DVD
Tom and Jerry
Blast off to Mars

Starring: Tom and Jerry
Warner Home Video
RRP: £15.99
D067094
Certificate: U
Available 14 March 2005


The world's most famous cat and mouse team mistakenly stow away on the first manned mission to Mars and discover they are not alone - Martians do exist! Tom and Jerry must join forces with a young Martian girl to battle asteroid fields, the Martian invasion of Earth, and a gigantic alien robot bent on destroying anything and anyone in its path. Can the frustrated feline and the mischievous mouse work together and return to the safety of Planet Earth or will they be stuck in orbit forever?...

Tom and Jerry Blast off to Mars does a pretty good job of staying faithful to the spirit of the original MGM animated shorts. Neither Tom or Jerry speak (thankfully) and the usual slapstick gags are all present and correct.

There are plenty of gags that will appeal to adults as much as kids: the space station on earth is called The International Space Place; Tom knocking the Martian buildings over, like a line of Dominoes, accidentally; and the endless string of slapstick comedy.

There is also a little bit of CGI used for the monster robot. While I'm not a huge fan of CGI in cartoons (it was always so obvious in Futurama) it actually works really well here - making the robot look more odd than it would with normal cell animation.

Billy West guest stars as Major Biff Buzzard. West is famous for providing the voice of Stimpy in The Ren and Stimpy Show, as well as the voices of Philip J. Fry, Professor Farnsworth, Dr. Zoidberg and Zapp Brannigan in Futurama.

Extras include Step by Step with Tom and Jerry - an eight minute look at the animation process with writer/director Bill Kopp and producer Tom Minton; and Blasting Off - a seven minute 'Making Of' Documentary.

In short this is not a bad movie at all. One that will certainly keep the little ones entertained for the duration.

Nick Smithson

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