Tom and Jerry: The Fast and the Furry

Tom and Jerry M4: The Fast and the Furry (stylized as Tom & Jerry in The Fast & The Furry in the beginning of the film) is a 2005 direct-to-video movie in the Tom and Jerry series, released by Warner Home Video. It was released on both DVD and VHS on October 11th, 2005.

Premise[]

Tom and Jerry compete against opponents of a grandma and her dog, a professor (disappeared before the race started), an otherworldly demon lord, a soccer mom, and a TV action hero. The race goes around the world, with Tom and Jerry changing vehicles frequently.

Race cars[]

• Tom: orange beater (based on either a 1989-1995 Plymouth Acclaim/Dodge Spirit (without the roof), a 1992-2002 Cadillac Eldorado, a 1994-2001 Audi A4 (without the roof), a 1986-1992 Audi 80 (without the roof), a 1994-1996 Chevrolet Impala SS, or a 1991-1996 Chevrolet Caprice).
• Jerry: blue motorized roller skate (resembling the Chevrolet Corvette C3).
• Grammy and Squirty: pink hot rod (resembling the 1940 Ford DeLuxe convertible).
• Gorthan, Destroyer of Light: 6-wheeled devilish car.
• Steed Dirkly: blue sports car (based on the 1985-1990 Chevrolet Camaro IROC-Z).
• Dr. Professor: anti-matter-powered car.
• Soccer Mom: red minivan (based on the Ford Aerostar).

Plot[]

Tom and Jerry are evicted from their house by Tom's owner after they destroy it during one of their usual chases. Upon seeing an ad for the new season to a reality race show titled "The Fabulous Super Race", Tom and Jerry build their customized vehicles from a nearby junkyard before heading to Globwobbler Studios in Hollywood, California, which is having a financial crisis for a whole year and is running low on money. Once there, they meet the studio's good-hearted and kindly CEO, Jacques Wren Globwobbler (nicknamed "J.W."), and his nervous assistant Irving, who enter them in the race, with convincing from the pharaoh-like President of Hollywood. J.W. is excited because the show is the perfect opportunity to save his studio from the crisis so become Vice President of Hollywood.

At the start of the show, the show's two hosts, the clever main host Buzz Blister and his stupid and dim-witted sidekick Biff Buzzard, who provides the show's comic relief and is always attacked by animals, meet the racers in the line, elderly lady Grammy, who is revealed to be the season's main villain and was determined to beat her fellow contestants and win the mansion with her aggressive pet dog Squirty; dark lord and florist Gorthan, who is hired to provide comic relief throughout the season and will convert the mansion to his evil lair; superstar Steed Dirkly, who wants to get the mansion so everyone will love him even more; Soccer Mom, a single mother of four children, who wants to move into the mansion if she wins; and research scientist Dr. Professor, who was eliminated before the race after antimatter vaporizes him and his vehicle, thanks to an accident caused by Biff, leaving Tom and Jerry more room to race against the other enemies.

The race begins in Hollywood, where Grammy takes an early lead, but Steed overtakes her late in the leg. Upon the racers arriving at the finish line in Mexico, J.W. decides to extend the race to the Amazonian jungle due to high public ratings, revealing he was actually a criminal who wants more ratings for the show in order to save his studio and make everyone love him even more. During the race through the jungle, Tom switches a sign indicating the road the racers should take, hoping to get Jerry eliminated from the race. However, his tactic has resulted in the elimination of Soccer Mom as her minivan sinks into quicksand. She then informs Jerry of which path to take, allowing him to continue racing. Steed wins again, while Grammy follows him in second, but J.W. still wants to continue due to the high ratings. Buzz and Biff 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, causing his elimination before he falls for a villainous mermaid on a small island, who proceeds to feed him to her offspring. The first contestant to reach Antarctica is Gorthan, also eliminated after Buzz and Biff dare him into licking a metal pole. He is left adrift along with his vehicle on an iceberg as he struggles to free his tongue, meaning Tom, Jerry, and Grammy are the only three contestants in the race. As Tom, Jerry, and Grammy arrive, Grammy is eliminated when a whale accidentally swallows her and Squirty, thanks to Tom's machinations. J.W. then notifies the hosts that the racers will have to modify their vehicles again for underwater travel to Australia. While racing underwater, Tom faces several problems. Seals take over his car, and his fish juice spray attracts sharks, ultimately eliminating him when he crashes into a large concrete block and an anchor crushes him. Upon arriving in Australia, Jerry then continues racing across Australia to Borneo, where the finish line got reassigned. Grammy and Squirty return to the race for revenge when the whale spits them out. Tom also returns after Irving rescues him under J.W.'s orders and saws Australia in half to get in the lead, which is part of J.W>'s plan to end the crisis. After that, Jerry becomes Tom's friend and they both work together to defeat Granny once and for all at the next leg of the race, which involves the racers modifying their vehicles with balloons for air travel to Borneo. During the leg, Tom inadvertently pops all of Grammy's balloons while attempting to attack a sneaky 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.

As the final phase of his plan to save his studio, 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. Tom and Jerry proceed anyway and race through several prominent locations in Asia, Europe, the Atlantic, and the U.S., causing massive yet comedic destruction to numerous monuments, such as the Great Wall of China and Saint Basil's Cathedral, in the process. Their jets crumble and shatter near the finish line, with both Tom and Jerry ultimately finishing the race in a tie. Although they both technically won as they finished the race tied, J.W. reveals his true nature to Tom and Jerry, claiming that, according to the contract, if a tie occurred, a tiebreaker would have to occur through another race in order to get the ratings higher so he could be very, very rich and end the studio's crisis for good. 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 will stand for family entertainment condemning any kind of violence. The President of Hollywood appears to eliminate J.W. for his inappropriate change of heart by killing him. The season of "The Fabulous Super Race" is declared a success for saving Globwobbler Studios, which makes Irving 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.

Cast[]

• John DiMaggio as Jacques Wren "J.W." Globwobbler: The short-tempered and evil head of Globwobbler Studios and the main antagonist of the film.
  • DiMaggio also voices Spike.
• Rob Paulsen as Irving: J.W.'s nervous and stuttering assistant, who provides comic relief throughout the film. After the death of J.W., he becomes the new head of Globwobbler Studios.
  • Paulsen also voices Dave: The soft-spoken head of GoneStar's remote assistance department.
• Jess Harnell as Buzz Blister: The intelligent and laid-back host of The Fabulous Super Race.
  • Harnell also voices the Film Director.
• Billy West as Biff Buzzard: The dim-witted co-host of The Fabulous Super Race who serves as Buzz's sidekick and the show's main comic relief character. He has a fear of animals.
  • West also voices the President of Hollywood: J.W.'s pharaoh-like boss.
  • West also does the voice effects for Squirty: Granny's dim-witted and aggressive pet dog.
• Jeff Bennett as Steed Dirkly: A famous superstar and a contestant on the Fabulous Super Race. He is last seen getting eaten by mermaids, which kicks off the second act of the film and makes him the second contestant to be eliminated from the race.
  • Bennett also voices the TV Announcer.
• Charlie Adler as Grammy: A mean old woman who loves her dog Squirty and the meanest contestant in the Fabulous Super Race. She is both the main antagonist of the season and the secondary antagonist of the entire film who plots to beat her fellow racers, kill Tom and Jerry, win the race, and get the mansion prize, but Tom defeats her by making her fall to her death at the start of the film's climax, which is the end of the race's climax, making her the fourth contestant to be eliminated.
• Tom Kenny as Gorthan the Destroyer of Light: A dark lord and the most comical contestant in the Fabulous Super Race, providing a lot of comic relief throughout the season. He secretly works as a florist, is nervous because he has never been on TV before and always summons his pet, Knargack the Black-Winged, to help him in case of emergencies and feeds him steak as a reward. He last appears getting his tongue stuck to a pole, making him the third contestant to be eliminated from the race and making the race even more dramatic than ever.
  • Kenny also voices a whale in the Pacific Ocean.
• Tress MacNeille as Mallory "Soccer Mom" McDoogle: A single mother of her four children, Rufus, Gunter, Angus, and Shylock, who lives in Watertown, Wisconsin, and a contestant on the Fabulous Super Race. She is last seen lost in the Amazon Jungle after her car sinks, making her the first contestant to be eliminated from the race.
  • MacNeille also voices Tour Girl and Tom's Owner.
• Neil Ross as Dr. Professor: A mad scientist who was at first planned to appear as a contestant in the Fabulous Super Race, but was killed by Biff in an accident using antimatter to vaporize him and his vehicle, which ends up sending the entire race into motion.
  • Ross also voices the Director of the Fabulous Super Race.

Additional Voices[]

• Bill Kopp as Tom Cat, Jerry Mouse and Frank
• J. Grant Albrecht as Clown-O and Security Guard
• Thom Pinto as Computer Voice and Guard

In other languages[]

Reception[]

The movie received mixed reviews and currently holds the score of 6.6 on IMDb. The editor on The Tom and Jerry Online website lambasted the film as it appears to be more chaotic than any of the Tom and Jerry media and criticizing the lack of attention for Tom and Jerry and its improper animation quality.

Notes[]

• Tom and Jerry: The Fast and the Furry was the second Tom and Jerry film to be filmed in widescreen and the second one to be filmed in the high-definition format (the first being Tom and Jerry: Blast Off to Mars), although the Region 1 DVD 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 television shows and films 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 important visual elements (such as characters). However, the film is released in widescreen on Blu-ray.
  • Despite being made in 16:9 HD, most Boomerang and some countries on Cartoon Network airings are in 4:3 fullscreen.
• In this movie, Jerry appears to have three toes on each foot instead of two like in the early TV series, and his soles are a bit much darker just like in Tom and Jerry: Blast Off to Mars, and Spike is reverted back to with grey fur similar to his appearances in the 1940s cartoons instead of light brown like in the previous film.
  • On that topic, both this movie and Tom and Jerry: Blast Off to Mars have a similar animation style. This could be due to both movies being produced and directed by the Bill Kopp team.
• The title is a play on The Fast and the Furious movie series that started in 2001, alluding to the film's racing theme.
• List of locations (Bold - Stops, Italics - Pass along the way)

1. Southern California
2. Mexico
3. Amazon rainforest
4. Cape Horn
5. Atlantic Ocean
6. Antarctic
7. Australia
8. Outback
9. Weipa, Queensland
10. Borneo
11. Agra
12. Mount Everest
13. Great Wall of China
14. Russia
15. Pisa
16. Rome
17. Paris
18. English Channel
19. London
20. Wiltshire
21. Loch Ness
22. Atlantic Ocean
23. New York City
24. Grand Canyon
25. Hollywood (end of race)

• Africa is the only continent that was not visited throughout the entire race.
• Tom and Jerry's owner featured at the beginning and end of the movie is the only character whose face is never shown, as she is always seen from the neck down. This is most likely to keep the tradition of the early Tom and Jerry series where the owner's face is never shown.
  • On that topic, this owner in question bears a striking resemblance to Tom's unnamed female owner from the Gene Deitch era Tom and Jerry cartoon Buddies Thicker Than Water.
• A poster of Tom and Jerry: Blast Off to Mars is shown when Tom and Jerry are racing in the final race.
• This is the last Tom and Jerry adaptation to be released on VHS, as DVD was rapidly outselling VHS after the 1990s.
• The movie was theatrically released in select cities of the U.S. by Kidtoon Films, on September 2005, a month before the direct-to-DVD release, and June 2006.
• This Tom & Jerry movie is known to have pushed the envelope as far as PG-rated cartoons go due to numerous deaths of the racers and two strip-down jokes near the end of this movie. Despite this, the film received a G rating by the MPA when it was originally released, and received a TV-G rating when aired on television in the United States.
  • Of the deceased are:
    • Dr. Professor (nuked by anti-matter)
    • Steed Dirkly (devoured by vicious man-eating mermaids)
    • Soccer Mom (killed by Amazon creatures)
    • Grammy and Squirty (fell to their death after Tom punctures their balloon)
    • J.W. (murdered by Hollywood president for his heinous deals)
• In the "GS" studio, which is a Warner Bros reference, many of the characters are Animaniacs references, such as the boss (Mr. Plotz), and another (Ralph the Guard). Jess Harnell, Rob Paulsen, and Tress MacNeille, the voices of Wakko, Yakko and Dot, perform voices in the film.
• Tom blasted into death on a fire rocket was just in Jerry's fantasy, although it is a reference to the other cartoon shorts. The other scene where Spike thinking Tom is headless happened again in Puttin' on the Dog.
• This is the final Tom and Jerry movie to credit the voice actors for the cat-and-mouse duo in the end credits, as in subsequent Tom and Jerry movies beginning with Tom and Jerry: Shiver Me Whiskers the voice actors for cat-and-mouse duo since then go uncredited.

Censorship[]

• The entire scene where Tom flies at New York City and inadvertently yanks off the dress of the Statue of Liberty (exposing her underwear in the process) and Tom making a wolf-whistle at her underwear-clad body was cut in Asia for near exposure of a woman, though the scene where the Scottish man accidentally has his kilt accidentally yanked off, leaving him naked from the waist down (with only a fig leaf covering his crotch) is unedited.

Gallery[]

Steed Dirkly.

Grammy and Squirty.

Gorthan Destroyer of Light.

Soccer Mom.

Dr. Professor.

Spike confronting Tom in Borneo moments before Tom's car lands on him.

Videos[]