Tom and Jerry

Following a successful reboot of the show on Cartoon Network from 2014-2019 and now on Boomerang, Tom and Jerry is a bid to carefully scale and translate that success to the big screen.

The trailer opens with Bruno Mars’ “Count On Me”, a cut from his 2010 debut, Doo-Wops & Hooligans. It’s a safe bet, having been previously used for commercials by Hyundai and Ferrero chocolate. On the other hand, the over-the-top, saccharine sweetness of the ditty works well as a set-up. Just as the narrator—yes, a trailer voice, which is in itself quite a throwback— suggests “Tom and Jerry are about to start over,” the tune is cut off by the sound of a hurtling bus flattening Tom on its front grill.

The second, Lizzo’s “Juice” is much more current (2019) and serves to set a lackadaisical flavour to the film as we begin to see the main conceit. (Notice the momentary diegesis at 0:26, with the animated pigeons mouthing the lyrics.) It’s certainly cut from the same cloth as Who Framed Roger Rabbit or Space Jam, with the those titles being old enough to warrant a revisit of the concept. Moreover, it’s established that the titular cat and mouse won’t suddenly gain the ability to speak, instead keeping to the slapstick comedy of their 1940s heyday.

The result is an animated reimagining that runs counter to the direction many feature film revitalizations of childhood properties go, with slickly-produced 2D characters in lieu of a 3D extravaganza, and a refusal to compel the animated characters to engage in direct dialogue with their human, live action co-stars.

A third, Latin-infused track takes things up a notch. According to director Tim Story, this is an unreleased song by Flo Rida called “Bouncy House”; we may hear more about it as we get closer to the film’s release or with subsequent trailers. Like the pigeons before, at 1:20 there is a just a moment of possible diegesis when we see Tom playing the piano, perhaps alluding to the well-known. 1947 cartoon The Cat Concerto. In this case, piano features in the soundtrack, aiding in an overall sense of immersion at the outset. In addition, multiple opportunities are taken in this latter half to synch rhythm and action, such as when Tom is sent like a pinball between cars at 1:41. This is elevated with the sequence from 1:47 to 1:54, beginning with the smashed cake; at this point, the music drops out in favour of a drum solo, which then sets up the one-liner to follow. Notice the minor editorial decision made in this sequence that adds to a sense of delight, such as the sound of a bell when the traffic light changes at 1:50. It’s the attention to small synch details like this that does a lot of the essential work in ultimately persuading the audioviewer to see the film.

Note also the non-sequitur sequence at 2:06 with a bit of epic music somewhat evocative of Batman or other superheroes; it’s a full ten seconds—lengthy, relative to the run of the trailer. It’s successful in the sense that it promises an entertaining variety of takes on various genres and tropes, much as cartoons are wont to do.

While a less charitable interpretation of the trailer might suggest it’s a bit unfocused or disjointed, with four different songs in use, really it’s two songs bookended by fake-outs, and again it arguably plays up Tom and Jerry’s heritage as a vintage cartoon property that thrives on rifling through themes and the joy of their variation.

Tom and Jerry is aimed for a theatrical release some time in 2021.

— Curtis Perry