Director Tim Story can’t find the rhythm or focus to make the humor work and seems almost purposefully uninterested in his human characters. While Moretz throws herself into the bad material and tries to make the best of it, everything falls flat around her. A scene in which Tom tries to reach Jerry across a power line hints at what this movie could have been if it had trusted its silent characters in, say, the manner that Aardman trusts fans of Shaun the Sheep. The moments of creative physical humor are few and far between and there’s not a single verbal joke that stands out. “Tom & Jerry” needs extended sequences of animated creativity, and writer Kevin Costello spends way too much time with the dull humans of this version when fans really just want to see the rivalry between two classic characters.

The fatal flaw of “Tom & Jerry”? It’s shockingly unfunny. Dubros ( Rob Delaney) supports Kayla but co-worker Terence ( Michael Peña) is eager to take down the newcomer. As the planning for the wedding gets underway, Kayla discovers that Jerry has taken up residence at the hotel, and so she hires his mortal enemy Tom to take care of the singular infestation before all eyes are on them. But the film barely explores this dynamic in favor of centering a New Yorker named Kayla ( Chloë Grace Moretz), who basically cons her way into a hospitality job at a fancy Big Apple hotel the week before a high-profile wedding there between household names Ben ( Colin Jost) and Preeta ( Pallavi Sharda). “Tom & Jerry” is a live-action/animated hybrid that takes place in a world in which all animals are animated but all humans are real.

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