Tom and Jerry: The Fast and the Furry

Tom and Jerry: The Fast and the Furry
DVD cover
Directed by	Bill Kopp
Screenplay by	Bill Kopp
Story by	Joseph Barbera
Based on	Tom and Jerry by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera
Produced by	Stephen Fossatti
Starring	John DiMaggio Rob Paulsen Billy West Jess Harnell Charlie Adler Jeff Bennett Tom Kenny Tress MacNeille Neil Ross Thom Pinto J. Grant Albrecht Bill Kopp Vicki Lewis Stephen Root Charlie Schlatter Renna Nightingale Dee Bradley Baker
Edited by	Julie Lau
Music by	Nathan Wang
Production companies	Turner Entertainment Co. Warner Bros. Animation
Distributed by	Kidtoon Films (Theatrical) Warner Home Video
Release dates	September 3, 2005 (2005-09-03) (Theatrical) October 11, 2005 (2005-10-11) (Home media)[1]
Running time	75 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Tom and Jerry: The Fast and the Furry is a 2005 American animated action-adventure comedy film featuring the cat-and-mouse duo Tom and Jerry. Produced by Warner Bros. Animation and Turner Entertainment Co., it is the third made-for-video Tom and Jerry film. Alongside Tom and Jerry: Blast Off to Mars (also written and directed by Bill Kopp), the release of the film coincided with the 65th anniversary of the cat-and-mouse team's debut in 1940.

The Fast and the Furry was first released theatrically in selected cities of the United States by Kidtoon Films^[2] on September 3, 2005. The film was then released on both VHS (making it the final Tom and Jerry film to be released in that format) and DVD on October 11, 2005,^[1] and on Blu-ray on April 5, 2011.^[3]

Plot[]

Tom and Jerry are evicted from their house by Tom's owner after they deliberately destroy it during one of their usual chases. Upon seeing an advertisement on television for a race/reality show titled the "Fabulous Super Race" (which offers the winner of the race a luxurious mansion), Tom and Jerry build their customized vehicles from a nearby junkyard before heading to "Globwobbler Studios" in Hollywood, California to enter themselves in the race.

Among the other racers include elderly woman Grammy and her ferocious pet dog Squirty; dark lord and florist Gorthan the Destroyer of Light; superstar Steed Dirkly; single mother of four children Malory "Soccer Mom" McDoogle; and scientist Dr. Professor, who is eliminated before the race after he along with his vehicle are accidentally vaporized by antimatter, leaving both Tom and Jerry room to race with them and each other.

The race begins in Hollywood where Grammy takes an early lead but is overtaken by Steed late in the leg. Upon the racers arriving at the finish line in Mexico, the head of Globwobbler Studios, J.W., decides to extend the race to the Amazonian jungle due to high public ratings. While racing in the Amazonian jungle, Tom cheats by switching a sign that indicates the road where the racers should take in an attempt to deceive Jerry, eliminating Soccer Mom as her minivan sinks into quicksand, though Jerry avoids the same fate with her help. Steed once again wins with Grammy following in second, but J.W. still wants to continue the race due to the high ratings. Hosts Biff Buzzard and Buzz Blister announce that the next leg of the race will begin in Antarctica and that the racers will have to modify their vehicles for ocean travel.

On the way to Antarctica, Steed's vehicle sinks, resulting in his elimination and death when he encounters a mermaid (who is a sea monster) on a small island, who in turn proceeds to feed him to her ravenous offspring. The first contestant to reach Antarctica is Gorthan, who is also eliminated after Biff and Buzz goaded him into licking a metal pole, with him and his vehicle drifting away iceberg as he attempts to free his tongue. As Tom, Jerry, and Grammy arrive, Grammy is eliminated when she and Squirty are accidentally swallowed by a whale thanks to Tom's machinations. The hosts are then notified by J.W. that the racers will have to modify their vehicles again for underwater travel to Australia. While racing underwater, Tom faces several problems, such as his car being taken over by seals and his fish juice spray attracting sharks, ultimately resulting in his elimination when he crashes into a large block of concrete and is crushed by an anchor.

Upon arriving in Australia, Jerry then continues racing across Australia to Borneo, where the finish line has been reassigned to. Grammy and Squirty returns to the race when the whale spits them out, while Tom also returns after Irving rescues him under J.W.'s orders and saws Australia in half to get in lead.

The next leg of the race involves the racers modifying their vehicles with balloons for air travel to Borneo. While floating in the air, Tom inadvertently pops Grammy's balloons in an attempt to attack Jerry, resulting in Grammy's elimination once again when she and Squirty fall to their deaths upon bickering over what they thought was a parachute. J.W. then announces that the true final leg of the race is back to Hollywood, which will involve them traveling back to the finishing point with high-speed jet planes in only five minutes due to the race taking too long. Shocked by this last-minute change, both Tom and Jerry proceed anyway and race through several major locations in Asia, Europe, the Atlantic and the U.S., causing massive yet comedic destruction to numerous monuments in their wake. At the finish line, their jets crumble and shatter, with the two racers now tied.

Although they both win because of the tie, J.W. claims that, according to the contract, tiebreakers will have to race all over again. Not wanting to go through the entire ordeal again, Tom and Jerry viciously attack him and seize the mansion's keys before walking away. An angry and disoriented J.W. then declares that Hollywood stands for family entertainment, to which the pharaoh-like President of Hollywood appears to incinerate J.W. for his inappropriate change of heart, while Irving becomes the new head of Globwobbler Studios. Tom and Jerry share their new mansion peacefully for a brief moment until Tom's owner shows up and orders Tom to chase Jerry, reigniting their rivalry.

Voice Cast[]

• Bill Kopp as Tom Cat & Frank
• John DiMaggio as J.W. Globwobbler & Spike the Bulldog
• Charlie Adler as Grammy
• Jeff Bennett as Steed Dirkly & TV Announcer
• Jess Harnell as Buzz Blister & Film Director
• Tom Kenny as Gorthan the Destroyer of Light & Whale
• Tress MacNeille as Malory "Soccer Mom" McDoogle, Tour Girl, Tom's Owner & Mermaid Monster
• Rob Paulsen as Irving & Dave
• Frank Welker as Seals & Sharks
• Billy West as Biff Buzzard, President of Hollywood & Squirty
• J. Grant Albrecht as Clown-O & Security Guard
• Thom Pinto as Computer Voice & Guard
• Neil Ross as Dr. Professor & Director

Additional Voices (uncredited)[]

• Vicki Lewis
• Stephen Root
• Charlie Schlatter
• Renna Nightingale
• Dee Bradley Baker as Jerry Mouse

Production[]

According to Bill Kopp, the film's director and writer, the film was conceived and scripted in 2003 alongside Tom and Jerry: Blast Off to Mars, with work on the film's animation taking place between November 2003 and March 2005.^[4]

Widescreen[]

This was the second Tom and Jerry film to be filmed in widescreen and the first one to be filmed in the high-definition format, although the Region 1 DVD and the U.S. version of Boomerang were in full screen (cropping the left and right of the image), though not pan and scan as the camera stays directly in the center of the image. Like other films and television series filmed in high-definition, the monitor the animation team would have worked from would have 16:9 and 4:3 safe areas so that the full screen version would not crop off too much of any of the important visual elements (such as characters). However, the film is broadcast in widescreen on Cartoon Network in the United States and released in widescreen on the Region A Blu-ray.

Reception[]

Renee Schonfeld of Common Sense Media gave the film two stars out of four, saying "Unlike some of the wittier spoofs Tom & Jerry have starred in, this one is less clever and more straightforwardly devoted to thrills and spills."^[5]

Follow-up film[]

Tom and Jerry: Shiver Me Whiskers was released on August 22, 2006.

References[]

External links[]

• Tom and Jerry: The Fast and the Furry at IMDb
• Tom and Jerry: The Fast and the Furry at Rotten Tomatoes