Review of Tom and Jerry: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

William Hanna & Joseph Barbera's 'Tom & Jerry' just doesn't work with the set-up, the writer, Gene Grillo, gave them. The idea that the two followed Charlie Bucket (Voiced by Lincoln Melcher) and his Grandpa Joe (Voiced by Jess Harnell) around Willy Wonka (Voiced by JP Karliak)'s factory, during the events of the 1971 film, 'Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory', shot for shot, rather than using the factory as a background, with a new story of Tom being used as a pest controller, by Wonka, in order to stop rodents, from eating the candy, is insane. The original event adapt from Ronald Dahl's 1964's novel of a similar name should had been used as a minor detail in the background, rather than the main plot. Why, because a simple story of a mouse stealing food from the factory grounds makes more sense, than the outrageous, filler full plot-hole driven story that we got, instead. Because of this misdirection, it makes the film seem unoriginal, chunky and muddled. It also ruins some of good moments from the first film; by slowing down the pacing for mindless filler bantering or using original songs like 'I want it now' in the wrong places. A good example of this, is with the character of Mr. Slugworth (Voiced by Mick Wingert). Seeing him, played up as being incredibly bad and everything, kinda ruins the revelation of his true motives toward the end with him. Another thing, that it ruins, is emotional scene where Charlie is tested toward the climax. It's clear, that the boy has earned more than Wonka's trust. Because of that, that scene in the office, just felt a bit stale in repetitive than dramatic. In the end, it's just felt odd. Like others critics, I also question this movie existence. The mashup of two different source material like a kid's morality play/novel about behaving and short slapstick animation comedy series of cat chasing a mouse was indeed jarring & a bit confusing; as they don't really match. It's weird, seeing anthropomorphic animals live along humans, yet Tom & Jerry act more like animals. It's coherent. The message about behaving didn't leave, much of an impact, as the original movie, because how much Tom & Jerry misbehavior. After all, they pretty much, got away with a lot of crime. Despite the mixed message about doing good; at least, the music, was not that bad. It's nice to see, a few new risky takes with the original songs like having a duet. Just wish, they didn't interrupted it, so much, with noisy slapstick. As for the animation, it is a mixed bag for me. At parts, the motions are really colorful and smooth. At its worst, some of the characters' facial expressions can be a bit ugly looking. Nevertheless, I don't hate this animation film as much as the others. It's pretty harmless and shouldn't be, taken as a big deal. It's not worth blowing up over. After all, this isn't the first time, that 'Tom & Jerry' did a satire take on a classic film or literature property. 2011's 'Tom and Jerry & the Wizard of Oz' & 2012's 'Tom and Jerry: Robin Hood and His Merry Mouse' follows the same method. Even short films as far, back as 1951's 'His Mouse Friday' & 1952's 'Two Mouseketeers' take a similar route. So, why is this film, hate more than the others? Well, maybe, because modern audiences are just getting tired of the silly crossovers and cross-promotional. Warner Bros Animation has indeed been recently rapidly, revamp and reinvigorate a lot of their Hanna Barbera film series, as of late with silly parodies. So, it was no surprise, that the results, were so lukewarm. I get, why some people want to see a various Hanna-Barbera characters, be taken in a new direction that mimics the original source material, while also appeals to modern day society, much in the same way that Disney has done with their old properties, such as 2017's 'Duck-Tales'. Rebooting 'Tom & Jerry' is indeed possible. Then, I get those, who wish, Warner Bros Animation would leave, some of the old Hanna-Barbera property alone as they had their time to shine. I kinda agree with those people as well. The simple plot of 'Tom & Jerry' cannot survive in a world, where kids shows are starting to appeal to both adults, and children, due to more complex, sophistical story-telling. "Tom and Jerry', just isn't one of those shows. Maybe, if the jokes were more cleverly written, than childish simpleton. People wouldn't be so harsh on it. After all, it is possible. Nearly everybody whom, seen this movie, loves the Droopy (Voiced by Jeff Bergman) cameo as the Paraguay Billionaire and the Tuffy (Voiced by Kath Soucie) tunnel scene. So, write more jokes like that. It would help lower, the backlash, this movie has been getting. Another reason, why some people hate this movie is because, original actor, Gene Wilder who played the title character in the original 1971 movie had passed away the year before this movie release, and the weird timing contributed to the movie's acidic reception as many nostalgia fans, thought, it was in bad taste, even though, the movie was in production, way before, that actor's passing & even got his family blessing for the film to use his like-less, after his death. Even the producers wanted to dedicate this film to the memory of him. So, I found, this reason to hate the movie to be, weak. It wasn't in bad taste, at all! It's just hard to stomach. Just not as bad, as 1992's 'Tom and Jerry: The Movie' & 2005's 'Charlie & the Chocolate Factory', which are far worst. However, I can understand, if some people hate it. This movie is indeed awful; yet for me, its scrumpdiddlyumptious fun in how bad, it is. Overall: This animation direct to video is a guilty pleasure of mine!! 'So bad, it's good'.