‘Tom & Jerry’ Trailer Mixes Animation and Live-Action

In the great tradition of cartoon rivalries, there is perhaps no more iconic duo than Tom & Jerry, the classic Hanna/Barbera cartoon, featuring the blood feud between Tom the cat and his tormentor, Jerry the mouse. Originally created in the 1940s as short cartoons to run before feature films in theaters, Tom & Jerry enjoyed tremendous popularity through the ‘40s and ‘50s, and continued to be watched by new generations through many reincarnations and revivals. Now, Warner Bros is bringing the beloved pair back to the big screen, this time in their own unique blend of animation and live action in Tom & Jerry, whose trailer dropped today.

In this new approach to telling the story of our iconic fighting pair, Tom & Jerry will still be animated, but they will be interacting with live humans in our real human world—New York City, specifically. Chloë Grace Moretz plays an ambitious hotel employee who has been tasked by her boss, played by Michael Peña, to rid the hotel of its “mouse problem” before a big event. Of course, who better to call than Tom, the most famous mouser of all time. 

From the looks of the trailer, this second attempt at a full-length Tom & Jerry movie looks to be much more in keeping with the classic cartoons than 1992’s Tom & Jerry: The Movie, which was a commercial and critical flop. In this new version, the pair go back to being silent and their ultra-violent game of cat-and-mouse (literally) definitely harkens back to the good ‘ol days. 

Tom & Jerry also stars Rob Delaney, Colin Jost and Ken Jeong, and is directed by Tim Story and written by Kevin Costello. 

Tom & Jerry will be released on March 5, 2021.  See the trailer below: