Tom and Jerry is a series of cartoons that started out as shorts that were produced by Hanna-Barbera and MGM Cartoons in the 1940s. It has since led to a number of spin-off television shows, a theatrically released film, as well as direct-to-video films, with another theatrically released film set to come out in December of this year, after originally being scheduled for 2021. The short films and the subsequent spin-offs follow Tom the cat and Jerry the mouse and the antics that come from adding a cartoonish spin on the cat-and-mouse chase.
With some exceptions, the Tom and Jerry spin-off films typically are adaptations of different aspects of popular culture from The Wizard of Oz to The Fast and the Furious, but with Tom and Jerry in them. In spite of the enduring success of the show and the continuing of the films, some of the films were better received, and therefore better rated, than others but all films still tend to have lower ratings. So, here’s a look at the five best and five worst Tom and Jerry films, according to IMDb.
10 Worst: Tom And Jerry Blast Off To Mars! (6.0)
In Tom and Jerry Blast Off to Mars! Tom and Jerry accidentally board a space ship bound for Mars after Tom chased Jerry around a space station. Once on Mars, they are accidentally left behind by the same space ship and must find their way back to Earth while also dealing with the Martians. They arrive back on Earth in time to stop a Martian invasion.
The plot is fairly convoluted with the journey to and the journey from Mars feeling like they could have been made into two separate films which is likely why it received a lower score.
9 Best: Tom And Jerry: Robin Hood And His Merry Mouse (6.4)
Tom and Jerry: Robin Hood and His Merry Mouse has a similar plot to other Robin Hood adaptations except that it also features characters from Tom and Jerry. Some of these characters play already-established characters from Robin Hood and others play themselves but within the context of the world of Robin Hood.
In the movie, Jerry is a member of Robin Hood’s Merry Men, and Tom is the right-hand man to the Sheriff of Nottingham, providing plenty of opportunity for the classic cat-and-mouse chasing for which Tom and Jerry is known.
8 Worst: Tom And Jerry’s Giant Adventure (6.0)
The movie Tom and Jerry’s Giant Adventure is a modern take of the fairytale “Jack and the Beanstalk.” In the movie, Jack runs a theme park called Storybook Town which is struggling financially. Jack sends Tom and Jerry to sell one of his cows, which they do for magic beans. The beans take them to Fairyland, a place filled with magical creatures and giants.
The characters featured are from Tom and Jerry cartoons as well as from other Hanna-Barbera productions. Viewers found the take on Jack in the Beanstalk uninteresting and a below-average production for a Tom and Jerry story.
7 Best: Tom And Jerry: A Nutcracker Tale (6.4)
This movie is an adaptation of the short story entitled “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King” by E.T.A. Hoffman, which is better known for its ballet adaptation, The Nutcracker. The film starts out with Jerry and his nephew, Tuffy, watching the ballet before Jerry, Tuffy, and Tom, who was trying to appease the real-world Cat King, are transported to the world of the Nutcracker.
A Cat King inhabits this magical world as well. Tom, Jerry, and Tuffy with an army of toys stop the Cat King’s tyranny and journey to return to the real world.
6 Worst: Tom And Jerry: The Lost Dragon (5.9)
In this film, Tom and Jerry are both pets of a young elf witch named Athena whose mother was banished from their home village. Athena, Tom, and Jerry find a dragon egg and take care of it after it hatches, thinking it was abandoned or lost. Eventually, the mother comes looking for it, angry that her egg was taken from her. At the same time, Athena’s mother comes back, seeking to use the baby dragon’s power for herself.
Tom, Jerry, and Athena rise to the occasion and save the day. Like in Tom and Jerry Blast Off to Mars!, there is a lot going on in the plot and the movie could have probably been split into two movies.
5 Best: Tom And Jerry In Shiver Me Whiskers (6.5)
This movie follows Tom and Jerry as they set out to find buried treasure before a group of pirates find it. Tom also has to break a curse he put on himself for not putting the treasure map back in the bottle where it belonged.
This movie was released at the height of the Pirates of the Caribbean films and followed traditional pirate story tropes of buried treasure, cannons, and ghosts, among others. The fact that this was released while Pirates was a popular franchise probably influenced its higher rating than other Tom and Jerry films.
4 Worst: Tom And Jerry: The Movie (5.4)
This movie is the first spin-off film in the Tom and Jerry franchise and was theatrically released in 1992. It is about Tom and Jerry becoming homeless after their home is torn down and how they meet a little girl who is living in an abusive home with her aunt because her parents were presumed dead. It is later revealed that her father is in fact still alive.
In this film, Tom and Jerry can both talk, something which was greatly criticized by viewers and critics. It was also a box office bomb, having only earned $3.6 million with a budget of $3.5 million.
3 Best: Tom And Jerry: The Fast And The Furry (6.5)
The title of this movie is a pun on The Fast and the Furious, on which the movie is also loosely based. In the movie, Tom and Jerry are kicked out of their house after destroying it in one of their chases. They come across a racing reality television show whose prize is a new mansion. Tom and Jerry individually enter the race and race each other and other contestants at locations around the world. The two end up tying and ultimately decide to share the mansion, only to have Tom’s owner move back in with them.
The film is technically made-for-video, though it did receive a theatrical release in select cities. It also was the last Tom and Jerry film to be released on VHS.
2 Worst: Tom And Jerry: Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory (4.3)
This Tom and Jerry movie is an adaptation of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl and Mel Stuart’s 1971 adaptation entitled Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. For the most part, the plot is almost exactly the same as the 1971 film, just with Tom and Jerry thrown in as well. It does feature cat-and-mouse chases and the ending features Charlie stopping Slugworth from stealing a Gobstopper.
Critics called this Wonka adaptation pointless and questioned why it was made, giving way for it to be the lowest-rated Tom and Jerry film.
1 Best: Tom And Jerry Meet Sherlock Holmes (6.5)
The title of the film is self-explanatory; it is a cross-over between Tom and Jerry and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories. In the film, Jerry is Holmes’s pet mouse and he and Tom assist Holmes and Watson as they try to solve a case involving a diamond being stolen and Red being blackmailed by Professor Moriarty.
The ending somewhat mimics the short story “His Last Bow. The War Service of Sherlock Holmes,” also known as “His Last Bow” in which Doyle killed off Holmes. Unlike in the short story, the film received a happier ending with Holmes only appearing to be dead. The movie is tied with The Fast and the Furry and Shiver Me Whiskers for the highest-rated Tom and Jerry film, yet most reviews merely describe this film as “Not bad.”
