Tom and Jerry: A Nutcracker Tale

I saw this movie on Christmas 2007, and I loved it. It was adorable and touching, and I thought the idea of a Tom and Jerry Christmas movie was simply adorable. It has excellent animation and the voices are very nice. The plot is nice too. I cry whenever I watch this movie, because this movie never fails to touch me in the heart. But there's one thing I don't like about this movie. I love the movie's voices, but I'm a little disappointed because neither Tom nor Jerry got a chance to say even one thing. I was hoping for that to happen, but I guess I can't have everything. But on the plus side, this movie is so gosh-darn amazing. If you want to watch a holiday movie, this is exactly what you need.

I will not say this movie is perfect, for me it is too short and I didn't care for the dialogue that much. That said, it is a very sweet and enjoyable movie for kids. Just for the record, I am 17 and I adore Tom and Jerry. The DTV movies have been mixed, some have been disappointing like Fast and the Furry but others have been surprisingly good especially Tom and Jerry Blast Off To Mars. Tom and Jerry:A Nutcracker Tale is for me one of the better ones, and perhaps the one I enjoyed most. The animation is impressive; it is colourful and fluid, and despite one or two forgivable stiff movements the character movements weren't too bad. The story, very loosely based on the story of the ballet and on the timeless story by ETA Hoffmann, is very sweet and I think original too. There is some great comedy, more to do with what's going on screen, rather than the dialogue. The voice acting wasn't bad either, Tara Strong is a great voice actress and her voicing of Le Petite Ballerina was no exception. Kathaleen Barr is another talented voice actress, and I really liked her as Nellie. And Garry Chalk seems to be having a ball with the King of the Cats. Speaking of the characters, they were still engaging with great personalities, Le Petite Ballerina is beautiful yet feisty and Tom and Jerry while they don't do enough of the hilarious antics that made the original series so enjoyable are still likable. For me though, the best part of the movie was the music. Tchaikovsky's music is always delightful, and it was put to surprisingly clever use here. They had my favourite parts in, though I did wish they had Dance of the Snow Fairies and the Pas De Deux, they could have been so effective. But the climax with the soldiers is inspired. All in all, a very enjoyable DTV offering. 8/10 Bethany Cox

This movie is as stunning as I watched The Cat Concerto many years ago.After Warner took over Tom and Jerry, the music feature of Tom and Jerry is the most retained one.I am really like it.

This clever rendition of the Nutcracker brought the music alive for my four year old granddaughter. We watched this movie several times over the holidays- at her request. Later when she heard the music she could remember the action of the cartoon- the tie in helped her to enjoy the music throughout the season. The story was sweet and appropriate for young children- the target audience. Characters were plentiful with interesting personalities. There were enough clever jokes and asides to keep adults chuckling. Perhaps the most difficult thing for old viewers to this new version of Tom & Jerry is the talking! Whereas the older cartoons were mostly silent and easy to send around the world, this cartoon has the other characters talking. The Nutcracker music has been performed as ballet all over the world, as a horse-back production in Chicago and now as a Tom & Jerry cartoon for a new generation used to Little Einstein and his musical escapades.

This Tom and Jerry A Nutcracker Tale also has the Wilhelm Scream. You can hear the scream when the cats fall off the cliff. The Wilhelm scream was first heard in the 1951 movie Distant Drums. The sound effect was first done by Sheb Wooley. He played in many western movies and was also a regular on the television series Rawhide. The Wilhelm Scream is often used in modern day movies and you can hear it in Troy, Twilight Saga: New Moon, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, License to Wed, Kill Bill Volume One, Inglorious Bastards, Knowing, Are We Done Yet, The Water Horse, Tropic Thunder, Family Guy Blue Harvest, Space Balls, Transformers and Paul Blart: Mall Cop. Plot keywords: Christmas story, comedy, cartoon, and Wilhelm Scream.