Tom and Jerry: The Movie

Tom and Jerry: The Movie is a 1992 American animated musical buddy comedy film produced and directed by Phil Roman and released in Germany by Turner Pictures and in United States by Miramax Films and LIVE Entertainment. It is a feature-length film starring the cat-and-mouse duo Tom and Jerry. and their first and only one to receive a wide theatrical release.

It also served as a comeback to the silver screen for the pair after being absent from film for thirty-four years. The feline and rodent talk in this movie, although they have spoken in their earlier cartoons. The concept was discontinued in later movies and future shows.

Joseph Barbera (who created Tom and Jerry with partner William Hanna), served as creative consultant. This was Dana Hill's last film before her death in 1996. The film was at the target of controversy when it received negative reaction due to the characters' dialogue. It was also a box office bomb, grossing only $3 million.

Plot
Tom and his owners are about to move to a new home. While Tom dozes in the back of the car, he notices Jerry and chases him, causing both Tom and Jerry to be left behind when their owners leave. The next day, as the house is being destroyed by a demolition crew, Tom escapes but goes back to rescue Jerry.

The two wander the streets looking for food and shelter, but cannot find any. That night in an alley they meet Pugsy, a stray dog, and his friend Frankie Da Flea. Tom and Jerry both introduce themselves, before expressing shock at the other talking. Pugsy and Frankie encourage the two to be friends, as it would be difficult to survive in the streets alone. They agree, and they also all agree to have a "feast" at their place and Pugsy makes a "buffet" by collecting leftovers in the bin. When Pugsy's tray is full, two stray-catchers capture him and Frankie and lock them in their truck.

With Pugsy and Frankie gone, Tom is ambushed by a gang of mean singing alley cats who chase him, but Jerry saves him. Tom and Jerry then meet a young girl named Robyn Starling, whose mother died when she was a baby and is left behind with her evil guardian Aunt Pristine Figg when her father goes away to Tibet, but her father is now presumed killed in an avalanche. Figg has proceeded to steal the family fortune with her sleazy lawyer Lickboot, even moving Robyn into the attic as her bedroom. Robyn had run away after her locket was thrown out of the window and that is how she began to run. Tom and Jerry, knowing what it is like to be homeless, attempt to persuade her to return home, convinced that deep down, Figg loves Robyn.

Indeed, Aunt Figg is crying in the house, scared of losing Robyn and begging a local police officer to find her safely, but reverts to her cold, money-hungry self once the officer is gone. The officer finds Robyn, Tom, and Jerry, and Figg allows Tom and Jerry to stay at first, but after the wreck the kitchen due to a run in with her dog Ferdinand, Figg has Tom and Jerry sent to an animal shelter run by Dr. J. Applecheek, who is in secret the employer of the two stray-catchers and in charge of an abusive prison-like pound. Tom and Jerry are reunited with Pugsy and Frankie. With help from several other dogs, including Droopy, they stage an escape. Meanwhile, Robyn discovers through a telegram that her father is alive and, once reunited with Tom and Jerry, she and they run away together to find him. Figg discovers this, and at the suggestion of Lickboot places a $1 million bounty on Robyn, without the intent of paying, since Robyn's father cut Figg's funding until Robyn is proven safe. Meanwhile, Robyn's father Mr. Peter Starling is notified that his daughter has run away and immediately returns to America to find her.

Tom and Jerry end up separated from Robyn after their raft crashes into a ship. Robyn is found by the owner of a local amusement park Captain Kiddie and his talking hand puppet Squawk. But Kiddie and Squawk had seen Robyn's face in an advertisement about the bounty, and telephone Figg. Afterwards, they trap Robyn in a Ferris wheel, planning to hold her for ransom. Applecheek overhears the telephone conversation and a race begins to reach Robyn first. When he refuses to give the stray-catchers any of the money they throw him out of the truck. Tom and Jerry find Robyn in the park just when Figg and Applecheek arrive. The three of them trap the stray-catchers in the Ferris wheel and flee up the river in a boat, pursued by Figg, Lickboot, Applecheek, and Kiddie. Eventually, Aunt Figg and Lickboot end up with their 1955 Austin-Healey 100 stuck in the mud on a farm, and once they get out, they destroy a bridge by dragging their pet dog Ferdinand's skateboard across, causing Applecheek to fall into the river and crashing into Kiddie and Squawk. The river ultimately takes Tom, Jerry, and Robyn to an old summer cabin belonging to her and to her father, but they are ambushed by Figg and Lickboot, who attempt to forcefully take Robyn back home. In the ensuing struggle, an oil lamp breaks and starts a house fire and near a being a wildfire. Tom and Jerry climb onto the roof and get Robyn out of the cabin with a rope while Figg and Lickboot are stuck in the roof of the boat which Ferdinand drives away.

As the house is burned to the ground, Mr. Starling finally arrives in a helicopter and rescues his daughter, but is unable to reach Tom and Jerry before the cabin collapses. The duo survives the wreckage and are taken to live with Robyn and her father in their home. Pugsy and Frankie see this in a newspaper and are satisfied that Tom and Jerry finally found friendship. However, as soon as Robyn and her father are out of sight, Tom and Jerry resume their old antics, with both happily realizing that their friendship was too good to be true.

Voice cast

 * Richard Kind as Tom
 * Dana Hill as Jerry
 * Anndi McAfee as Robyn Starling
 * Charlotte Rae as Aunt Pristine Figg
 * Henry Gibson as Dr. Sweetface J. Applecheek
 * Ed Gilbert as Pugsy, Daddy Starling
 * David Lander as Frankie Da Flea
 * Tony Jay as Lickboot
 * Rip Taylor as Captain Kiddie
 * Howard Morris as Squawk
 * Michael Bell as Ferdinand
 * B.J. Ward as Tom's owner
 * Greg Burson as Moving man
 * Don Messick as Droopy

Additional Crew

 * Designed by: Leonardo Moran, Evert Brown, Dean Spille
 * Animation by: Larry Leichliter, Bill Littlejohn, Ken Southworth, Al Pabian, Leslie Gorin, Joe Roman, Sam Fleming, Burt Medall, Michael Toth, Sam Jaimes, Bill Melendez
 * Checking: Eve Fletcher, Cynthia Goode, Patricia Blackburn
 * Ink and Paint Supervision: Jane Gonzales
 * Ink and Paint: Joanne Lansing, Micky Kreyman, Sybil Cuzzort, Cookie Tricarico, Evelyn Hairapetian, Joyce Frey, Myrna Gibbs, Rita Giddings, Judy Bamber

Musical numbers

 * 1) "Friends to the End" - Pugsy, Frankie, Tom, Jerry
 * 2) "What Do We Care? (The Alley Cats Song)" - The Alley Cats
 * 3) "Money Is Such a Beautiful Word" - Figg, Lickboot
 * 4) "God's Little Creatures" - Dr. Applecheek
 * 5) "I Miss You (Robyn's Song)" - Robyn
 * 6) "I've Done It All" - Kiddie, Squawk
 * 7) "Finale (Friends to the End)"
 * 8) "I Miss You" (End Title) - Stephanie Mills
 * 9) "All in How Much We Give" - Stephanie Mills

Criticism and controversy
The film received extremely negative reviews, particularly for giving dialogue to the normally silent stars Tom and Jerry, although in some cartoons from back in the 1940s and 50s, the two protagonists had some dialogue provided by co-creator William Hanna. Joseph McBride of Variety remarked, "'Tom and Jerry Talk' won't go down in film history as a slogan to rival 'Garbo Talks'." Charles Solomon of the Los Angeles Times criticized the film's songs. Solomon also criticized Phil Roman for his direction. Hal Hinson of The Washington Post complained about the dialogue between the cat and mouse, and said that the voices "don't fit the characters".

Hinson also said that the musical numbers are "forgettable as they are intolerably bouncy and upbeat". Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, on their show Siskel & Ebert gave the movie two stars, though praising the animation, look and the truthful art design of the animated shorts, both thought that it wasn´t a good idea giving dialogue to the two characters, giving lack of more slapstick action from past cartoons and that the story was silly, even considering that the character Robyn Starling takes most of the attention than the cat and mouse themselves.

However, Vincent Canby of The New York Times gave a positive review of the film. Canby praised Henry Mancini's score to the film and musical numbers. Canby later went on to say, "[the characters of] Tom and Jerry have charm." As of October 2014, review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 20% of critics gave positive reviews on the film, based on 11 reviews.

Box office
The film opened in the United States and Canada on July 30, 1993, the same weekend as Rising Sun, Robin Hood: Men in Tights and So I Married an Axe Murderer. Opening at #14 on its opening weekend, the film made $3,560,469 at the North American box office, making it a financial flop.

Soundtrack
A soundtrack album was released by MCA Records in 1992 and included both the songs and score from the film, composed by Henry Mancini.

Home Media releases
The movie was first released on VHS and Laserdisc on October 26th 1993 by Family Home Entertainment. Then it was re-released on VHS on March 2, 1999 and the first time made its DVD debut on March 26, 2002 by Warner Home Video, although despite receiving a UK VHS release, no Region 2 DVD release is as yet currently available.