Storybook Town is a place populated Mother Goose and fairy tale characters. The park has fallen on hard times after the death of its visionary creator Joe Bradley. With a greedy developer Mr. Bigley (Tom Wilson) planning to turn the whole thing into a strip mall, young Jack (Jacob Bertrand) is determined to save the park for his mom. He certainly didn’t expect it, but the answer comes in a handful of “magic” beans. With a little bit of water and some fresh soil, Jack and his four-legged pals, Tom and Jerry, find themselves at the top of an enormous beanstalk, where they find a magical fairytale land waiting for them beyond the clouds. The land and its ruler, King Droopy (Joe Alasky) are dealing with their own problems, including a giant Ginormous (Wilson). With the help of some new friends—the Red Fairy (Grey Delisle), Farmer O’Dell (Garrison Keillor), Screwy Squirrel (Paul Reubens), Tuffy (Kath Soucie) and others—will Jack be able to defeat the giant, claim the golden egg and save Storybook Town?
Unfortunately, Tom & Jerry don’t have much of a role in this adventure. While they chase each other a bit, this is really Jack’s show. Kids will laugh, because there’s some enjoyment to be had in the retelling of the Jack and the Beanstalk story, but adult Tom & Jerry fans will be sorely disappointed.
The animation is colorful, if nothing special. The voice actors do an okay job, but Tom & Jerry’s Giant Adventure is far from the best the cartoon has to offer. Beloved characters like this just deserve to be treated with more care than this title suggests.
Presented in the 1.78:1 aspect ratio, Warner Brothers’ 1080p presentation is crisp, but nothing remarkable. Despite the vivid palette, the colors actually look a bit washed out at times. Black levels aren’t quite as deep as one might expect, but that appears to be due to the source material, not the transfer. Line art is sharp and refined, with just occasional aliasing and banding.
Warner’s DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track is a solid one. Though the mix is a bit front heavy and flat, voices come through clearly. Effects sound good and the rear speaks get involved when necessary. It’s rather workmanlike, but gets the job done.
English SDH, French, and Russian subtitles are available.
There are no special features, but a DVD, UV digital copy and a iTunes digital copy are included.
