A magical compass sends Tom and Jerry through time, and somewhere along the way the film forgets why anyone came to watch them. Directed and written by Zhang Gang, Forbidden Compass puts its two leads under a pile of new characters, noise and mess. The result fails.
The Premise That Never Pays Off
The setup is simple enough. A chase inside a museum turns into a discovery of an ancient magical compass, and Tom and Jerry get thrown into a distant time period, forced to work together to find their way home. That’s a fine hook for a family adventure. But the film treats it as an excuse to introduce a large cast of new figures rather than build a story around its two leads.
Pushed To The Margins
Jiang Wen voices the Heavenly Master, Shun Zi voices the Phoenix Master, Lan Long voices Sonny, and Tu Xiongfei voices Mega Rat. John Shang and Ruan Yifei voice Tom and Jerry. None of that matters much, because the film keeps pushing its title characters to the edges in favor of these new figures. The classic comic formula that built this franchise barely lasts long enough to leave a mark.
Noise Without Story
The Guardian described the film as a mass of bright colours and noise, and that’s exactly the experience of sitting through it. One Metacritic critic wrote that the film is a mess from start to end, without pause or mercy. Both are right.
The film feels far longer than its 99 minutes.
Where It Falls Short
- Tom and Jerry get lost in their own film
- Pacing lurches without ever settling
- Loud spectacle stands in for real jokes
- New characters push out the classic formula
- The chase premise never turns into a full story
Numbers That Confirm the Verdict
The audience score sits at 6.618 out of 10 from 55 votes, but Metacritic has it at 38 out of 100, and IMDb has it at 3.7 out of 10. Box office has been just as weak, landing around $2.37 million by IMDb’s count, with other trackers putting it closer to $2.5–2.7 million. This has not been a major box office performer, and it’s not hard to see why.
The Bottom Line
Forbidden Compass had a sound idea and a beloved pair of characters to build on. Zhang Gang instead delivers a heavy spectacle at the expense of the very pair the title promises. Families expecting the classic style will find noise and mess standing in its place.
Score: 38 of 100.
