Bryan Singer’s (director of Many recent X-Men adaptations and Superman Returns) Jack the Giant Slayer was our most recent trip to the movies. A trip was long due since we think we’ve only been to one or maybe two other movies this year. (We’ll have to double check that for our end of the year wrap-up.)
With some makeup it was difficult to tell who it featured, but we knew that Ewan Obi-Wan was the personal guard for the princess and Bill Nighy (Do you feaaaaar deathuuuu!) was the leader of the giants. It seems that Stanley Tucci (my ever so evasive uncle) was the fiancee of the princess. Ian McShane (why didn’t they use every captain from Pirates?) was the king and Jack was played by the guy who Alana recognized from About a Boy (also Beast from X-Men First Class… convenient casting). So it’s got a good cast and the princess did a great job… whoever she was.
It was loosely based off of Jack and the Beanstalk… the treasure, the golden harp, the giants in the sky, the magical beans, etc. However, there are a lot of giants in this adaptation. I mean an army’s worth of human-blood thirsty giants. I think they were trying to make a movie that kid’s could watch and enjoy while their parents wouldn’t be completely bored. I think it lacked that witty humor that movies such as Kung Fu Panda 1 and 2 has but it wasn’t awful for adults… and we’re not real adults. The effects were okay, the sets were convincing enough, but the king’s armor was awful. They might have done that on purpose. As for the acting, it was good enough to fit the movie. We couldn’t tell if Jack’s father was the worst or best actor ever.
This isn’t a long review and we don’t do spoilers but if you have some young teenagers and want to spend some time with them take them to this movie. If you don’t mind some death and exploding heads then take your younger ones too. It’s a fun and exciting interpretation of a very well-known fairy tale… and it moves quickly. It didn’t feel two hours long, although at one point it seemed it was going to end thirty minutes short.
If you’re going to watch it for the golden goose… then don’t bother going. But seriously, who would go for that reason?
In the end, it isn’t a very good movie. No morals or values really projected well in my opinion. They pushed the idea of follow your dreams and don’t fear an adventure, but there was nothing very moving to get that across. Let’s just say it’s not going to win any Oscars next year but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t see it with the young ones in the family.
Next Up… Oz: The Great and Powerful (next weekend)
