Some movies appear to have been made just to let the
audience have fun. I went to see Jack the Giant Slayer without many
expectations and found it an enjoyable experience.
Set in a nebulous fairytale land, Isabelle, the princess
(Eleanor Tomlinson) and Jack (Nicholas Hoult) both have been raised on similar stories of
the war between the giants and humans. As an adult, Isabelle wants
more to her life than she finds locked up in court, so she steals off to find
adventure. She ends up at Jack’s cottage seeking shelter from a storm. Jack has
traded his horse for some magic beans and they sprout during the storm. The
cottage is carried up on the stalks up into
the sky-world land of the giants. The film becomes a quest adventure trying to
save Isabelle and later save humans from the giants.
Jack joins a team of several knights, including Sir
Elmont (Ewan McGregor) and villain Roderick (a very funny Stanley Tucci) who has stolen the magical crown
which makes the giants subservient to him. By the time they finally locate Isabelle, several of the team have been killed by the giants and or Roderick. Elmont ends up
rolled in a puff pastry along with several pigs (pigs in a blanket, get it?). Jack finds his courage and ends up saving Isabelle.
When they try to return to earth, the giants realize the
bridge to the human world is open and they set out to conquer the human world.
The last part of the film is the battle between the two worlds.
The giants are a motley group of Brian Froud-type characters, funny, gross, menacing, but not really child-scary. The leader has two heads (one which looks a relative of Gollum). How Jack and the humans defeat them is a fun part of the film. The CG
effects in 3D were well done.
The film was a surprisingly fun movie for me.
Jack the Giant Slayer (2013) ****
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