The original works of these cartoon characters are usually short films with thin plots, and it is not easy to change them into a big movie of about two hours. For example, the movie version of the classic animation "SpongeBob SquarePants", which is loved by many adults, basically continues the style of the original, but an overly simple story is stretched to two hours, which is really aesthetically tired. The movie version of "Tom and Jerry" went to the other extreme: adding a lot of real-life plots not only broke the rhythm of the original, but also changed the chase scene of Tom and Jerry from "main dish" to "seasoning", aiming to relive The audience from the classics will inevitably feel "caught" after watching it.
The IP of "Tom and Jerry" is not declining. The main reason for its low box office and low reputation is that the movie is a combination of anime and real-life scenes. Unlike the classic version of "Tom and Jerry", it appears nondescript and discounts the movie. People find it weird; coupled with the awkward positioning of the movie’s target audience, the anime characters Tom and Jerry are more like supporting roles, and the story itself is too much of a live action; in the end, the film’s announcement and marketing lacked highlights and did not bring effective drainage. Regarding the use of classic IP, Sun Lijun believes that the first should be to respect the classics, and to reshape the classics on the basis of the classics, rather than simply borrowing the shell; the second is to use the technology reasonably and remember to abuse it excessively.
The focus of these comments lies in the form of the film: the whole film is shot with real people, but wherever there are animals, it turns into a two-dimensional animation. Things of two dimensions coexist in the same time and space, resulting in huge fragmentation and distortion. The audience even lost the basic sense of substituting the story, let alone what aesthetic style they pursued, and was moved by the content. This distortion is manifested in the low-dimensional impact on the high-dimensional world. For example, Tom and Jerry picked up three-dimensional objects; Spike the bulldog dragged the hotel staff and staggered forward; the chase among the animals destroyed the hotel's facilities and so on. The movements of the two-dimensional image affect the real world, and the look and feel can only be described as weird. Director Tim Story once stated in a behind-the-scenes special that "Tom and Jerry" is one of his favorite animations, and the animated characters must be 2D. This is the best way to pay tribute to the former style. But whether you miss it or pay tribute, you should always satisfy the basic unity of aesthetics. Saying this is more like the main creative team justifying its laziness and money-trapping behavior.
