Live action Tom and Jerry Movie

[Daniel]

A new direct-to-video is coming out in January:



Shame they dropped the usual traditional animation in favor of the "Tom and Jerry Show" flash style. Looks so cheap and dull. It's not a crossover type either. I have a soft spot for those.

[EricJ]

It's not a crossover type either. I have a soft spot for those.

Yeah, I was wondering: "Wait, 'Cowboy'?...That's not a WB property! What happened to 'Tom, Jerry & Beetlejuice Celebrate Christmas with the Griswolds'?"

[Daniel]

Again with Beetlejuice...

[gaastra]

Tom and jerry and beetlejuice were in a tv special together along with the care bears back in the 80s. Odd thing is it was a little rosie prime time special. It was the last time beetlejuice was on abc before moving to fox kids. So they two shared a special decades ago.

[Daniel]

1990s, but you are correct that they were in that special briefly. Talk about a blast from the past!

[EricJ]

Again with Beetlejuice...

(Hey--I didn't put it on Broadway.)

Well, what's Warner pimping NOW, now that they finally got their freakin' Space Jam 2 and Godzilla? I put in the Christmas Vacation joke, after all...And we haven't heard from their Gremlins kick for a while.

I mean, yeah, there's still that Willy Wonka thing, but T&J covered that.

[Daniel]

Back to Tom and Jerry, here's the press release:

BURBANK, CA (November 2, 2021) – Everybody’s favorite cat and mouse duo is back in action in Tom and Jerry Cowboy Up, the all-new, full-length animated family film set for release on Digital and DVD on January 25, 2022 by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. Produced by Warner Bros. Animation, Tom and Jerry Cowboy Up finds the rip-roaring duo in the wild west where they help save a ranch from the hands of a greedy villain. Cowboys and cowgirls of all ages will want to join Tom and Jerry in this new, original western-themed adventure that’s filled with toe-tapping tunes and hilarious animated hijinks. Tom and Jerry Cowboy Up retails for $14.99 SRP ($19.99 SRP Canada).

The Wild, Wild West just got wilder with Tom and Jerry on the ranch! This time, the rivals team up to help a cowgirl and her brother save their homestead from a greedy land-grabber, and they’re going to need some help! Jerry’s three precocious nephews are all ready for action, and Tom is rounding up a posse of prairie dogs. But can a ragtag band of varmints defeat a deceitful desperado determined to deceive a damsel in distress? No matter what happens with Tom and Jerry in the saddle, it’ll be a rootin’ tootin’ good time!

Tom and Jerry Cowboy Up features the voice talents of George Ackles as The Marshal, Sean Burgos as Bumpy, Trevor Devall as Duke, Chris Edgerly as August Critchley, Georgie Kidder as Scruffy, Justin Michael as Bentley, Kaitlyn Robrock as Betty, Isaac Robinson Smith as Zeb, Kath Soucie as Tuffy, Stephen Stanton as Virgil, Fred Tatasciore as Clem and Kari Wahlgren as Duffy, Jane. Tom and Jerry Cowboy Up was executive produced by Sam Register. The film was produced and directed by Darrell Van Citters. Story by Will Finn and teleplay by William Waldner.

Yeehaw!

[Ben]

Kinda depressing looking at some of those names there. But I guess everyone’s gotta work.

[Daniel]

At least Kath Soucie got to keep her role.

[droosan]

In the wake of this movie, Medicom Toy in Japan released a series of Tom & Jerry figures as part of their 'Ultra Detail Figure' (UDF) line. They're nicely sculpted for small-scale (2 to 3 inches tall) figures, but nothing .. unusual ..
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TomJerry_MedicomUDF_01.jpg (33.81 KiB) Viewed 5518 times

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However, series 2 of these UDF figures -- releasing in Japan this month -- introduced a theme of Tom & Jerry being 'squashed' into a variety of shapes, as seen in their classic M-G-M cartoons:
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TomJerry_MedicomUDF_02.jpg (33.68 KiB) Viewed 5518 times

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And series 3 -- announced for June of 2022 -- will continue this nutty theme.
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TomJerry_MedicomUDF_03.jpg (36.43 KiB) Viewed 5518 times

[Randall]

This is why I love the Japanese.

[Ben]

They look better than the actual movie! Love the frying pan one!

[Daniel]

Those are awesome! Too cute. Love the flattened Tom from "Jerry and Jumbo"! Here's a different pic from series two which reveals an additional figure:



From the short "Jerry and the Goldfish".

[EricJ]

Just off the subject--Finally got around to watching the "Tom & Jerry Corporately-Plug Meet Willy Wonka" movie as it was about to leave one streaming service, and while it was certainly...puzzling, think I've got a theory, here:

Yes, the Sherlock Holmes one was another corporate in-house plug (back from when Warner was trying to sell the Robert Downey Jr. movie as a house icon), but that was just safe general source material--Never could figure out what was the POINT of doing almost literal shot-for-shot Psycho-remakes of Willy Wonka and the '39 Oz, even if it's supposed to be some kind of Lion King 1-1/2 "While everything else was going on..." story.
Do we really need the animators to show off how many iconic shots they remembered from the original (look, we remembered the antlers behind August Gloop's TV news reporter!), and devote an entire minute of animation time to reproducing Gene Wilder sipping on a lemonade daffodil while finishing his song?

Think there may be more to why Wonka and Oz were picked for T&J crossovers:
Warner, like Disney, knows they don't sell direct-videos to kids, they sell them to parents--But mention Wonka and Oz to parents, and all they'll selectively Boomer-remember were how "scary" the boat scene and the flying monkeys were.
Here, we're basically getting Warner child-friendly "My First" revision-edits of the two movies, where nothing scary happens, as long as cartoon characters are nearby. (We even get onscreen reassurance that Veruca and her father made it out of the trash furnace okay.)

...I guess that means we'll next get T&J versions of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and "T&J Meet the Neverending Story", where the horse doesn't sink?

[Ben]

Well, Chitty is MGM, but yes, I get your drift. I think the T&J "movies" are only based on those films because, really, what is there in the Warners catalog that has those two brand recognition for "classic family" features? And I mean *classic*, not just nostalgic 80s titles!