Tom and Jerry: Forbidden Compass

Riley

Thought this would be an easy work outing for this week, I was unaware Tom and Jerry are Chinese in this, the full film was presented in mandarin which caused the neurodivergent client I took to this to be so stressed I had to take him outside and explain what China was and that Tom and Jerry are ok, they’re just Chinese now. We are now watching the remainder of the film and basking in the prospect of the Chinese century, I’m listening to the latest Chapo with headphones but it’s great to see T&J honouring the legacy of Mao like this

FuriousMan2261.0

How in the fuck is this a worse Tom and Jerry film than the 1992 and 2021 films? Well, the answer to the seemingly preposterous question I posed above is relatively simple.For one, it has characters that are forgettable, dull, and flat as shit, as well as frenetic pacing that doesn't let anything truly set in or breathe. It gets to the point where it legitimately feels like the slop your young cousin would watch on YouTube. Also, it sticks around for WAY too long.I watched a theater bootleg of it through a Discord call with some friends and I STILL want my money back.The real lesson to take from this film is that we, as a society, need to stop making Tom and Jerry movies. This is the third fucking attempt, and STILL no one has gotten it right, so can we just throw in the towel already?

Mister Cap (english/german)2.5

No Cat-astrophe. No Mouse-terpiece 🐱🐭(deutsche version unten)⭐️⭐️½☆ ☆ _____________________________________________________________ e n g l i s hTom and Jerry have been through just about everything during their incredibly long career. I've watched – and loved – their golden years, but I've also seen their painful decline into the endless stream of direct-to-video releases. And trust me, I've seen more than a few absolute stinkers.With that history in mind, this China-friendly adventure is far from the worst thing these two have ever starred in.The movie actually gets off to a promising start. The museum sequence captures some of that classic Tom & Jerry magic, with the familiar slapstick, over-the-top cartoon violence, and the endless cat-and-mouse chase that made them legends. Unfortunately, once the story moves to ancient China, Tom and Jerry slowly become supporting characters in their own movie, while a bunch of new fantasy characters take center stage. None of them are nearly as entertaining as the duo we came to see.The animation, however, deserves some credit. The colorful environments look great, the action is energetic, and visually it's a much stronger effort than many of the franchise's later direct-to-video outings.In the end, Forbidden Compass feels less like a Tom and Jerry movie and more like a fairly generic fantasy adventure that just happens to feature Tom and Jerry.Considering some of the disasters these two have survived over the years, this one is nowhere near rock bottom.But it's certainly no comeback either._____________________________________________________________ d e u t s c hTom und Jerry haben in ihrer unglaublich langen Karriere wirklich alles erlebt. Ich liebe ihre goldenen Jahre, habe aber auch ihren schmerzhaften Absturz in den Direct-to-VHS- und später Direct-to-DVD-Sumpf gesehen. Und glaubt mir: Da waren einige echte Rohrkrepierer dabei.Gemessen an dieser Vorgeschichte ist dieser China-Ausflug bei weitem nicht das Schlimmste, was ich von diesem berühmtesten tierischen Duo der Filmgeschichte je gesehen habe.Der Film startet sogar überraschend ordentlich. Die Szenen im Museum versprühen noch den klassischen Tom-und-Jerry-Charme: herrlicher Slapstick, hemmungsloses Chaos und das ewige Katz-und-Maus-Spiel. Doch sobald die Reise ins alte China beginnt, geraten Tom und Jerry immer mehr zu Nebenfiguren in ihrem eigenen Film. Stattdessen drängen sich neue Fantasy-Figuren in den Vordergrund, die leider nie den Charme oder die Präsenz des eigentlichen Duos erreichen.Was ich dem Film aber wirklich zugutehalten muss, ist die Animation. Die Schauplätze sind hübsch gestaltet, die Farben kräftig und die Action ist durchgehend flott inszeniert. Optisch macht der Film deutlich mehr her als der Direct-to-DVD-Müll.Am Ende fühlt sich Forbidden Compass allerdings weniger wie ein Tom-und-Jerry-Film an, sondern eher wie ein ziemlich generisches Fantasy-Abenteuer, in das Tom und Jerry zufällig hineingeraten sind.Nach allem, was diese beiden Legenden in den letzten Jahrzehnten über sich ergehen lassen mussten, ist das hier aber definitiv keine Katastrophe.Ein großes Comeback ist es allerdings genauso wenig.___________________________________________________🐱🐭________