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Tom and Jerry's Giant Adventure Review
Posted: August 12, 2013We start with a montage of Storybook Town a Walt Disney-esque park that started out great but after Joe Bradley, the creator and founder, passed so did the dream of the theme park and it soon fell into disrepair and abandonment. The theme park is centered around all the fairy tales/nursery rhymes most everyone knows about, Old Mother Hubbard, Peter Pumpkin Eatery, The Cow Jumping over the Moon, etc. What's left of the theme are the two last animals from the petting zoo, Tom and Jerry; and the star act of a high diving cow named Hermione. As you would guess there is a villainous developer name Mr. Bigley who controls the mortgage and is wanting to convert the park into a strip mall. Unfortunately for Jack Bradley, Joe's son, and the Widow Bradley they have to sell their only act, the Diving Cow named Hermione, to a Circus in order to pay for the mortgage before Mr. Bigley takes over the park. When Jack, Tom, and Jerry take Hermione to where the circus usually set up they discover that the circus is packing up and heading out of town. The trio miss their opportunity to sell Hermione, but a mystery farmer, a Farmer O'Dell shows up to buy Hermione right as the Circus leaves town early. The farmer convinces Jack to sell the cow for some magic beans and I think you know where this is going.
Tom, Jerry and Jack plant the Magic beans and sure enough, a beanstalk magically grows all the way up to "fairy land" which is a real life version of Storybook land. We find that Fairyland is subject to King Col, Droopy, and we see a few cameos from other classic MGM cartoons like Country Wolf, Country Red Hot, and Screwy Squirrel. However, they are terrorized by Ginormous the Giant who daily demands all the valuables from the subjects of Fairyland. Turns out the mystery farmer, O'Dell, as in Farmer in the Dell, is from Fairyland and has brought Jack Bradley up to their land as part of some prophecy to rid the land of the Giant.
So Jack, Tom, Jerry, and a few others head to the Giants castle to get Red Hot Fairy's magic harp, the key to getting rid of Ginormous, and the towns other valuables. The inside man at the castle that helps our classic cartoon pals is a giant mouse name Tuffy. While the villagers distract the giant with talent show our intrepid cat and mouse and Jack attempt to steal back the town's treasure from the giant.
Tom, Jerry and Jack save Fairytale Land and are rewarded for their efforts with a big golden egg which they use to pay off the mortgage and fix up Storybook Land to be the best theme park around.
The Good
I have to be honest, I approached this film with a bit of fear and trepidation. I didn't know what to expect and was pleasantly surprised with what I saw Tom and Jerry's Giant Adventure. This is a charming sort of animation with lots of homages to classic MGM cartoons with the inclusion of a lot of Tex Avery characters, that seem to be associated with Tom and Jerry more and more these days. Tom and Jerry's Giant Adventure also brought a couple smiles to my face with the nods to all the old nursery rhymes and fairy tales. Plus it was a fun take on an old story of Jack and the Beanstalk. I was also surprised at the three musical numbers in this hour long film.
The Bad
Okay, so bear with me a bit as did find this an enjoyable cartoon, I must approach Tom and Jerry's Giant Adventure with the critical eye of a very old Tom and Jerry fan. Please keep in mind that I did like this cartoon and would love seeing it again when my kids are a bit older.
I'm beginning to see some of these Tom and Jerry direct to video movies as become cliche', where we have a plot device which our duo is shoehorned in, they chase each other for a bit, then become fast friends and then help someone out of a bind. I really can't place examples but seeing so many recent Tom and Jerry's I get the sense that I've seen this story trope before in Tom and Jerry.
The other issue I have is that I didn't have any laugh out loud moments in any of the sight gags. There is a brief 2 minute Tom and Jerry chase in the beginning that falls pretty flat. The timing of the gags was way off which contributed to the flatness.
As mentioned above, there were a lot of cameos from other MGM cartoons and I have to say despite the smile those brought me it was all MEH. The cameos of Droopy, as King Col, Spike, Tyke, and Screwy Squirrel weren't used to much affect in my opinion. Screwy Squirrel was anarchy unleashed in the old cartoons, here he's just a wacky pie man.
Since Tom and Jerry Kids is still fresh in my mind from my episode guide update, I couldn't help think that this was those kids grown up in this movie as all the characters from that 90's cartoon made it in Tom and Jerry's Giant Adventure for an appearance.
The Ugly
There is only one truly ugly thing about Tom and Jerry's Giant Adventure and this Tuffy. WHY, IN THE NAME OF ALL THAT IS GOOD AND HOLY DOES TUFFY HAVE A FRENCH ACCENT?!?! WTF!!! It was awful! Every time Tuffy spoke I wanted to punch something. It was the same, tortuous, fake French accent that was to painful affect in Tom and Jerry A Nutcracker Tale. Please, Warner Brothers, for the LOVE OF HUMANITY, if you ever bring Tuffy into another Tom and Jerry cartoon, DROP THE FRENCH ACCENT!!! I get that Tuffy had a French accent in the Mouseketeer's cartoons, but those cartoons got the accent right and it was cute in those cartoons. Tuffy's accent is not cute, it is a audio crime. END RANT.
Overall, Tom and Jerry's Giant Adventure was a fun hour-long cartoon that is enjoyable and charming. Hardcore fans will be disappointed, the deviousness and cleverness of Tom and Jerry's antics are just not there and the story is predictable.
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