Tom and Jerry: Forbidden Compass Review: Where Are Tom and Jerry?

Oh goodness! I didn’t like it at all.

There are many reasons for it.

Primarily, I was expecting more of our favorite characters, Tom and Jerry. But we didn’t get much of them. They were there, but they felt completely sidelined.

The Phoenix Master and the Phoenix were so big and took up the entire stage that Tom and Jerry were reduced to tiny figures, almost too small to notice.

I chose this movie considering my toddler’s age and thought of giving her the best possible movie experience. There was a special reason too. This was going to be her first movie in a theater.

I wanted it to be special.

And honestly, this was the first time in my life that I went to a movie just for somebody else.

I hadn’t been to a theater in almost three years, so this movie was special for me too. But this time, a new person accompanied us, my little girl.

Her First Movie Experience

We made our little one feel very comfortable before the movie started.

The theater was quite empty. There were only six of us, and there wasn’t another child there except my toddler.

I was actually excited to see how she would react to her first movie.

The movie started, and along with my favorite characters, many new faces appeared.

Slowly, I realized that there were many faces to this story, not just Tom and Jerry.

And then I realized something else.

The main hero was somebody else.

Where Are Tom and Jerry?

The Phoenix Master and the Phoenix started taking all the limelight.

All the limelight.

Tom and Jerry were there, but they were sidelined.

The more the movie progressed, the more I felt that this was actually a story about the Phoenix Master and the Phoenix, with Tom and Jerry added into it.

There were times when I was simply sitting there wondering:

Why does this movie have the name Tom and Jerry?

And Then I Realized It Was a Chinese Production

When the movie started and they showed the details about the direction and production, we noticed that it was a Chinese movie.

Anyway, I remained optimistic.

I thought the movie was going to get better.

But as the story progressed, there was more and more Chinese culture, traditions, mythology, and references.

I would say there was an overload of Chinese culture.

There is nothing wrong with showing another culture. But my expectation was different.

I came to watch Tom and Jerry.

I felt that the movie used the name of these two iconic characters to attract Tom and Jerry lovers from around the world.

In a way, I felt they were using Tom and Jerry to bring the global audience into a story that was actually centered around Chinese culture and the Phoenix characters.

That was probably the biggest disappointment for me.

The Teaser Made Me Expect Something Else

Even outside the theater, the teaser and promotional material showed Tom and Jerry.

That is what caught my attention in the first place.

So naturally, I expected them to be the main characters.

But once I was inside the theater, the story was altogether different.

There were times when they showed the old Tom and Jerry, almost as if they wanted to remind us that this movie was about Tom and Jerry.

And that made me wonder even more.

Because for most of the movie, they simply weren’t the main protagonists.

I Was More Interested in My Toddler

There were times when I felt bored.

And when I felt bored, I found myself concentrating more on my toddler.

I was watching her, checking whether she was comfortable, seeing whether she was enjoying the movie and wondering what she was making of everything happening on the screen.

After all, this was her first movie.

That became more interesting to me than the movie itself.

Was There Anything Good About It?

Yes, there is a message in the movie.

There is also a little bit of surprise.

But honestly, nothing else really stood out for me.

Maybe children who are interested in fantasy, mythology, and Chinese culture may enjoy it.

But I went there for Tom and Jerry.

And I didn’t get enough of Tom and Jerry.

My Rating: 5/10

If I had to rate the movie, I would give it 5 out of 10.

For me, just the beginning and the end felt like they belonged to Tom and Jerry.

The rest of the movie was largely about the Phoenix Master and the Phoenix bird.

So if you are going to watch this movie because you love Tom and Jerry and expect to see more of their classic fun and chaos, I would say keep your expectations low.

Because I went in expecting Tom and Jerry.

What I got was something very different.

Still, my daughter’s first movie experience was special.

And perhaps that is the part of the day I will remember the most.

Not the movie.

Her first movie.