Tom & Jerry

Apparently any excuse will do to get Tom and Jerry onscreen, including this spectacularly dumb story of a young woman (Chloë Grace Moretz) who cons her way into a job at a Manhattan hotel where an Instagram-famous couple (Lion’s Pallavi Sharda and SNL’s Colin Jost) is about to get married.

Director Tim Story’s questionable follow-up to his entertaining Shaft sequel features plenty of active camerawork to accommodate his animated stars, whose exceptional rendering is by far Tom & Jerry’s greatest achievement. But the repetitive schtick of the iconic cat and mouse chasing and attacking each other quickly grows tiresome and meshes poorly with the non-animated surroundings.

Packed with obnoxious music cues, including a few bizarre numbers channeled through singing/rapping pigeons, the film receives few favors from the thin script by Kevin Costello (likewise slumming it after co-writing the delightful Brigsby Bear), which trots out incredibly annoying characters while attempting to be goofy and smart at once, yet fails spectacularly.

It’s conceivable that small children might derive pleasure from the rampant cartoonish destruction, exaggerated behavior, and corny dialogue, but for teens and above seeking mindless entertainment or even minor nostalgic cheer, Tom & Jerry is a dead end.

Grade: D. Rated PG. Available to stream via HBO Max, and now playing at AMC River Hills 10 and Carolina Cinemark

(Photo: Warner Bros.)