Henry Mancini/Original Soundtrack - Tom and Jerry: The Movie [Original Soundtrack] (CD)

All Music Guide

"Tom and Jerry: The Movie" disestablishes the entire plot of every classic cartoon that featured the cat trying to murder the mouse. One would configure that spreading a cat and mouse chase into more than one hour, no matter how inventive the death strategies and traps, would grow tiresome. Tom and Jerry have been put to the assignment of rubbing out evil schemes by greedy human animal haters. In order to overtake them, the two have to get along, which is an unsettling notion for fans of the cartoon. The film is a musical, in which Tom and Jerry sing one good song called "Friends to the End" which claims, "No other guys are as compatible as steak and fries." The song has been covered on other albums by Broadway artists, because it is Broadway material and was written by the great Henry Mancini. Mancini, who won the Academy Award for "Moon River" made music right up until his passing, and "Tom and Jerry" was one of his final accomplishments. Unfortunately, the songs in "Tom and Jerry," ...as witty as some of them are, are ultimately forgettable and, for a brilliantly colorful film, quite colorless. "Tom and Jerry: The Musical" could have been many things- since it took on a Broadway sound, it could have attempted the entertainment level of "Snoopy: The Musical," instead, the music fails as miserably as Tom the cat always has, at least back in his predatory days. - Peter Fawthrop, All Music Guide Read more Less