cruelty against cj7

You clearly did not get the intention of the original post. I never implied that "somebody" got harmed nor did I imply that cartoon violence is not ok in movies. I personally have nothing against dark, cartoonish, over-the-top, realistic, painful, unrealistic, bloody or other forms violence in movies.

My point lies elsewhere. I purely argue from the intended feelings the filmmakers wanted to convey to their audience. And in this respect I claim that the movie failed in what it set out to do. It clearly wanted to engage the audience in the unfolding events in particular from the boys and fathers perspective. This usually is achieved in such family films by depicting the main protagonists in sympathetic way. For example through the boy being bullied by others or the fathers hardship. This sympathy and understanding (in addition to the cultural background )also mitigates some of the more controversial behavior of the characers (e.g. father hitting the boy). I just felt that the filmmakers UNINTENDENTLY destroyed this bond through their "cruel" behaviour towards CJ7, a "toy" that clearly showed emotions, felt pain and even fled to activly avoid cruelty. I would have expected the characters (boy/father) to recognize this.

For me this thread is purely about a misjudgement by the filmmakers on how the audience (or just me) responds to certain events in the movie. Some users speculate that this is due to cultural differences - mybe so. But I simply asked if others felt the same way.... and yes I enjoy some of the early Tom & Jerry cartoons.

First of all CJ7 is a CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) not a real animal (or alien for that matter). These are shocking news for some people, I know.
Being CJ7 a CGI character why it couldn't be treated like most cartoon characters. CJ7 doesn't suffer nearly as much "abuse" as let's say Tom from "Tom & Jerry".