TOM AND JERRY (2021)

Here's the good news first: this is a well-made, well-paced comedy with real stakes for its characters, and it lands some surprisingly solid moral notes. A woman admits she did wrong and takes responsibility. Marriage is treated as something worth celebrating. There's even a "Thank the Lord" and a classic angel-devil-on-the-shoulder moment.

It's not spotless. Every character, Tom and Jerry included, is chasing their own interests for most of the runtime. There are four light profanities, some sporadic potty humor, a passing politically correct aside about gender assumptions, and a nod to evolution. The violence is the familiar cartoon kind — cats scratching, mice narrowly escaping traps, no blood, no real menace.

For families with older kids, this is an easy, entertaining watch with more going for it than against it. For younger or more sensitive children, exercise a little caution around the slapstick. Bottom line: worth the trip, with that one caveat in mind.

Tom the cat dreams of making it as a musician on the streets of New York. Jerry the mouse steals his spotlight — and soon his home, when Jerry moves into a swanky Manhattan hotel. Kayla, the hotel's newly (and dubiously) hired event planner, is under pressure to pull off a high-profile celebrity wedding, and a mouse loose in the kitchen is the last thing she needs. She strikes a deal with Tom: catch Jerry, save the wedding. What could go wrong?

Four stars means this one delivers — a well-paced comedy that keeps real stakes on the table for its characters instead of coasting on nostalgia. The hybrid of live-action and animation, with Tom and Jerry rendered as classic cartoon characters moving through a real-world hotel, recalls Who Framed Roger Rabbit and, more recently, Sonic the Hedgehog — and it works. True to the source material, neither Tom nor Jerry ever speaks a line of dialogue, letting the physical comedy carry the film the way it always has.

This is a mixed bag, but a genuinely encouraging one. Every character — Tom, Jerry, and the humans around them — is chasing self-interest for most of the story, and that self-interest drives the plot. But the film doesn't leave it there. Marriage is treated as something worth honoring rather than mocking, and a woman who has done wrong owns it and takes responsibility for her actions — a small but real note of conviction that many comedies skip entirely.

There are unexpected touches of faith, too: a supporting character says "Thank the Lord," and the old angel-and-devil-on-the-shoulder image makes an appearance, a small nod to the reality of moral choice. On the other side of the ledger, there's a brief politically correct aside about not assuming a mouse's gender, and a passing reference to evolution when a character talks about the hunting instincts of cats. Neither is dwelt on, but discerning parents will want to know they're there.

Underneath the slapstick is a small but real picture of what it costs to admit fault and put someone else's wedding, marriage, and happiness ahead of your own agenda. Scripture calls that same posture something better than comedy — it calls it love: "Love does not insist on its own way" (1 Corinthians 13:5).

This is a fun, well-crafted comedy that lands more good than harm — marriage honored, responsibility owned, and a couple of surprising nods to faith tucked inside the slapstick. With a little caution for younger viewers around the cartoon violence and mild language, our answer is simple: worth the trip — ages 8 and up.