There will never be anyone who can top the original Tom and Jerry shorts, but I’m surprised that “The Tom and Jerry Show” comes shockingly close to the original successful formula. This time, rather than hand drawn animation, we’re forced to endure flash animation, and that’s what holds down an otherwise fun series. What’s the point of flash animation for a tried and true comedy duo? I don’t understand it.
The series is completely flash animated, but at least compensates by featuring a lot of the physical stunts the cartoons are so famous for. There’s also a lot of sound effects from the original shorts including Tom’s yell, and Jerry thankfully doesn’t speak a word. The series is mostly based around self contained shorts with a thin narrative and form of continuity, and the adventures are almost always based around magic or fantasy. Tom lives with a group of witches in a house filled with magical trinkets, and he has to put up with the vicious Spike and his son Tyke. Not to mention the rambunctious mouse Jerry.
In the first few episodes, Tom is tricked by a magical talking mirror to capture Jerry, he also comes across Santa Claus who he turns in to a cookie mistakenly with his owners’ magic wand. There’s are also traditional episodes, including Tom’s battle to become top cat of the alley when the former retires. There’s also his competition with other cat Butch for the affection of a female cat. “The Tom and Jerry Show” isn’t laugh out loud hysterical, but it’s faithful enough to the original shorts to where it’s entertaining and light enough to escape in to. It should also act as a fun launch pad for the kids to go from this to the original shorts, which are incomparable.