After the serious socio-economic themes of recent movie releases, “Nomadland,” “Judas and the Black Messiah” and “Promising Young Woman,” and the crime-driven themes of “The Little Things” and “The Marksman,” I was looking forward to some light entertainment.

“Tom and Jerry,” while interesting for its combination of live-action and animation (think “Who Framed Roger Rabbit,” 1988), is rife with cartoon violence, has few witty lines for adults or children to laugh at, and lacks entertaining interaction between its human characters.

The cartoon characters don’t fare much better. Tom the cat and Jerry the mouse are mostly silent (with the exception of a few exclamations). They basically run amok, chase each other, hit each other, wreak havoc and leave mayhem in their wake.

The cat and mouse game in the feature film is not much different from that in the cartoon shorts that Hannah-Barbera cranked out as pre-feature film shorts and which became staples of Saturday morning TV shows.

In the movie, “Tom and Jerry,” Kayla (Chloë Grace Moretz) talks her way into being hired by officials of a swanky New York City hotel (think The Plaza) by the hotel’s events manager, Terrence (Michael Peña) and hotel manager, Mr. Dubros (Rob Delaney).

The hotel is to host a celebrity wedding of Ben (Colin Jost) and Preeta (Pallavi Sharda). Celebrity Chef (Ken Jeong) and the staff are gearing up for the big event.

The shenanigans of Tom and Jerry, and other animated characters, including the groom’s pet, a dog named Spike, and the bride’s pet, a cat named Toots, disrupt pre-nuptial proceedings.

“Tom and Jerry” is directed by Tim Story (“Ride Along,” 2014; “Think Like A Man,” 2012; “Fantastic Four,” 2005; “Barbershop,” 2002) from a screenplay by Kevin Costello (“Brigsby Bear,” 2017) based on characters created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera.

I wish the screenplay was as animated as the animated characters.

Early on, a dig at Disney, the animation giant (“It’s the Mouse House. Can we use that? Isn’t it copyrighted?”) holds promise for some snarky fun, but it never materializes.

The Warner Animation Group’s Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI) remains true to the classic animation of the Tom and Jerry cartoons by recreating the hand-drawn style of full-cell animation. This is one of the movie’s chief joys.

Animals in the film are animation characters in the old-school 2D style, including pigeons, goldfish and New York Central Park carriage horses.

The cartoon violence, and there’s plenty, includes Tom getting electrocuted (several times), Tom getting hit with a clothing iron that renders his face in the shape of the iron and Tom being flattened like a pancake. He always rebounds to his regular shape.

The animation was done remotely during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Live-action scenes were filmed in annoyingly bright light.

The animated characters and the human characters appear seamlessly in their scenes together.

The human characters do not appear seamlessly in their scenes together (think awkward).

Chloë Grace Moretz (“The 5th Wave,” 2016; “If I Stay,” 2014) tries gamely and energetically to breathe life into her character, but is given little to do and less to say.

The same goes for other actors, including Michael Peña (“Ant-Man,” 2015), Rob Delaney (“Deadpool 2,” 2018), Colin Jost (TV’s “Saturday Night Live,” 2005-present), Ken Jeong (TV’s ”Fresh Off The Boat,” 2016-2019) and Pallavi Sharda (“Lion,” 2016).

The movie’s soundtrack includes hip-hop songs, which somewhat energize the scenes.

“Tom and Jerry” is the second theatrical feature movie adaptation of the cartoon characters. The first was “Tom and Jerry: The Movie” (1992).

Hanna-Barbera (1940-1958) produced 114 “Tom and Jerry” shorts for MGM, receiving seven Academy Awards for Best Animated Short Film, tying with Walt Disney’s “Silly Symphonies” for the most in the category.

Other “Tom and Jerry” cartoons produced include 13 by Gene Deitch (1961, 1962), 34 by Chuck Jones (1963-1967) and more by Filmation (1980-1982).

Hanna-Barbera Productions went on to produce animation shows for television, including “The Flintstones,” “Yogi Bear,” “The Jetsons” and “Scooby-Doo.”

There was also TV’s “The Tom and Jerry Show” (1975-1977) with 48 cartoon shorts produced by Hanna and Barbera.

Warner Bros. released the direct-to-video movie, “Tom and Jerry: The Magic Ring” (2001) and several more DTV releases through 2017.

The Cartoon Network televised “Tom and Jerry Tales” in 2012.

The latest “Tom and Jerry” feature move is of interest for fans of the animated cartoon characters and children.

“Tom and Jerry,”

MPAA rated PG (Parental Guidance Suggested Some material may not be suitable for children. Parents urged to give “parental guidance.” May contain some material parents might not like for their young children.) for cartoon violence, rude humor and brief language; Genre: Animation, Adventure, Comedy; Run Time: 1 hr., 41 min.; Distributed by Warner Bros.

Credit Readers Anonymous:

Stay to the very end of the concluding credits of “Tom and Jerry” for a scene with Ben (Colin Jost). The Warner Bros. logo is replicated as WAG, as in Warner Animation Group. “Can I Kick It,” to the tune of “Walk On The Wild Side” (1972) by Lou Reed, is performed by A Tribe Called Quest.

At the Movies:

“Tom and Jerry” was seen in the Dolby Theatre, AMC Center Valley 16, The Promenade Shops at Saucon Valley, Upper Saucon Township. Online ticketing, face masks, social distancing in reserved seats, and hand sanitizer locations are part of the AMC movie theater COVID-19 protocol.

Movie Box Office,

March 5 - 7: “Raya and the Last Dragon,” the Disney animation feature film, roared to No. 1, opening with $8.6 million, on 2,045 screens, chasing “Tom and Jerry” from its one-week perch at No. 1 to No. 2, with $6.6 million, on 2,563 screens, $23 million, two weeks. “Chaos Walking” opened at No. 3, with $3.8 million on 1,980 screens. ”Boogie” opened at No. 4, with $1.2 million, on 1,252 screens.

5. “The Croods: A New Age” dropped three places, $780,000, on 1,604 screens, $53.6 million, 15 weeks. 6. “The Little Things” stayed in place, $550,000, on 1,448 screens, $13.7 million, six weeks. 7. “Wonder Woman 1984” stayed in place, $511,000, on 1,217 screens, $44.4 million, 11 weeks. 8. “The Marksman” dropped three places, $500,000, on 1,050 screens, $13 million, eight weeks. 9. “Judas And The Black Messiah” stayed in place, $282,000 on 984 screens, $4.5 million, four weeks. 10. “Monster Hunter” dropped two places, $260,000, on 1,074 screens, $14.3 million, 12 weeks.

17. “The War With Grandpa,” starring Allentown’s Oakes Fegley, dropped five places, $98,384, on 511 screens; $20.6 million, 22 weeks. “Come Play,” starring Allentown’s Winslow Fegley, dropped out of the Top 20.

Box office figures are estimates from Box Office Mojo as of March 7 and are subject to change.

Unreel,

March 12

“Cosmic Sin,”

R: Edward Drake and Corey Large direct Bruce Willis, Frank Grillo and C.J. Perry in the Science-Fiction Adventure. Seven soldiers are on a preemptive strike mission of an alien civilization.

“The Father,”

PG-13: Florian Zeller directs Anthony Hopkins, Olivia Colman, Imogeen Poots and Rufus Sewell in the Drama. A man descends into dementia.

“Dutch,”

R: Preston A. Whitmore II and David Wolfgang direct Lance Gross, Iyana Halley, Jeremy Meeks and Macy Gray in the Action film. Dutch is said to be the most dangerous criminal in New Jersey.

“Come True,”

Anthony Scott Burns directs Skylar Radzion, Landon Liboiron, Julia Sarah Stone, Tiffany Helm and Tedra Rogers in the Science-Fiction Horror film. A teenage runaway takes part in a sleep study that becomes a nightmare.

“Trust,”

Brian DeCubellis directs Katherine McNamara, Victoria Justice, Matthew Daddario in the drama. A New York art gallery owner and her husband face marital challenges.

Movie opening dates are from Internet Movie Database.

Two Popcorn Boxes out of Five Popcorn Boxes