TOM & JERRY: THE MOVIE
Cert PG ★★★ Available on Premium Video On Demand rental now
They’ve survived frying pans to the face, lawnmowers to the tail and a cheese grater to the backside. But how will hairy sadists Thomas D Cat and Jerome A Mouse fare in the age of outrage?
Judging by the scathing American reviews, this could be the final curtain for their 80-year-old double act.
There’s no chance of it adding to their haul of seven Oscars but I rather admire the way the pair stick to their guns (well, steam irons and bowling balls) in this refreshingly violent adventure.
This is a live-action/animation hybrid which means every animal appears in the lovely hand-drawn style of Hanna-Barbera’s golden age alongside flesh-and-blood human actors.
The plot sees the mute duo take their wordless slapstick to New York where Jerry builds a plush new pad in the skirting boards of a five-star hotel.
While Jerry is installing his new widescreen TV (it’s an iPhone), Chloe Grace Moretz’s Kayla is blagging her way to a job as events manager for the wedding of two social media stars (Colin Jost and Pallavi Sharda) which will be hosted by the supposedly rodent-free venue.
After she spots Jerry, Kayla hires a stray cat called Tom to vanquish the mouse, much to the horror of her boss (the always funny Michael Peña).
It’s a thin plot but the humans have amusing lines and the feuding stars never spend too long on the sidelines.
The movie is lacking a stand-out moment (nothing comes close to that cheese grater) but their anarchic antics will be reassuringly familiar to fans of those award-winning shorts.