Jack the Giant Slayer Review
RYAN: I love Ewan McGregor and fairy tales so that they come together in Jack the Giant Slayer is all good news.
CAROLINE: How was the movie? I doubt I will ever see it.
RYAN: Better than expected. It’s a little wonky, timing-wise, since Oz opens next week and this one had a similar budget.
CAROLINE: Interesting. Break it down for me.
RYAN: Well I wish they had just done a more straightforward retelling of the actual classic fairy tale instead of turning it into an all out war between giants and townsfolk. But it works, nonetheless.
CAROLINE: So the script was ok?
RYAN: It worked. The giants were super stupid but the effects are good. They pick their noses and fart and the humor skews so juvenile that I thought for sure it was PG but it’s PG-13, probably because the giants are so gross to look at.
CAROLINE: I don’t like the sound of that.
RYAN: Nicholas Hoult and Eleanor Tomlinson were very good and had great chemistry.
CAROLINE: What about Ewan and Stanley Tucci?
RYAN: C’mon. They’re always fab. They were terrific in this, especially Stan. He’s the villain and we know he can go there… The Lovely Bones, anyone?
CAROLINE: OMG right!
RYAN: It’s good casting. The film is a bit slow moving though. Again, I would have preferred this movie had just given the original Jack story the Ever After treatment instead of changing it so much. Adaptations always require and often benefit from changes to increase cinematic achievement, but I think this one is limited that way a bit.
CAROLINE: I loved Ever After.
RYAN: I really think this could have potentially been like that – a seemingly real telling of the Jack fable, even with the giants. Because the only “magic” in this is the beans. There’s not a goose laying golden eggs or golden harp or even stealing gold for Jack’s mom. There’s no mom. There’s no real treasure. It’s instead a romantic, damsel-in-distress story of Jack rescuing the princess.
CAROLINE: That is sucky for anyone who really expects an actual Jack and the Beanstalk story.
RYAN: I’m also a bit over the whole “We need to add menace in order to justify fairy tales movies for a modern audience,” as in Witch Hunters, Giant Slayer… enough already. I just wanna see magic, not war.
CAROLINE: Studio execs must think they need more action.
RYAN: Something’s in the water there.
CAROLINE: How was the 3D?
RYAN: In parts very good. And if inclined to see this film I certainly recommend it on the big screen. In fact, I don’t know that it’s even worth seeing if not in the theater. So I wouldn’t call it a rental or a must see. It’s between them but really only one for the theater. I was entertained, so I’ll be favorable.
