Tom and Jerry: The Movie

Tom and Jerry: The Movie is a 2019 American animated buddy adventure comedy film based on the television series, The Tom and Jerry Show, which premiered on Cartoon Network in 2014, produced by Warner Bros. Animation and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. The film is directed by Darrell Van Citters and written by Sam Register and Ashley Postlewaite. The film was theatrically released in movie theaters on April 12, 2019 in the United States and Canada, by Warner Bros. The events of the film take place during the third season of The Tom and Jerry Show. This makes it the second theatrical Tom and Jerry film to hit the big screen. In theaters, a Wacky Races short entitled No Such Luck was shown prior to the film.

The film features the archive voices of William Hanna, Harry E. Lang and Mel Blanc in uncredited roles, with the voices of Rick Zieff, Joey D'Auria, Kath Soucie, John Michael Higgins, Frank Welker, Sam Kwasman, Dave B. Mitchell, Stephen Stanton, Grey Griffin, Alicyn Packard and Kari Wahlgren reprising their respective roles from the series, as well as Maurice LaMarche being the new voice for Muscles, while Dwayne Johnson, Hank Azaria, Selena Gomez, Michael Peña and Zazie Beetz join the cast.

The film received positive reviews from critics and was a box office success, grossing over $105 million worldwide against a $63 million budget.

Synopsis
Tom, Jerry and the gang got lost in the city, so they have to get back to their neighborhood and avoid animal control, while Glory, now a grown cat, is out to get revenge on Tom, Jerry and Spike.

Cast

 * William Hanna (archive audio; uncredited) as Tom and Jerry
 * Harry E. Lang (archive audio; uncredited) as Tom
 * Mel Blanc (archive audio; uncredited) as Tom and Jerry


 * Rick Zieff as Spike
 * Joey D'Auria as Butch
 * Kath Soucie as Tuffy
 * John Michael Higgins as Uncle Harry
 * Maurice LaMarche as Muscles
 * Frank Welker as Tyke
 * Sam Kwasman as Quacker
 * Dave B. Mitchell as Meathead
 * Stephen Stanton as Rick
 * Grey Griffin as Ginger
 * Alicyn Packard as Toodles Galore
 * Kari Wahlgren as Toots
 * Dwayne Johnson as A.J. the Cat
 * Hank Azaria as Daniel the Dog
 * Selena Gomez as Tina the Turtle
 * Michael Peña as Philip the Mouse
 * Zazie Beetz as Julia the Canary

Rating
The film is rated PG by the Motion Picture Association of America for mild rude humour, action, peril, violence.

Running Times
Suggested Running Times: 90 Minutes (NTSC), 86 Minutes (PAL).

Announcement
On June 11, 2018, Warner Bros. announced the film and its release date of April 12, 2019, with the show's cast members reprising their roles. A month later, the film's title and teaser poster debuted, and it was announced that Dwayne Johnson had joined the cast. The film marks the seventh time a theatrical Warner Bros. Animation film isn't produced by Warner Animation Group since the group's formation in 2013.

On December 3, 2018, it was announced that singers Hank Azaria and Selena Gomez were part of the cast, as the new characters Daniel the Dog and Tina the Turtle, respectively, with Michael Peña revealed as Philip the Mouse the same day. Zazie Beetz was announced to voice Julia the Canary in the film and Maurice LaMarche was also announced to voice Muscles (Jerry's Cousin).

Development
Warner Bros. Animation had already begun the process of starting development of movies with budgets of around $100 million. The intellectual property for these films was meant to be supplied by Warner Bros. Animation, Hanna-Barbera (Warner Bros. Animation's in-name only division), Cartoon Network and Turner Entertainment (also both Time-Warner divisions) among others and included The Flintstones, The Jetsons, Scooby-Doo, Samurai Jack, Adventure Time, Cow and Chicken, and more, of course, Codename: Kids Next Door. Cartoon Network had been approaching the original crew from the television series to make a high-profile, animated theatrical feature-length film adaptation and had long wanted to partner with Warner Bros. Pictures to release a Tom and Jerry film based on the Cartoon Network TV series, The Tom and Jerry Show given the network's extraordinary legacy in the world of animation, including some of the most enduring characters on cable television history.

Creator Bob Jaques agreed to make a feature film version of the show with the promise it would be the first of a planned trilogy. During development stages of the film, he and his writers Sam Register and Ashley Postlewaite intended to revisit some of the greatest films of the time, with Scarface and The Dark Knight having the core inspirations for the film.

Animation
The feature animation was handled by Renegade Animation in Glendale, California. The crew used the same processes from the original television series in the making of the film, most notably the 'skroutlines', which was a seamless blend of a more traditional screenplay with a more simple outline which resembled strong short stories and gave the storyboard artists such as Christina Mijares, Tod Carter and Will Finn all the creative and aesthetic freedom neccessary. Van Citters and Postlewaite themselves provided the film's animatics.

Fellow storyboard artists Tim Hodge, Diane Kredensor and Steve Moore, and animation veterans Eric Pringle, Justin Schultz and Peter J. DeLuca also provided the film's storyboards. Ford Riley helped on the character designs and special effects work on the film. Another animation veteran Alfred Gimeno also worked with Darrell Van Citters on the character designs of the film.

The bulk of the animation work was done on Wacom Cintiq tablets, which allowed drawings to be done directly on screen to facilitate production using programs Adobe Flash and Toon Boom Studio. Pencilled key animation sequences would be digitally inked-and-painted, enhanced and composited into backgrounds using Toon Boom Harmony. The character animation was done by going through the clean-up animation department using Toon Boom Harmony and Adobe Flash, and it was scanned directly into Photoshop. The artwork was then enhanced to affect the appearance of painted strokes and fills, and combined with backgrounds, using Adobe After Effects. The backgrounds were painted digitally using Adobe Photoshop.

Additional pre-production work was done at Warner Bros. Animation in Burbank, California where the series' pilot episode was produced. Animation and clean-up work was done at Renegade's facilities on Glendale, California. The final animation was also provided by Slap Happy Cartoons in Vancouver, British Columbia and PiP Animation Services in Ottawa, Ontario.

Music
Heitor Pereira composed the soundtrack for the film. In addition to using the television series' music work from Vivek Maddala, John Van Tongeren and David Ricard on the film, he also composed themes for Tom and Jerry.

Songs

 * Tom and Jerry Theme Song - Played By Scott Bradley

Live-Action/Animated Remake
In October 2018, it was announced that a live action/animated hybrid film based on Tom and Jerry is in development as a remake and that it would begin production in 2019. In April 2019, Chloë Grace Moretz joined the cast as Kayla, a girl who works at a hotel that gets occupied by Jerry, forcing her to bring in Tom to get rid of him. In May 2019, Michael Peña joined the cast as Terrance, Kayla's mean boss and the antagonist of the film. Colin Jost, Ken Jeong, Rob Delaney, Jordan Bolger and Pallavi Sharda were added to the cast in July. Patsy Ferran was revealed to be part of the cast in September. The film is set to be released on December 23, 2020. It was initially set for an April 16, 2021 release.

Principal photography began in July 2019 at Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden in Hertfordshire, England.

Theatrical release
The movie was released theatrically in movie theaters for the United States and Canada on April 12, 2019, by Warner Bros., on the same year as Warner Bros. Animation's previous film Unikitty! The Movie. The film was presented in a 1.85:1 format, rather than Warner Animation Group's standard 2.39:1 format on its previous titles. The film's theatrical release was preceded by No Such Luck, a short film based on the 2017 reboot series Wacky Races.

Home media
Tom and Jerry: The Movie was released on Digital HD on June 18, 2019 and DVD, Blu-ray on July 9, 2019 by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. It contains the deleted scenes, a Wacky Races short film No Such Luck, the 18-minute featurette, the behind-the-scenes look at Tom and Jerry: The Movie, featuring interviews with most of the principal cast and crew, animatics, the pilot episode, the audio commentaries and the sneak peek of Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz: A Star is Born!.

Box office/Commercial reception
Tom and Jerry: The Movie was released in theaters on April 12, 2019. With heavy competition, but a lot of marketing and promotion, the film grossed $105.2 million worldwide against a budget of $63 million.

Critical response
Review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a 80% approval rating based on the 117 reviews, and its average rating is 7.34/10. The critical consensus reads, "Tom and Jerry are really going big on the big screen this time, and that's something." Metacritic, assigns the film a score of 65 out of 100, based on 40 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". CinemaScore gives the film a "A-" on its A+ to F scale.

Trivia

 * This is the first ever feature film of the series.
 * This is the second animated Tom and Jerry movie to hit theaters after Tom and Jerry: The Movie (1992).
 * This is also the first ever Tom and Jerry movie in general to hit theaters. The previous Tom and Jerry films (Tom and Jerry: The Magic Ring, Tom and Jerry: Blast Off to Mars, Tom and Jerry: The Fast and the Furry, Tom and Jerry: Shiver Me Whiskers, Tom and Jerry: A Nutcracker Tale, Tom and Jerry Meet Sherlock Holmes, Tom and Jerry and the Wizard of Oz, Tom and Jerry: Robin Hood and His Merry Mouse, Tom and Jerry's Giant Adventure, Tom and Jerry: The Lost Dragon, Tom and Jerry: Spy Quest, Tom and Jerry: Back to Oz and Tom and Jerry: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory) were all direct-to-DVD releases.


 * This is the first Tom and Jerry movie to have an IMAX release.


 * This is the thirty-second animated television series to be adapted into a feature movie. The previous ones were Thomas and Friends, Spongebob SquarePants, Rugrats, The Wild Thornberrys, Hey Arnold!, The Powerpuff Girls, Regular Show, The Simpsons, South Park, Beavis and Butt-Head, The Flintstones, Yogi-Bear, The Jetsons, DuckTales, Ed, Edd n Eddy, Teacher's Pet, Goof Troop, Transformers, Batman: The Animated Series, Heathcliff, Doug, Recess, Babar, Mr. Peabody and Sherman, Woody Woodpecker, Peter Rabbit, My Little Pony, Teen Titans Go! and Steven Universe.


 * This is the seventh Flash animated film based on a Cartoon Network TV series, after   Mixels: The Movie, Mixing It Up A Notch ,  Teen Titans Go! To the Movies ,  The Amazing World of Gumball: The Movie ,  Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends: The Movie  and  Rise of the Powerpuff Girls  all released a year before and  Unikitty! The Movie  released this year.


 * This film was preceded by Tom and Jerry: The Movie, which was released back in 1992.
 * The movie is Rated PG.
 * This was one of the successful films of 2019.
 * This is the next theatrical film with a wide release to be based on a Cartoon Network TV series, after "The Powerpuff Girls Movie" released 17 years prior, "Tiny Toon Adventures: The Motion Picture" and   The Animaniacs Movie  both released 3 years prior,  The Lego Ninjago Movie" released 2 years prior,   Teen Titans Go! To the Movies  released a year before and  Wabbit: A Looney Tunes Movie  and  Steven Universe: The Movie  and  Unikitty! The Movie '' all released this year.
 * Although, Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, Teen Titans Go!, The Tom and Jerry Show, New Looney Tunes, Unikitty! and Ninjago are only aired by CN, and they’re made by Warner Bros.
 * The original cast reprised their roles in the movie.
 * This is the next theatrical 2D animated movie in 21 years after Quest for Camelot (1998), 20 years after The Iron Giant (1999) and released 2 years prior after The Sylvester &amp; Tweety Mysteries: The Motion Picture (2017).
 * This marks as Warner Bros.' next 2D animated theatrical film. Warner Bros. had its original feature animation division, which produced 2D animated films.
 * Before the movie, a short film called "No Such Luck" based on the 2017 reboot series Wacky Races was played.
 * This is Warner Bros.' twenty-sixth traditionally animated film to be released theatrically, after  Clifford's Really Big Movie  15 years prior.
 * This is the ninth theatrical Warner Bros. film to rely solely on Flash animation instead of hand-drawn animation, or CGI animation.
 * Michael Peña was casted as the voice of Philip the Mouse in the Warner Bros.' animated film.
 * Although, he will be portraying as Terrance, Kayla's mean boss and the antagonist in the live action/animated hybrid remake of Tom and Jerry, which is set to be released on April 16, 2021.
 * This is Michael Peña's first time of guest starring in the Tom and Jerry animated movie.
 * Although the live action/animated hybrid remake will mark his second time of starring in a Tom and Jerry movie, because he'll be Chloë Grace Moretz's co-star.
 * This is Grey Griffin's fourteenth Warner Bros. animated film, after "The Powerpuff Girls Movie" released 17 years prior, "Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi: The Movie" released 16 years prior,   Clifford's Really Big Movie  released 14 years prior, "Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi 2: The Movie" released 13 years prior, "Camp Lazlo The Movie" released 11 years prior,   Codename: Kids Next Door - Operation: M.O.T.I.O.N.-P.I.C.T.U.R.E.  released 3 years prior,  Codename: Kids Next Door - Operation: W.O.N.K.A. ,  Adventure Time: The Kingdom of Ooo ,  The Amazing World of Gumball: The Movie ,  WordGirl: The Movie  and  Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends: The Movie  all released a year before and  Unikitty! The Movie  released this year.
 * This is Kath Soucie 's fifth Warner Bros. animated film, after  Clifford's Really Big Movie  released 15 years prior,  Codename: Kids Next Door - Operation: M.O.T.I.O.N.-P.I.C.T.U.R.E.  released 2 years prior,  Dexter's Laboratory: The Movie" released a year before and   Wabbit: A Looney Tunes Movie '' released this year.
 * This is Maurice LaMarche 's fifth Warner Bros. animated film, after  Codename: Kids Next Door - Operation: M.O.T.I.O.N.-P.I.C.T.U.R.E.  released 3 years prior,  Codename: Kids Next Door - Operation: W.O.N.K.A.  and  WordGirl: The Movie  both released a year before and  Wabbit: A Looney Tunes Movie  released this year.


 * This is Kari Wahlgren 's third Warner Bros. animated film, after  Rick and Morty: The Movie  and  OK K.O.! Let's Save the Universe  both released this year.


 * This is Michael Peña 's third Warner Bros. animated film, after  The Lego Ninjago Movie" released 2 years prior and  The Amazing World of Gumball: The Movie ''  released a year before.


 * This is Warner Animation Group's twenty-sixth traditionally animated film.
 * The film was animated by Renegade Animation.
 * This is Dwayne Johnson's third animated film, after "Planet 51" released 10 years prior and  Moana   released 3 years prior.
 * This is Selena Gomez's seventh animated film, after "Horton Hears a Who!" released 11 years prior, "Arthur and the Revenge of Maltazard" released 10 years prior, "Arthur 3: The War of the Two Worlds" released 9 years prior, "Hotel Transylvania" released 7 years prior, "Hotel Transylvania 2" released 4 years prior and  Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation   released a year before.
 * This is Zazie Beetz's first and so far only animated film.
 * This is Hank Azaria's fourth Warner Bros. animated film, after "Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi: The Movie" released 17 years prior,   Happy Feet Two" released 8 years prior and "Wabbit: A Looney Tunes Movie''" released this year.
 * This is the 2nd collaboration between Kath Soucie and Grey Griffin. Their first was   Clifford's Really Big Movie  released 15 years prior.
 * The film was in Normal 3D Real D 3D IMAX 3D Digital 3D & XD 3D.