zkonedog Every kid knows the basic story and plot elements of "Jack and the Beanstalk". Each one of those children should be shown this classic 1952 movie (they won't find it on their own) for its utterly silly, yet hilariously funny, take on the classic children's tale.For a basic plot summary, this film follows the story of "Jack and the Beanstalk" using the comedy duo of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello. Some key elements are altered in order to move along the story and make it original, but the basic kernels of the tale are very much in place throughout.Simply put, this goofy little comedic romp will enthrall the kiddies and usher a wave of nostalgia for anyone older. Abbott & Costello are their usual hilarious selves, while the music numbers will, at times, have you laughing out loud at the simple hilarity! I watched this old classic numerous times as a child, and just recently watched it with a young sister. We both thoroughly enjoyed the experience, albeit for different reasons.About the only complaint I have about this movie is the poor video and especially sound quality. To my knowledge, no definitive edition of this film yet exists that has been cleaned up or truly digitized properly. A shame, considering the potential for nostalgic sales.Overall, if you have a young child who has never seen this flick, you would be doing him/her an injustice by not somehow, someway getting it on the television in front of them. Just good old fashioned humorous, music, screwball fun!

simeon_flake First, the Goodtimes DVD release of this film is the one to get for people who have never seen this film before or have seen poor quality transfers of it. Very excellent quality and I am someone who had never seen this movie before--but it's hard for me to imagine there being a better print out there. So a big thumbs up to Goodtimes video for that.As for the film itself, I'm usually not one for cute and whimsical vehicles turned out by my favorite comedians. "Snow White and the Three Stooges" for instance is a prime example of cute and whimsy gone all wrong--but fortunately, this film doesn't reach that low level.While it's not prime A & C, "Jack and the Beanstalk" managed to hold my attention and I didn't find myself staring at my wristwatch waiting for the film to end. And the performances by all the actors involved were good enough--although by the closing minutes of the film I was left to wonder what happened to the Giant's housekeeper that Costello becomes infatuated with. One minute we see her leaving the Giant's castle with the cow, then she's never seen again--kind of odd. Overall, while I prefer my A & C a little more edgier & not geared towards kids so much, "Jack and the Beanstalk" is not a film that embarrasses the duo--a pleasant little vehicle that should delight the kids and maybe entertain the adults as well. 6 stars

mark.waltz An oh-so-silly children's musical for the early Saturday and Sunday matinée kiddie audience (while the parents did their grocery shopping), this Abbott and Costello film probably had little interest from their adult fans. The giant is actually just a tall, fat man, a big bully who just happens to live on the clouds, and the opening and closing framing (concerning a bratty kid Lou happens to be babysitting) just adds needless length to the film. A few silly songs are thrown in to add to the juvenile feeling. If you are at all familiar with Stephen Sondheim's musical, "Into the Woods", you've seen it done much better. In fact, if you've seen any of the productions of that hit show, those songs might pop into your head while these songs are instantly erased mercifully from your musical memory database.One funny scene involves Costello (as Jack) being chased by the so- called giant in a hollow log which brings a few laughs, but the rest of the film is somewhat unbearable. I can't rate this film based upon what I thought of it, but by imagining how a less jaded and technically less advanced era of pre-teen movie audiences might have taken to this. But if you want to see how a good fairy tale can actually be from that era, I highly recommend "The 50,000 Fingers of Dr. T" over this mediocre nonsense.

Homer900 For some reason my father-in-law gave me a copy of this tape. I think because my great uncle, Buddy Baer, was the giant in this movie and my father-in-law thought I'd like to see it. I had, years before as a child, and didn't like it then, either.My son, then two, watched it and was hooked. Every waking moment in front of the TV, this horrid video played. I went to work with the inane songs stuck in my head. The two "leads" were worse than a junior high stage review. The dancers looked like rejects from an Ed Wood horror flick and Abbot and Costello phoned their parts in. Thankfully, I was able to distract my son long enough to lose this videotape. Frankly, I think it was the tape from "The Ring".To correct another reviewer, Buddy Baer is the UNCLE of Jethro (Max Baer, Jr) not his father. 0 out of 10.