6.6 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
Fun is elementary when cat-and-mouse cutups try to outsleuth the great detective! <br><br> Jewel heists around the city of London befuddle Scotland Yard, and the beautiful singer Red is framed for the crook. Only the legendary Sherlock Holmes can find the real thief with the help of his assistant Dr. Watson -- and of course, Tom and Jerry. But finding clues and cracking the case will be elementary compared to keeping the peace between these raucous rivals as they scamper, scurry, scoot and speed along the streets, alleys and rooftops in the name of justice. Familiar friends Tuffy, Butch, Droopy and many more cleverly round out the motley crew of characters and possible suspects in this brilliant fusion of classic detection and energetic animation!
Starring: Michael York, Malcolm McDowell, John Rhys-Davies, Grey GriffinFamily | 100% |
Animation | 97% |
Video codec: VC-1
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.78:1
English: Dolby Digital 5.1
French: Dolby Digital 5.1
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1
English, Spanish
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
Digital copy (as download)
DVD copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region free
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 2.5 | |
Extras | 1.0 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
My son, rapidly approaching his sixth birthday, is developing quite the cinematic palette. Twenty-five minutes into Furry Vengeance, without any prompting from me whatsoever, he whispered, "Dad? Can we watch something else? This movie makes my stomach hurt." Cue a giant grin on dear ol' dad's face, an irrepressible urge to hug the poor kid and, naturally, a surge of sweet relief (it was, after all, an unbearable film worthy of my colleague's drubbing). However, were my son to write a review of Tom and Jerry Meet Sherlock Holmes, it would be significantly different from mine. He laughed, bounced, clapped and cheered, and only took his eyes off the screen to see if I was doing the same. I was, but only because he was enjoying himself so much. Don't get me wrong, Tom and Jerry Meet Sherlock Holmes is infinitely better than Furry Vengeance. As direct-to-video animated releases go, it's decent family fodder for a midweek movie night. But as an extension of the beloved Hanna-Barbera classic cartoon, it feels a tad forced; as a Holmsian mystery, even one prepackaged for children, it struggles to connect numerous dots; and as an animated adventure, it tends to neglect anyone over eleven and sets its sights squarely on the kiddies.
Holmes ponders his latest case, Jerry tempts fate and Tom is foiled yet again...
Tom and Jerry Meet Sherlock Holmes crashes onto Blu-ray with a hit-or-miss 1080p/VC-1 encode; an initially striking presentation that doesn't hold up as well under close scrutiny. From the film's opening moonlit heist to its climactic afternoon carriage chase, colors are bright and cheerful, primaries pack a wallop, and blacks are rich and inky. Contrast remains consistent throughout as well, and the Warner Bros. Animation lineart is razor-sharp, often to a fault. Inherent imperfections in the hand-drawn art are apparent, but they serve as an unlikely testament to the transfer's clarity. No, my dear Watson, my issues lie elsewhere. Distracting aliasing, obvious pixelation and faint artifacting sent my pen scribbling, and severe and persistent banding only added insult to injury. (Viewers with large screens will be particularly disheartened by the frequency of each issue.) Just don't leap to conclusions and demonize the BD-25 disc the film calls home. The 50-minute movie doesn't take up much space -- a mere 8.17GB to be exact -- meaning Warner had more than enough room to create a beefier transfer. Would it have resulted in a cleaner, more proficient presentation? Maybe, maybe not. It depends on whether the various anomalies trace back to Warner Bros. Animation or overzealous compression. Either way, the Blu-ray release of Tom and Jerry Meet Sherlock Holmes isn't a complete failure by any stretch of the imagination, and offers enough visual flair to keep kids and their nostalgic parents transfixed.
Tom and Jerry's underwhelming 640kbps Dolby Digital 5.1 surround track is flat, feeble and unreliable, and that's putting it kindly. Even after cranking up my receiver's volume, entire sequences remained thin and thorny, suffering from lackluster normalization and poor prioritization. Dialogue is clean and intelligible, but voices float above the soundscape. Music is unnaturally, at-times bizarrely subdued throughout the film, effects are often either tinny or mushy, and LFE output is weak in the knees. Likewise, while a number of elements seep into the rear speakers, the subsequent soundfield doesn't provide a satisfying 360-degree experience, even for a direct-to-video animated film. Cumbersome pans, superficial directionality, problematic separation and dull dynamics... there isn't anything here for fledgling elementary-school audiophiles to get excited about. It's a serviceable Dolby Digital mix I suppose, but I can't imagine it sounds much better than its standard DVD counterpart.
The Blu-ray edition of Tom and Jerry Meet Sherlock Holmes includes just one feature: a "How to Draw Tom and Jerry" tutorial (SD, 7 minutes) with animator Spike Brant.
Warner has yet to announce whether the Blu-ray edition of Tom and Jerry Meet Sherlock Holmes will receive a wide release. For now, it's available exclusively at Walmart, although how long it will be on store shelves isn't entirely clear either. How does it stack up to other animated releases? Despite several shortcomings, the film itself is decent family fare; its video transfer, though plagued by banding and aliasing, deserves more compliments than criticism; its Dolby Digital audio mix, while adequate, is terribly unremarkable; and its anemic supplemental package drums up a lone 7-minute short. Ultimately, kids will shrug off the disc's issues, but parents will be less forgiving. Approach this exclusive accordingly.
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