Jack the Giant Slayer (B- or 2.5/4 stars)
Fee, Fi, Fo, Fum ... I smell ... an okay movie to review. 'Jack the Giant Slayer' (based on the old faerie tale & directed by Bryan Singer, X-Men) opens with a dizzying back-&-forth prologue in which an 8 yr. old farm boy named Jack & an 8 yr. old princess named Isabelle are being read bedtime stories about the "Giants" by their respective father & mother. Jack is scared, but his dad assures, "It's only a story ... Giants aren't real". Meanwhile, Isabelle is entranced by the same story; telling her Queen mother that she loves adventure. The story then jumps 10 yrs.with Nicholas Hoult (of this year's Warm Bodies) playing the titular teen character.
One fateful day, Jack rescues the Princess (who ventured from the castle to a small pub ... for adventure) from a band of drunk vagrants; hence, they only have eyes for each other. Later that day, Jack comes into possession of a small pouch of magic beans which - when wet - grow into enormous beanstalks the soar through the clouds and into a sky world populated by ferocious people-eating Giants. When the beanstalk erupts into the sky, Princess Isabelle (now Eleanor Tomlinson), heir to the realm of King Brahmwell (Ian McShane), is in the wrong place at the wrong time. She is caught in the vines & whisked away into the night sky. Jack, along with the princess' guardian knight, Elmont (a fun Ewan McGregor), & her would-be groom, Roderick (a slimy Stanley Tucci), head off ... well, up ... in quick pursuit.
Unfortunately, Roderick has a nefarious agenda that doesn't even involve rescuing Isabelle; for in his possession is a legendary crown that, when worn, holds control over the Giants. Upon reaching the top of the beanstalk, he places the crown on his head & immediately subjugates the fearsome 2-headed General Fallon (Bill Nighy, John Kassir) & his minions. Roderick then plots {if he had a moustache, he'd twirl it} a return to the world below to takeover all the Earthbound kingdoms. However, while he's off enjoying his power trip, Jack finds & frees the trapped Isabelle. Humor, escapes, tricks, short-lived happiness, war, & mayhem ensue.
'Jack the Giant Slayer' follows in the footsteps of 2010's Alice in Wonderland, 2012's Mirror Mirror & Snow White & the Huntsman, 2013's Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, and the like. Movie producers are seeing that these faerie tale flicks are drawing certain audiences to the theaters. And what director Bryan Singer has done here is take this simple fable & give it an epic fantasy vibe. Luckily, I haven't hated any of these faerie tale movie yet; though, I haven't unabashedly loved any, either -- and this one is no different. I enjoyed this movie, enough. It's likeable. I found myself actively rooting for good to trump evil. The performances are fairly fun; especially Ewan McGregor as the high-haired knight, spouting lines like, "Archers to the parapets!!" - I mean, that's awesome, haha.
Though this film is not particularly intelligent or skilled; it is delivered with enough teen-driven wit, basic storytelling, & movie magic to thwart the negatives (in execution, it resembles The Lord of the Rings FAR too much; also, some of the CGI work is iffy). Most of the story follows a predictable trajectory, with a few surprises here & there. Jack's character arc goes - as expected - from clueless farm boy to charming hero. Isabelle is a pretty, but a lackluster damsel in distress. The Giants, especially the horrible Gen. Fallon, are suitably menacing - I even grimaced & turned my face away from the screen a few times.
But that brings up another point: who is this movie geared at? Based on the source material, my knee-jerk reaction is to say: kids. But then, the deaths in the film are visceral enough & the Giants are scary enough & some of the visuals are gross enough (spit, snot, armpits) that you can't just bring 7 yr. olds. And it certainly is not a film for most adults to enjoy on an intellectual level. So that leaves teens/young adults. But it rides a fine line & actually might only appeal to very few people. And so, I found 'Jack the Giant Slayer' to be a mildly entertaining diversion (akin to last yr.'s maligned John Carter). But it likely won't stand the test of time.
One fateful day, Jack rescues the Princess (who ventured from the castle to a small pub ... for adventure) from a band of drunk vagrants; hence, they only have eyes for each other. Later that day, Jack comes into possession of a small pouch of magic beans which - when wet - grow into enormous beanstalks the soar through the clouds and into a sky world populated by ferocious people-eating Giants. When the beanstalk erupts into the sky, Princess Isabelle (now Eleanor Tomlinson), heir to the realm of King Brahmwell (Ian McShane), is in the wrong place at the wrong time. She is caught in the vines & whisked away into the night sky. Jack, along with the princess' guardian knight, Elmont (a fun Ewan McGregor), & her would-be groom, Roderick (a slimy Stanley Tucci), head off ... well, up ... in quick pursuit.
Unfortunately, Roderick has a nefarious agenda that doesn't even involve rescuing Isabelle; for in his possession is a legendary crown that, when worn, holds control over the Giants. Upon reaching the top of the beanstalk, he places the crown on his head & immediately subjugates the fearsome 2-headed General Fallon (Bill Nighy, John Kassir) & his minions. Roderick then plots {if he had a moustache, he'd twirl it} a return to the world below to takeover all the Earthbound kingdoms. However, while he's off enjoying his power trip, Jack finds & frees the trapped Isabelle. Humor, escapes, tricks, short-lived happiness, war, & mayhem ensue.
'Jack the Giant Slayer' follows in the footsteps of 2010's Alice in Wonderland, 2012's Mirror Mirror & Snow White & the Huntsman, 2013's Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, and the like. Movie producers are seeing that these faerie tale flicks are drawing certain audiences to the theaters. And what director Bryan Singer has done here is take this simple fable & give it an epic fantasy vibe. Luckily, I haven't hated any of these faerie tale movie yet; though, I haven't unabashedly loved any, either -- and this one is no different. I enjoyed this movie, enough. It's likeable. I found myself actively rooting for good to trump evil. The performances are fairly fun; especially Ewan McGregor as the high-haired knight, spouting lines like, "Archers to the parapets!!" - I mean, that's awesome, haha.
Though this film is not particularly intelligent or skilled; it is delivered with enough teen-driven wit, basic storytelling, & movie magic to thwart the negatives (in execution, it resembles The Lord of the Rings FAR too much; also, some of the CGI work is iffy). Most of the story follows a predictable trajectory, with a few surprises here & there. Jack's character arc goes - as expected - from clueless farm boy to charming hero. Isabelle is a pretty, but a lackluster damsel in distress. The Giants, especially the horrible Gen. Fallon, are suitably menacing - I even grimaced & turned my face away from the screen a few times.
But that brings up another point: who is this movie geared at? Based on the source material, my knee-jerk reaction is to say: kids. But then, the deaths in the film are visceral enough & the Giants are scary enough & some of the visuals are gross enough (spit, snot, armpits) that you can't just bring 7 yr. olds. And it certainly is not a film for most adults to enjoy on an intellectual level. So that leaves teens/young adults. But it rides a fine line & actually might only appeal to very few people. And so, I found 'Jack the Giant Slayer' to be a mildly entertaining diversion (akin to last yr.'s maligned John Carter). But it likely won't stand the test of time.