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On Tuesday, November 17, Warner Bros. released the first trailer for its upcoming live-action/animated hybrid Tom & Jerry film.
The film’s official synopsis is as follows:
“One of the most beloved rivalries in history is reignited when Jerry moves into New York City’s finest hotel on the eve of “the wedding of the century,” forcing the event’s desperate planner to hire Tom to get rid of him. The ensuing cat and mouse battle threatens to destroy her career, the wedding and possibly the hotel itself. But soon, an even bigger problem arises: a diabolically ambitious staffer conspiring against all three of them.”
“An eye-popping blend of classic animation and live action, Tom and Jerry’s new big-screen adventure stakes new ground for the iconic characters and forces them to do the unthinkable… work together to save the day.”
In the trailer, we get to see a preview of them film where the iconic cat and mouse duo live alongside live-action humans, similar to past films like Space Jam or Who Framed Roger Rabbit. From this first look, which has cartoon pigeons and elephants alongside Tom and Jerry, it would seem that in this world, animals are all just animated creatures. The result of this unlikely mash-up is some seriously silly cartoon hijinks and physical gags that take place in a real-world setting, which blends classic animation within their live action environment.
After Tom and Jerry part ways, Jerry ends up staying at a fancy hotel for the night right before a super-important wedding the next day. The hotel manager, played by Michael Peña, freaks out about their newfound mouse problem, and ends up recruiting a new employee, played by Chloë Grace Moretz, to get rid of the mouse.
To fix their issue, she ends up hiring a cat, who just so happens to be Tom, which results in the rivals meeting face-to-face yet again, resulting in the usual antics we all know and love from the original show. The film is a throwback to an age of cartoons built around these types of physical gags.
Alongside Chloë Grace Moretz and Michael Peña, the film also stars Rob Delaney, Colin Jost, and Ken Jeong. The project was directed by Tim Story (who has worked on films including Fantastic Four, Think Like a Man, Barbershop) from a script written by Kevin Costello. The film is based on characters created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera.
Tom & Jerry is currently scheduled to be released on March 5th, 2021. Watch the trailer for yourself down below.