As the saying goes, they wouldn't make these things if people didn't ask for them, and what with Tom and Jerry now becoming the new Abbot and Costello sans the brilliance, there's a place for mediocre animated shelf swallowers that can act as time wasters for the kids and last minute gifts for a niece or nephew that they'll pretend to enjoy and tuck away later on when no one is looking. "Tom and Jerry Meet Sherlock Holmes" invokes much of the Chuck Jones bland fare that is comedic enough without being as violent or edgy as the earlier cartoons did. And much like the modern Tom and Jerry fare from Warner, this newest installment makes much of an effort to prevent showing the duo inflicting physical pain on one another, lest your children be tarnished forever. Starring the brilliant talents of folks like Malcolm McDowell, Michael York and John Rhys-Davies (people have to eat, I guess), "Tom and Jerry Meets Sherlock Holmes" drops down on to period London where a group of cat burglars have stolen a prized diamond narrowly escaping authorities. It seems the cats that are trained and clothed have stolen the diamond for the evil Moriarty (McDowell), and now it's up to Holmes (York) to crack the case and stop the nefarious madman!

Through all of the lip service paid for fans who will undoubtedly long for the good old days of these classic toons where we laughed non-stop, these cameos and pointless appearances will be surprising if disappointing. Among the paper thin storyline, Holmes plays as a mere plot device, inspecting why and for what purpose these diamonds are being stolen by while Tom and Jerry inflict kiddy safe harm on one another that's never as hysterical as it could be. Aside from York and McDowell who seem to be working their charms (whether they want to be in this movie or not), the rest of the voice work is very forgettable and clunky. Which is sad considering Grey DeLisle, Kathie Soucie, and Phil Lamarr continue being three of my favorite voice actors of all time. The rest of the film pushes Holmes in to the background leaving poor Mr. York to go for a good thirty minutes without being in front of the screen all the while we're reduced to even more pointless musical numbers and tedious mad cap sequences that are sloppily thrown together for what is not a worthy fifty minutes for even the most hardcore Tom and Jerry or animation fans. When all is said and done, you'd be better off with the compilations from Warner. The DVD edition brings us optional language functions and a short featurette for the kiddies on how to draw Tom and Jerry.

For just a time wasting fifty minutes meant to keep your kids off your hair, "Tom and Jerry Meet Sherlock Holmes" is a mediocre painfully tedious and redundant bit of excess nothingness that works as just a reminder that the best days of Tom and Jerry are behind us. In either case, at least you get to hear Alex DeLarge play Moriarty in a kids movie.