Aaron Ploof
In 1992, there was a film adaptation of Warner Bros’ classic franchise, Tom and Jerry, simply titled Tom and Jerry: The Movie. The film featured our two favorite characters, the cat and the mouse, for once getting along. Moreover, they actually spoke to each other. Although this critic has fond childhood memories of the movie, a quick look at Rotten Tomatoes spells out the ugly truth: the movie was a critical failure. With 14% from critics and 41% from audience members, it’s clear the movie didn’t capture viewers’ love. Well, one thing’s for sure about the new joint American-Chinese-developed entry in the Tom and Jerry canon, Forbidden Compass: it’s infinitely worse in every way than the 1992 installment.
The first few minutes of the film are stellar. Tom (John Shang) and Jerry (Ruan Yifei) engage in their usual hijinks. Jerry is attempting to march his way into a museum exhibit featuring the titular compass. Meanwhile, Tom is doing his best to halt his progress. It’s the usual slapstick from the original cartoons, and although the animation is somewhat weird-looking in its 3-D form, it still manages to do the job. Both cat and mouse eventually fight over the MacGuffin. This activates it and opens a portal to…a fictional Chinese universe?
They fall from the sky and land in historical China, encountering a group of characters who mistakenly identify them as gods from Heaven. There are Phoenix Master (Kyle McCarley), Feeney (Corey Yee), and Jade (Miya Kodama). On the villain side, there’s Brent Mukai as Mega Rat, an evil inventor genius. From the get-go, almost nothing is done to distinguish these characters. Motivation and development are mysteriously vague. Phoenix Master is a god, I think, and wants to ascend to Heaven. Mega Rat just wants the compass for world domination. Jade, the cat who is Tom’s romantic interest, has no unique characteristics. Then there’s Lil Feeney, who is a bird-like phoenix creature whose main character trait is to follow Phoenix Master around. Oh, and he lays magical eggs when he’s stressed.
Viewers will watch these characters bumble around for what seems like an hour, with the inciting moment coming drastically late. Mega Rat manipulates Jerry into thinking that he actually cares about him, only in an attempt to steal the compass. When Jerry inevitably finds out he’s been duped, he joins forces with Tom to put an end to Mega Rat’s evil deeds.
In a film with such a poorly developed and scattershot plot, with characters who are merely placeholders, the stakes feel almost non-existent. The effect is a flat, ineffective barrage of animation that, while visually striking, will do nothing to engage the emotions. The characters’ motivations for their actions are strangely left until the second half of the film, which features major problems of its own.
Just when the movie has apparently reached its climax, the film resurrects its villain for one more showdown. The final battle between Mega Rat and Phoenix Master (not Tom and Jerry? Why?) is extraordinarily long and drawn out. It adds unneeded runtime to an already overly long film that bores.
Thematically, the film explores spiritual themes of enlightenment, the dangers of lying, and the importance of being authentic. Phoenix Master wants to ascend to Heaven but has to prove himself worthy of it in the first place. Tom faces consequences for lying about his status as a god and steps up to rescue Jerry when he needs to. Yet despite these themes, the movie fails to land and make an impact. When viewers don’t care about the peripheral characters (who almost feature more than Tom and Jerry themselves) how are these ideas supposed to affect them?
In the end, Tom and Jerry: Forbidden Compass is a massive failure of a movie. With a haphazardly structured and weak script, forgettable characters, and themes that fall flat, this isn’t one you should be rushing to the theater to see, even if you are a fan. Kids will be bored and adults will be eager for the end credits to roll. Instead of subjecting yourself to this, go back to the aforementioned 1992 film or watch some of the all-time classic shorts.
