Following in the hallowed footsteps of MC Skat Kat, Roger Rabbit, and whatever the fuck was going on in Cool World, Tom and Jerry have entered into an unnatural union with the “real world” for their next big screen adventure. (There were others, probably? This doesn’t seem like a good use of Google’s resources at the moment.) The premise of Tom & Jerry raises some interesting questions, like, now that they’re in the real world, are they also beholden to our laws of physics? i.e. will the mouse’s violent shenanigans result in the gruesome murder of the cat? The trailer (sadly) clears this up very early on as Tom survives being hit by a bus. Still, Jerry’s murderous plots have certainly taken on a sociopathic dimension against the backdrop of a tangible reality.
If we’re interpreting this trailer correctly, Chloë Grace Moretz is the villain or a villain-like presence who works in the hotel where Tom and Jerry are carrying on with their typical nonsense. She does a pretty good job of convincing us that she’s interacting with these cartoon characters and not just making faces at tennis balls. The film co-stars Michael Peña (everyone likes Michael Peña), Ken Jeong, and Rob Delaney—whose involvement all but guarantees that we will rent this on VOD when it’s down to four bucks and we can feel okay about only half-paying attention to it. Maybe.