Tom and Jerry: Forbidden Compass – The film no-one was asking for in 2026, but let’s go with it…
Despite not having opposable thumbs, nor being human, somehow Tom the cat has become a night-time security guard in a posh museum, which holds lost of expensive artifacts.
Naturally, Jerry stumbles in, a chase ensues, and thanks to an errant fire extinguisher, he triggers a forbidden compass artifact and this takes you through space and time into the Golden City of ancient China.
Everyone wants the compass for various reasons – Tom & Jerry so they can get home, Mega-Rat (AJ Beckles) for nefarious reasons, and The Phoenix Master (Matthew Yang King – Significant Other), who’s been stuck on Earth for 300 years, and needs the compass to get back to Heaven.
Love is also in the air for Tom, who finds the enchanting Jade (Janice Kawaye – Over The Moon) at the Beijing Opera, so he’s clearly after some sweet pussy… literally. Yes, I’m not being rude!
The titular compass is deemed ‘forbidden’, because it’s a dangerous and mystical artifact, which was sealed away to prevent misuse. Well, good luck with that, but still, this leads to a film that to its credit, does have some classic Tom and Jerry-style moments, such as when Tom grabs Jerry into his hands, then slowly opens them up to reveal… Jerry in the exact same position, looking like he’s also hiding something in HIS hands, thus piquing Tom’s curiosity, causing him to look closer, but only resulting in it being something with which Jerry can twat Tom in the face, as usual.
Tom and Jerry: Forbidden Compass is great when the pair are onscreen, and for those scenes, it does what it says on the tin, although does suffer when they’re away from the action as the plot has to take centre stage for a while. It’s also very cinematic, including a scene with a big palace exploding to the tune of Strauss’ The Blue Danube.
Being a damn sight better than both Goat and Zootopia 2, this also has a lot of great animation, although it does go on way too long. That said, despite the Chinese cast being listed in the credits, the film is listed on IMDB as 104 minutes, and it was certainly a few minutes shorter than that overall, including the end credits. Having looked this up afterwards, I now see the US version is just 99 minutes. I don’t know precisely what’s been cut out, but we certainly get the shorter version, even if it did still drag on. Wikipedia just states this is for “pacing reasons”.
On the plus side, despite being almost as loud as a Bollywood film, at least SOMEONE is making new Tom And Jerry cartoons!
NOTE: There are no mid- nor post-credits scenes.
Tom and Jerry: Forbidden Compass is in cinemas now, but isn’t yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD. However, once announced, it will appear on the New DVD Blu-ray 3D and 4K releases UK list.
However, you can buy The Mandalorian Season 1 4K Steelbook, The Mandalorian Season 2 4K Steelbook and The Mandalorian Season 3 4K Steelbook.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 99 minutes / 104 mins (Chinese version)
Release date: May 22nd 2026
Studio:
Warner Bros
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Rating: 4/10
Director: Gang Zhang
Producers: Chen Bofei, Ruoqing Fu, Jasmine Gao, Shaojing Yang, Huixia Zhang
Screenplay: Gang Zhang
Characters: William Hanna, Joseph Barbera
Voice Cast: (US English dub)
Tom Cat: Eric Bauza
Jerry Mouse: Ben Diskin
Jade: Janice Kawaye
Sonny: Travis Willingham
The Phoenix Master: Matthew Yang King
The Celestial Master: Robin Atkin Downes
Feeney/Devil Tom: Roger Craig Smith
Mega-Rat/Xander: AJ Beckles
Tien: Vincent Tong
Beijing Opera: Jill Talley
Young Mega-Rat/Villager: Maria Bamford
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.