The feature-length debut of animation's most famous duo who made their first appearance in 1940 in the short Puss Gets The Boot is, for all fans of the legendary cartoon coupling, a sacrilegious abomination guaranteed to make you take a chainsaw to the projection booth.Not only is the animation flat, the script witless, but horror upon horrors Tom and Jerry talk. (They claim they've never spoken before because they never had anything to say to each other.) Worse still, Jerry now get this! is voiced by a girl. Whatever were they thinking of?
The original Tom And Jerrys were, of course, a sadist's delight ; then, when director Fred Quimby left, the partnership went soft, with this particular version going even more mushy. And when, following the demolition of their home, cat and mouse are encouraged to"team up" you know you're on to a loser. The stupendously naff song-and-dance routines don't help much either, nor does the hackneyed plot revolving around the twosome's efforts to reunite a tearful orphan with her square-jawed, moustached hero father.
Where's the violence? The torture? The steam irons in the mush? As seven-time short film Oscar-winners, Tom and Jerry deserve much better than this. Killing would, of course, be too good for those responsible. They should, instead, be forced to watch this over and over again. Quite horrible. Even for kids.