Rated PG-13 for intense scenes of fantasy action violence, some frightening images and brief language.
Starring
Nicholas Hoult, Eleanor Tomlinson, Stanley Tucci, Ian McShane , Bill
Nighy (voice), John Kassir (voice), Ewan McGregor, Eddie Marsan.
Written by Darren Lemke, Christopher McQuarrie, Dan Studney, David Dobkin.
Directed by Bryan Singer.
GRADE: *** (three out of four stars)
GOSPEL-DOCTRINE-O-METER: *** (three Moronis) There isn't anything overly profound in terms of gospel doctrine in Jack The Giant Slayer, but it is a relatively benign (yet epic) retelling of a familiar fairy tale, complete with acts of herosim and the your garden variety struggle between good and evil. It's a good family film, but some of the violence might be too intense for kids under 10.
REVIEW:
I
have long lamented the lack of imaginative, original ideas coming out
of mainstream Hollywood over the past few decades. It seems movie
executives are content on keeping the money machine going by rehashing
the same old stories (i.e. sequels), remakes and film versions of TV
series. It won't be long before supply of all the decent comic books and
graphic novels runs dry, and even the best of the good comic book
movies are already getting remakes. The lack of original material has
led to the recent phenomenon of tapping into fairy tales as source
material for epic-looking movies (Snow White and the Huntsman, Mirror
Mirror, Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters). The latest fairy tale to get
the big budget treatment is Jack and the Beanstalk, a.k.a. Jack The
Giant Slayer.
Nicholas Hoult stars as Jack, a poor orphan living
on his uncle's farm in Cloister, a kingdom ruled by King Brahmwell (Ian
McShane). Living in poverty, Jack is assigned the task of selling the
farm's only horse in the capitol city. During his visit to pawn off the
horse, Jack runs into a monk who is on the run from the king's advisor
Roderick (Stanley Tucci), who is trying to collect some magic beans from
him (for evil purposes). Jack ends up with the beans and sets off for
home, where is uncle is not pleased with the trade.
Meanwhile,
the king's daughter Princess Isabelle (Eleanor Tomlinson) longs
adventure outside the castle and away from her overprotective father.
She sets out one night on horseback during a torrential rainstorm, and
eventually ends up at Jack's farm, looking for shelter. One of the beans
slips through a crack in the floor and is eventually moistened by the
rain, spawning the growth of a huge beanstalk. The beanstalk carries the
entire house away with Isabelle inside, as Jack falls to the ground.
When Roderick, the King and his army show up looking for Isabelle, the
king assigns his most trustworthy knight Elmont (Ewan McGregor) to take a
small group of soldiers and shimmy up the beanstalk to rescue the
princess. Roderick and Jack tag along, but only a few of the soldiers
(including Elmont), Jack and Roderick make it to the top. Once there,
the men encounter several giants, who kill off most of the party. Jack
manages to slip away, rescuing Elmont and the princess, but not before
discovering that Roderick possesses a magic crown that empowers him to
rule over the giants. Roderick's plan is to use the giants to overthrow
Cloister and move toward eventual world domination.
As Jack
escapes with Isabelle, Elmont stays behind, planning to kill Roderick
and recover the crown. When Jack and Isabelle head down the beanstalk,
they discover that the king has learned of the giant threat and has
ordered the beanstalk chopped down, an event which happens just as Jack
and Isabelle get close enough to the bottom to have a safe landing.
Meanwhile
at the top of the beanstalk, Elmont isn't quite successful at obtaining
the magic crown, as an army of giants led by the ruthless two-headed
giant General Fallon (one head is voiced by John Kassir, the other by
Bill Nighy) gathers to crush the humans. The general discovers the
crown, along with the rest of Jack's beans (that he dropped at the top
of the beanstalk). He uses one of the beans to grow another beanstalk
that will provide a path for the giant army to reach Cloister.
As
the giant army rushes down the new beanstalk, Elmont also slips past
them and helps prepare the Cloister castle for the giant invasion. A
“giant” battle (pun intended) ensues and all seems lost unless Jack can
get the crown away from General Fallon and turn the tide in favor of the
“little people.”
Jack The Giant Slayer isn't a bad fantasy
adventure, despite the liberties taken with such a well-known and
beloved fairy tale. The action keeps the story moving along well enough,
while talented thespians like McShane, Tucci and especially McGregor
provide adequate performances to give the film a little star-quality
gravitas.
There are plenty of moments in Jack The Giant Slayer
that seem a little over-the-top and silly, but the “giant” special
effects and the scope of the production design give the film an epic
quality, despite a little disappointment during the climactic battle.
One
caution I have for parents who may think that Jack The Giant Slayer is
appropriate for small children who are familiar with the fairy tale.
Jack The Giant Slayer gets a well-deserved PG-13 rating – just barely.
There are scenes of death in the movie, and even though director Bryan
Singer (X-Men, X2) holds back on the graphic gore, it isn't hard to
figure out that giants are eating some of the characters in an
unpleasant fashion. I wouldn't recommend Jack The Giant Slayer for any
children under 10 years old.
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