This is a very enjoyable TV special that kids and adults will enjoy together. It takes the well-known story of Jack and the Beanstalk but adds new elements that are enjoyable in their own right, and which keep viewers from knowing what will happen next.
The most notable addition is that Jack has an adult companion on his trip up the beanstalk and in the Giant's kingdom. Jack's friend is played by Gene Kelly, who is definitely the star of this production. The obscure child actor who plays Jack is actually quite good, in a refreshingly natural way, and he sings pleasantly ... without exhibiting a trained voice that would remind us he's a child actor. Jack sings a song called "A Tiny Bit of Faith and a Large Amount of Hope", which I enjoyed. None of the other songs impressed me. Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen are far below their usual standard here.
Inside the Giant's kingdom, Jack and Gene are mouse-sized in proportion to the Giant, so they take refuge in a mousehole. Inside the mousehole, they meet a colony of talking cartoon mice (all of them male, apparently) who are to scale with the Giant ... so all the mice are as tall as Gene Kelly. The mice would like to rebel against the Giant, but ... well, they're afraid. So Gene spurs them into action in a spirited song-and-dance number in which he drills the mice in military manoeuvres. This number was very obviously inspired by Gene Kelly's famous dance with Jerry the Mouse in "Anchors Aweigh" ... but it's extremely enjoyable in its own right, and different enough from the earlier number to make the copying acceptable. I wish that Gene had done more dancing in this show.
Ted Cassidy, so memorable as Lurch and in a few other roles, seems to be zombified in his portrayal of the Giant.
The grossly overrated Hanna-Barbera animation studio had previously worked with Gene Kelly in "Invitation to the Dance". Their animation here (more than a decade later) is slightly more competent than in the earlier film, but not much. The joins between the live action and the animation are far too obvious. I especially disliked one bit which occurred whilst Jack and Gene are climbing up the beanstalk. A gust of wind blows Gene's live-action hat off his live-action head. He looks down ... and we cut to a crudely animated shot of a cartoon hat falling towards a distant animated landscape.
If there is any justice, some day Hanna and Barbera will find themselves in a cartoon version of Hell ... in which they are pursued by monsters who chase them past the same tree, over and over, through all eternity.
I'll rate this TV special 5 points out of 10, and I hope that modern kids won't be too jaded to appreciate the downmarket animation.
