Tom & Jerry: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Tom and Jerry: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (2017)

Directed by: Spike Brandt | 75 minutes | animation, adventure, comedy, family, musical | Original voice cast: JP Karliak, Jess Harnell, Lincoln Melcher, Mick Wingert, Lori Alan, Jeff Bergman, Spike Brandt, Rachel Butera, Kate Higgins, Dallas Lovato, Emily O’Brien, Sean Schemmel, Kath Souci, Jim Ward, Audrey Wasilewski, Lauren Weisman

“Potatoes with chocolate, beans with vanilla custard. Water ice with cheese fondue, strawberries with gravy”.

No, not a cooking tip, but text from a children’s song about, at first sight, ingredients that are difficult to combine. At least the combination will not be the problem, more the final dish. The same goes for ‘Tom and Jerry: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’. Because what should come out of Hanna-Barbera and Roald Dahl’s mixing bowl? One of the many potential combinations (“Scooby Doo: The Big Friendly Giant” or “The Flintstones: Mathilda”) has thus been realized with ‘Tom & Jerry’ and ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’.

The well-known story of Charlie and his adventure with Wille Wonka is covered in a layer of Tom and Jerry in this film. And that dish has a lesser aftertaste, and that’s because of two elements. First of all, Tom and Jerry themselves. Known for their breakneck feats and those are also abundant in the film. An attempt is made to integrate these antics in the most natural way possible in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. That does not always work. Most of the time it feels like a bit of a nuisance break from the main story.

The second reason that leads to a somewhat lesser film is a derivative of the first. Tom and Jerry’s excesses take time. Time that has to be earned back somewhere. And that happens at the expense of the moralistic aspect of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Where in the original each winner of a golden ticket represents a different sin (think of greed or selfishness for example), these sins are left implicit in ‘Tom & Jerry: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’. Now that is admittedly especially problematic for the observant viewer who himself has a certain level of abstraction and not for children, who are the main target group of the film. And that in itself is a sin. Now what remains is a somewhat superficial film that has a less convincing message. In the end, it really is like beans with vanilla custard. It will be best to keep it indoors, but you will not order it yourself so quickly.