Tom and Jerry: The Movie facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Tom and Jerry: The Movie
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Phil Roman
Produced by	Phil Roman
Written by	Dennis Marks
Starring	Richard Kind Dana Hill Anndi McAfee Tony Jay Rip Taylor Henry Gibson Michael Bell Ed Gilbert David L. Lander Howard Morris Charlotte Rae
Music by	Henry Mancini
Editing by	Tim J. Borquez Timothy Mertens
Studio	Live Entertainment Turner Entertainment WMG Film Film Roman
Distributed by	Miramax Films
Release date(s)	October 1, 1992 (1992-10-01) (Germany) July 30, 1993 (1993-07-30) (United States)
Running time	84 minutes
Country	United States Germany
Language	English
Budget	$3.5 million
Money made	$3.6 million

Tom and Jerry: The Movie is a 1992 American animated musical adventure comedy film based on the characters Tom and Jerry created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Produced and directed by Phil Roman from a screenplay by Dennis Marks (who also scripted some episodes of Tom & Jerry Kids at the time), the film stars the voices of Richard Kind, Dana Hill (in her final film role), Anndi McAfee, Tony Jay, Rip Taylor, Henry Gibson, Michael Bell, Ed Gilbert, David L. Lander, Howard Morris and Charlotte Rae.

It is the first theatrical feature-length animated film featuring the cat-and-mouse pair as well as their return to the big screen after 25 years. Although largely mute in the original cartoons, the duo speaks throughout this film. Joseph Barbera, co-founder of Hanna-Barbera and co-creator of Tom and Jerry, served as creative consultant for the film. The film tells the story about a little girl named Robyn Starling, who enlists Tom and Jerry's help (to which they put their differences aside after their home is wrecked) to escape from her evil abusive aunt and reunite with her lost and presumed-dead father.

After having its world premiere in Germany on October 1, 1992, Tom and Jerry: The Movie was released theatrically in the United States on July 30, 1993, by Miramax Films. The film received negative reviews from critics for its story, lack of focus on the titular duo with their given dialogue, characters, direction, musical numbers, attempts to cash in on the Disney Renaissance, and unfaithfulness to its source material. It was also a box office failure, earning $3.6 million on a $3.5 million budget.

Plot

Tom's owners are moving to a new house, but he is distracted by his pursuit of Jerry and is left behind by the moving van as a result. Tom chases the van, but is scared away by a bulldog and is forced to stay in the house. The next morning, the house is demolished, leaving both Tom and Jerry homeless.

The pair wander the streets for shelter until they meet a stray dog named Puggsy and his flea companion, Frankie. Upon introducing themselves, Tom and Jerry are persuaded to befriend each other to survive. While Tom and Jerry are sidetracked with searching for food, Puggsy and Frankie are captured by dogcatchers while Tom is apprehended by a group of hostile alley cats, until Jerry traps them in the sewer. Afterwards, Tom and Jerry meet Robyn Starling, a runaway 10-year-old girl whose mother died when she was a baby and her father supposedly died in an avalanche during an expedition in Tibet. Robyn and her family's fortune as a result are currently in the custody of her abusive guardian Aunt Pristine Figg and her lawyer Lickboot, who see Robyn only as a way to keep their obtained wealth. A local police officer brings Robyn home along with Tom and Jerry.

Figg reluctantly allows Tom and Jerry to stay. However, after a food fight between Tom, Jerry and Figg's obese dog Ferdinand, Figg suggests taking them to a kind man named Dr. Applecheek who loves animals, which Robyn thinks about. Jerry overhears Figg and Lickboot discussing a telegram that reveals that Robyn's father is alive and running his company in Tibet. Jerry tells Tom about this and they attempt to tell Robyn about it, but Figg locks Robyn in her room and takes Tom and Jerry to Dr. Applecheek, who is revealed to be a cruel animal kidnapper and the employer of the dogcatchers who captured Puggsy and Frankie. Applecheeck reveals that Figg paid him to kill Tom and Jerry.

Tom and Jerry reunite with Puggsy and Frankie, who suggest using a nearby control panel to open the cages. Tom and Jerry free the captured animals including Droopy and return to Robyn's home to inform her of her father's survival. Tom, Jerry and Robyn set out to find Robyn's father on a raft, but the raft is suddenly struck by a ship and they end up separated. Meanwhile in Tibet, Robyn's father becomes alarmed by his daughter's predicament and flies back to America to rescue her.

The next day, Figg and Lickboot decide to put a $1,000,000 bounty on Robyn to anyone who can find her, with no promise on paying. Robyn is found and hosted by amusement park manager Captain Kiddie and his first mate Squawk, a parrot puppet; Kiddie is initially friendly with Robyn until he sees Figg's bounty on a milk carton, whereupon he traps Robyn on a Ferris wheel and contacts Figg, who leaves with Lickboot and Ferdinand while Applecheek and the dogcatchers try to beat them there in order to collect the bounty. Tom and Jerry find and free Robyn, and trap the dogcatchers on the Ferris wheel right when Figg and Lickboot arrive. They escape in a paddle steamer while Figg, Lickboot, Kiddie and Applecheek give chase. In the ensuing chase, Applecheek falls from a bridge and sinks Kiddie's dinghy, while Figg and Lickboot head to "Robyn's Nest" – a small cabin where Robyn and her father spent their summers – predicting she will be there.

Tom, Jerry and Robyn arrive at the cabin where Robyn is accosted by Figg and Lickboot, who locks Tom and Jerry outside with Ferdinand. During a tussle, an oil lamp is knocked over and starts a fire that engulfs the cabin. While Figg and Lickboot attempt to escape, Tom and Jerry manage to get Robyn safely on the roof. Figg and Lickboot manage to vacate the cabin, but stumble on Ferdinand's skateboard and crash onto the paddle steamer, which sails out of control and sends them away. Robyn's father then arrives in his helicopter and rescues her, but fails to rescue Tom and Jerry in time before the cabin collapses, though they barely survive.

After the rescue, Robyn's father promises to never leave her again, Figg and Lickboot are likely arrested for their crimes, and Tom and Jerry's heroics make the newspaper, which is read by Puggsy and Frankie, who are proud of Tom and Jerry for learning how to be friends. Sometime later, the pair begin a new life in Robyn's luxurious villa and revert to their old habits.

Voice Cast

Music

During production, after witnessing the successful start of Disney's musical Renaissance, the crew decided to make the film a musical and hired Oscar-winning composers Henry Mancini and Leslie Bricusse to write the musical numbers after working in another musical film together titled Victor/Victoria, with a touch of melodic structure reminiscent to the classic golden age of movie musicals, especially the ones from MGM like The Wizard of Oz and Singin' in the Rain, and with help from music students at Roger Williams University.

Musical numbers

1. "Friends to the End" – Pugsy, Frankie, Tom, Jerry
2. "What Do We Care? (The Alley Cats' Song)" – The Alley Cats
3. "Money Is Such a Beautiful Word" – Aunt Figg, Lickboot
4. "God's Little Creatures" – Dr. Applecheek
5. "I Miss You (Robyn's Song)" – Robyn
6. "I've Done It All" – Captain Kiddie, Squawk
7. "Finale (Friends to the End)"
8. "I Miss You" (End Title) – Stephanie Mills
9. "All in How Much We Give" – Stephanie Mills

Soundtrack

A soundtrack album was released by MCA Records in 1993 (re-released by Geffen Records in 2005) and included both the songs (music written by Henry Mancini with lyrics by Leslie Bricusse) and score from the film, composed by Henry Mancini. The end credits pop song All in How Much We Give was written by Jody Davidson.

All songs written and composed by Henry Mancini. 

Video games

• A video game based on the film was released for the Sega Master System on October 1, 1992 and Sega Game Gear on July 14, 1993, followed by a handheld game by Tiger Electronics released the same year.
• A video game based on the film of same name titled Tom and Jerry: Frantic Antics was released for Game Boy on October 2, 1993 and Sega Genesis on December 21, 1993 by Hi-Tech Expressions and Altron.

See also

In Spanish: Tom y Jerry: La película para niños