a stereotypical Chinaman at one point, and also a singer performing in blackface. But those (allegedly) racist depictions are also cultural touchpoints from the 1950's, so I think they should be allowed to air.
NITPICK POINTS #1-4: How did Tom come to be a wizard's cat? It's never explained. If you want to keep a magic ring safe, why give it to your cat? Maybe put it in a safe while you're away. How come the ring doesn't work, doesn't work, doesn't work, then suddenly just works? And why would a mouse even WANT a ring anyway? His fingers are much too small.
To add insult to injury, the lip-sync here is mostly non-existent. The human characters all manage to have something in front of their mouths when they speak, or their faces are in shadow. Yeah, I noticed you people cutting corners. I realize that the old Tom & Jerry cartoons used to just show humans from the lower torso down, but still. Haven't we progressed in the animation industry since then?
Starring the voices of Jeff Bennett, Frank Welker (last heard in "Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius"), Charlie Schlatter (last seen in "Bright Lights, Big City"), Maurice LaMarche, Tress MacNeille, and Billy West (also last heard in "Jimmy Neutron").
RATING: 2 out of 10 kennel cages
At least it was interesting to see classic characters animated in another artist's signature style rather than the dull consistency of other franchise characters. You know, where Fred Flintstone is always supposed to look like every other incarnation of Fred Flintstone.
ReplyDeleteThough it didn't surprise me to learn that the freaky final incarnation of Tom & Jerry was done by a Czech animator. It's real Iron Curtain stuff, isn't it? Creepy as hell. It reminded me of that effect where you film someone walking and talking backwards, and then play it forwards.