Tom and Jerry: A Nutcracker Tale is a 2007 American animated Christmas fantasy comedy film starring the seven-time Academy Award-winning cat-and-mouse duo Tom and Jerry. Produced by Warner Bros. Animation and Turner Entertainment Co., it was the fifth made-for-video attempt to recapture the style of William Hanna and Joseph Barbera's original film shorts from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Produced and directed by Spike Brandt and Tony Cervone (who would later both direct, produce and/or script subsequent Tom and Jerry direct-to-video films), it is an animated semi-adaptation of The Nutcracker and the Mouse King by E. T. A. Hoffmann, with Jerry in the role of the Nutcracker and Tom in the role of one of the Mouse King's (who, in this version, is replaced with a cat) henchmen.
A Nutcracker Tale would be the last animated production that Joseph Barbera worked on, as he died on December 18, 2006; the film was dedicated to his memory. It was also the last animated direct-to-video film released under the Warner Bros. Family Entertainment label, before it became an in-name-only unit of Warner Bros. Pictures the following year. On August 13, 2020, it was announced that the film is scheduled to be released on Blu-ray and special edition DVD as paired with Tom and Jerry: Santa's Little Helpers on October 27, 2020.
Plot[]
The movie begins with Jerry and his young ward Tuffy (who here sports his French accent from the Mouseketeer shorts) watching the Christmas ballet. Later, Jerry goes to the empty stage floor, where magic begins to happen. Toys come alive including Nellie the pony (who can only talk if someone pulls her string) and Paulie the Christmas Ornament (who was missing a head, due to Jerry kicking it earlier on). The magic then makes Le Petite Ballerina, (a ballerina) come to life, and Jerry dances with her.
The stage is transformed into a wintry wonderland, where Jerry and the Ballerina are crowned king and queen and the toys are enjoying dinner. Tom, who is in the alley looking for something to eat, hears this, and, with the other cats, raid the feast, trapping the toys. Jerry, Paulie, and Nellie try to stop this, but are shot out of a cannon. Tuffy escapes, Tom as the Captain of the Cat Guards traps the Ballerina in a cage, then brings her to the Cat king, where he asks her to dance for him, but she refuses and tells the cat that she will never dance for him, especially after what happened earlier with the take over. The Cat king tell the Ballerina there is nothing she can do about it, in which she reminds him about Jerry, and that he will never give up. Later on, Tom is called to gather men and stop Jerry. Tuffy gives the Ballerina a string attached to keys, on the end of which is keys. He then goes to stop Tom. Meanwhile, Jerry, Paulie, and Nellie decide to follow the star to a man called the Toy Maker. They stop in front of a frozen river. All make it safely, except Jerry who falls in, and becomes tangled in weed. He is freed, and is pulled up by Nellie and Paulie. This makes Paulie unravel. Tuffy gets to Tom, and dresses up as an angel and a devil. He is found out, and ends up sticking a trident in Tom's eye, which the cats hold together like a ladder, causing them to fall in a cliff (Tom screams the Wilhelm scream). He runs to Jerry, warning him of the cats. Tom and his friends, disguised as Christmas trees, surround Jerry, but Tom gets attacked by squirrels, and shredded in a tree shredder. The cats attack, but the heroes escape, inside a tree. The cats beat up Tom by mistake.
The heroes then come to a hill, where Paulie's head is sent flying into another hole. They go into the hole, only to find a fiery world with lava pits and dragons (the Arabian Dance plays through this scene). A flame fairy gives Paulie his head back. A dragon wakes up, but is hypnotized by Jerry into lifting them out of the pit. They launch a cannon, which blasts Jerry and his friends into a house with clocks. Tom gives chase, but is pecked on by wooden birds. The heroes then come to a hill, in which Paulie loses his head. They go into the hole, only to find a fiery world with lava pits and dragons (the Arabian Dance plays through this scene). A flame fairy gives Paulie his head back. A dragon wakes up, but is hypnotized by Jerry into lifting them out of the pit. They are chased by the cats again, and run into a fairground. Tom is virtually destroyed here, being crushed again and again - of course, this being a cartoon, he always revives. They make it to a ridge, and Jerry blows up a balloon with which they make it off safely. Tom though, is blasted by cannons. One cat shoots an arrow, bursting Nellie's balloon. Tuffy grabs on to her, and unravels more of Paulie. Nellie is let down, and chased by the cats. Jerry saves her, but he lets go of her string. The cats pull her string, and she tells them where the others are headed. The remaining three make it to the Toy Maker, who fixes Paulie, and gives them toy soldiers. The three depart with their newly attained army in order to take back their kingdom.
Later, when the cats attempt to escape the army of toy soldiers, the Ballerina appears with the other toys, and she leads them in an army as a way to show the Cat king how they felt being locked up. Tom vacuums up many of the soldiers, but they are blown onto the cats. Jerry and Tuffy are eaten by Tom, but Nellie returns, and throws a hammer, smashing Tom's teeth. Jerry then pushes a toy train and all the cats ride on it until it hits a wall and the wreckage goes into a box, with all the bad cats inside. Then the Ballerina hugs Jerry telling him that she never doubted him. Then, a wall falls down on Nellie, but fortunately, the magic revives her, and she begins to talk on her own, without a string having to be pulled. King Jerry and the Queen Ballerina dance after receiving their crowns back and the curtain is let down, revealing that the entire movie actually was a play. Ending the movie.
Voice cast[]
- Spike Brandt (uncredited) and William Hanna (archive sound, uncredited) as Tom Cat and Jerry Mouse
- Tony Cervone as Butch Cat
- Chantal Strand as Tuffy Mouse
- Ian James Corlett as Paulie the Elf
- Kathleen Barr as Nelly the Pony
- Tara Strong as La Petite Ballerina
- Garry Chalk as King of the Cats
- Trevor Devall as Lackey
- Richard Newman as The Toymaker
- Mark Oliver as Dr. Malevolent
- Michael Donovan as additional voices
Production[]
According to Spike Brandt, Joseph Barbera decided on a Nutcracker adaptation due to thinking its music fitted perfectly with Tom and Jerry. The Amazon page for the DVD appeared sometime in August 2007.
Widescreen[]
Tom and Jerry: A Nutcracker Tale was the fourth Tom and Jerry film to be filmed in high-definition widescreen (the first three being Tom and Jerry: Blast Off to Mars, Tom and Jerry: The Fast and the Furry and Tom and Jerry: Shiver Me Whiskers), although the Region 1 DVD and the U.S. version of Boomerang were in full screen (cropping the left and right of the image), though not pan and scan as the camera stays directly in the center of the image. Like other television shows and films filmed in high-definition, the monitor the animation team would have worked from would have 16:9 and 4:3 safe areas so that the full screen version would not crop off too much of any important visual elements (such as characters). However, the film is broadcast in widescreen on Cartoon Network in the United States.
Reception[]
Paul Mavis of DVD Talk gave the film a very positive review saying "Tom and Jerry: A Nutcracker Tale earns marks for embracing an operatic storyline while keeping the essential punish-Tom-with-pain gags that made Tom and Jerry such a successful franchise for decades.", while Nick Lyons was much more negative stating "Tom And Jerry: A Nutcracker Tale is a rushed animated feature that was simply made to cash in on the Christmas holiday. Avoid this one and rent or buy a holiday classic like the animated Grinch."
Renee Schonfeld of Common-Sense Media rated the film 4 out of 5 stars (making it the highest rated Tom and Jerry film on the site) saying "especially at holiday time, for kids who understand cartoon action, it's a delightful entertainment. Teens and grown-ups might like it, too."
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has no critic approval rating, but the audience approval rating is 63% based on 311.
Follow-up film[]
Tom and Jerry Meet Sherlock Holmes was released on August 24, 2010.
References[]
External links[]
- Tom and Jerry: A Nutcracker Tale on IMDb