One of the most beloved rivalries in history is reignited when Jerry moves into New York City’s finest hotel on the eve of “the wedding of the century,” forcing the event’s desperate planner to hire Tom to get rid of him, in director Tim Story’s “Tom and Jerry.” The ensuing cat and mouse battle threatens to destroy her career, the wedding and possibly the hotel itself. But soon, an even bigger problem arises: a diabolically ambitious staffer conspiring against all three of them.
For in-depth thoughts on Tom & Jerry, please see my colleague Michele Arbir’s review from its original theatrical release here.
Video Quality
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment brings Tom & Jerry to Blu-Ray with a really lovely 1080p video presentation. The presentation provides a significant amount of depth on display, especially in the interior shots of the hotel. The production design of the elaborate wedding featured in the film, along with the fabrics of clothing, provide crystal clear textural details. The image is clean with the bright color palette popping off the screen. The film employs nice splashes of bold colors within the production design, which makes for a very striking image. The black levels are appropriately deep and inky with no discernible digital noise. The flesh tones are natural with a magnificent amount of detail present in close-ups. The animation style of our titular characters are pleasingly stable throughout with no anomalies detected. It would have been most excellent to get this on 4K UHD Blu-Ray, but this Blu-Ray is still a top-tier representation of this movie.
Audio Quality
This disc comes equipped with a wonderful Dolby Atmos presentation that packs one heck of punch throughout the entire adventure. From the opening immersion into New York City, the soundscape is set to deliver an expansive experience suitable for a family action film. Sounds are appropriately rendered with precise directionality from the more kinetic action scenes to interpersonal moments of dialogue. Ambient details are plentiful and quite satisfying in the rear and overhead channels. The overhead channels serve to complement the other channels rather than carry the main load, which adds a nice sense of space to the mix. Musical cues and the playful score from Christopher Lennertz envelope the room with a lovely ease. Dialogue is presented perfectly clear without ever being overwhelmed by any of the competing sonic elements. The chaotic altercations and crashes provide an all-encompassing soundscape that kicks in throughout all the speakers. The low end is engaged in a really solid way that will have your couch shaking a bit. The mix offers up the best experience for those with the home theater system to support it.
Special Features
- Deleted Scenes: Ten scenes totaling nearly 14 minutes of unused material are provided here with introductions from director Tim Story. In these scenes, we have an alternative opening, a new intro for Kayla at her job, a confrontation where Kayla loses her apartment, and other various moments with Tom & Jerry which feature unfinished visual effects.
- Gag Reel: A three-minute gag reel of performers having fun on set supplemented with some hand drawn animation of Tom and Jerry. There are some humorous moments here.
- Bringing Tom & Jerry To Life: A 14-minute featurette in which the cast and crew discuss bringing these characters to the big screen, their personal relationships with the duo, the legacy that comes with them, the animation techniques in the film, the performers assembled for the story and more.
- Tom & Jerry’s World: A four-minute featurette which explores how the world looks from Tom and Jerry’s point of view and the characteristics that stand out with each of them.
- The Feud – #TeamTom vs. #TeamJerry: A four-minute look at the epic rivalry between the titular characters along with insights from the cast and crew about whose side they are on.
- Jerry’s “A House For A Mouse”: A four-minute “episode” which features Jerry’s pad in the city.
- The Tom & Jerry Guide to New York City Wildlife: A five-minute look at the various critters featured throughout the film with “fun facts” provided via voiceover narration.
- Inside The Wedding of Ben and Preeta: A five-minute look at the wedding of the “It-Couple” and the elaborate set pieces that come along with it.
- A Scene Comes To Life: An examination of two scenes totaling nine minutes which shows all of the efforts that went into crafting the wedding along with the animal lockup sequence. There is some behind-the-scenes footage that is pretty interesting here.
Final Thoughts
Tom & Jerry is decent family entertainment, but it unfortunately loses a great deal of what made the original cartoon shorts so effective. The narrative injects some human characters in order to fill out the story, but in the end you are left wanting to get back to the characters we have known and loved for so long. At least Chloë Grace Moretz and Michael Peña bring some fun energy to their roles that allows their segments to not be a complete drag. Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has provided a Blu-Ray with a top-notch A/V presentation and a solid array of supplemental features. The lack of a 4K UHD Blu-Ray release is a bit frustrating, but those who appreciate the film should find this presentation really great as is.
Tom & Jerry is currently available to purchase on Blu-Ray, DVD and Digital.
Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.
Disclaimer: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.
Dillon is most comfortable sitting around in a theatre all day watching both big budget and independent movies.
