Tom and Jerry: Forbidden Compass

This topic contains:

• overall comments and recommendations
• details of classification and consumer advice lines for Tom and Jerry: Forbidden Compass
• a review of Tom and Jerry: Forbidden Compass completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 18 August 2026.

Overall comments and recommendations

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

• a synopsis of the story
• themes
• use of violence
• material that may scare or disturb children
• product placement
• sexual references
• nudity and sexual activity
• use of substances
• coarse language
• the movie’s message

A synopsis of the story

Tom (voice of John Shang) and Jerry (voice of Yifei Ruan), up to their usual shenanigans, accidentally activate a mysterious magical compass inside a museum. They are transported through time to an ancient world filled with mythical beings, powerful creatures and celestial forces.

As Tom and Jerry try to understand where they are and how to get home, they become involved in a much larger struggle surrounding the compass and its extraordinary power. They meet an unusual group of individuals including the Phoenix Master (voice of Kyle McCarley), a disgraced god who has been trying to get back to heaven for 300 years, and who needs the compass to get there, as well as a Mega Rat (voice of Brent Mukai), a power-hungry, vengeful crime lord who wants the compass for his own evil purposes. Tom and Jerry soon realise that fighting each other will not help them escape, nor will it help their newfound friends. Instead, they must find a way to work together to save an ancient city from Mega Rat and return the compass to where it belongs.

Greed, Selfishness; Recklessness; Manipulation; Destruction; Violence and Revenge.

There is frequent violence in this movie, including:

• There are multiple scenes in which Tom and Jerry get up to their usual violent acts: hitting, punching, stabbing, throwing, smacking, shooting, crushing and pounding each other.
• Tom shoots arrows at Jerry.
• Jerry makes Tom run through a stringed instrument and Tom is sliced into pieces.
• Tom electrocutes Jerry, who falls on a magical compass and the pair wind up on a fire extinguisher rushing around and destroying a museum exhibit.
• The Phoenix Master and another character are repeatedly struck by lightning and thrown back to Earth.
• A gargoyle dragon appears to be attacking children with shooting flames.
• A character is blasted with fire and burns.
• Mega Rat threatened to torch a city and immediately begins to firebomb buildings as citizens flee in terror.
• Tom and Jerry ride a fire extinguisher into the mouth of a dragon.
• Mega Rat uses an iron claw to tear the clothes of the Phoenix Master and leaves scratch marks on the back of his robes.
• During a fight scene with Mega Rat and his henchmen, Tom is hit in the bottom with an arrow. He pulls it from his behind, turns it into a flower and gives it to a female cat.
• Jerry is caught in a stampede, is kicked and tossed aside.
• Tom tries to stab Jerry with chopsticks, then ties his tail in a bow and uses it as a slingshot.
• Mega Rat relives the time when his tail was burned off.
• Tom is strung up and about to be burned by Mega Rat.
• A rat army comes for Tom and Jerry and their friends. Many are captured, imprisoned and squeezed within their cages.
• A mythical chicken shoots eggs out of its behind. The eggs envelop the rat army.
• The rat army is caught in multiple explosive blasts when Tom and Jerry set off a bunch of fireworks.
• Tom and Jerry and their friends are exploded out of Mega Rat’s cave.
• Tom and Jerry shoot Mega Rat with fireworks.
• Mega Rat knocks down a temple and tries to crush everyone in it.
• Mega Rat stomps on the head of another character.
• A unicorn stabs a gargoyle in the butt with its horn.
• Mega Rat is hit with a blast of light directly in his eyes, the compass is taken and he shrinks back to his normal size.

Material that may scare or disturb children

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children under the age of five, including the following:

• Some of the characters may be frightening for young children, especially Mega Rat and his army of sinister-looking henchmen who sometimes dress up in creepy disguises, and who operate a menacing, gargoyle-like dragon that shoots out flames and attacks people and places.
• Tom and Jerry ride a fire extinguisher through a swirling vortex with intense music and lightning flashes, they exit the vortex and fly almost directly into the mouth of a dragon.
• There is a giant, creepy skeleton in the deepest depths of Mega Rat’s cave.
• Mega Rat was meant to be defeated after Tom and Jerry set off fireworks in his cave. He was trapped at the bottom of a river and pinned beneath debris, then the compass fell into his hands and he rose from the dead, huge and menacing, and set on revenge.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes and scary visual images, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged five to eight, including the following:

• There is a creepy flashback of a dragon and Phoenix fighting. Mega Rat was just a child but he was caught in the crossfire and his tail was burned off and severed. He was distraught to see a part of himself, singed and smoking, laying by a crater-like hole in the ground.

• Nothing further noted.

Product placement

• None noted.

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie, including:

• A character says, “What a hunk”, referring to the Phoenix Master.

Nudity and sexual activity

There is some nudity and sexual activity in this movie, including:

• The bottom half of Tom’s fur peels back, revealing heart covered boxer shorts. He quickly grabs his fur and hoists it back up around his waist.

Use of substances

There is some use of substances in this movie, including:

• The Phoenix Master uses peach liquor to intoxicate Tom.
• A bunch of characters drink in a tavern.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

• Darn
• Fool
• Pathetic vermin
• Ridiculous roof squatting freaks
• Giant wimp.

In a nutshell

Tom and Jerry: Forbidden Compass is a computer animated, fantasy film based on the cartoon characters created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. The film combines traditional Tom and Jerry slapstick sequences with elements of Chinese mythology, and certain sequences may be challenging for younger viewers to follow. It is, therefore, best suited to audiences over the age of 8.

The main messages from this movie are that life may be full of challenges but persistence and cooperation can help us overcome them; and that we should remember to enjoy the journey, believe in our abilities and never give up.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

• Teamwork
• Cooperation
• Responsibility
• Courage
• Friendship.

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as:

• Acting without thinking.
• Using violence as a way to solve conflict.
• Seeking revenge as opposed to forgiveness.
• Putting your own wants and needs in front of everyone and everything else.