Jack the Giant Slayer

Now that we’re getting really close to Halloween, which is tomorrow in fact, it’s time to wrap things up here on “Halloween Month.” To do that, I will take a look at another 2013 adaptation on a children’s tale, which was originally a Grimm Brothers tale I believe, “Jack the Giant Slayer” (previously called “Jack the Giant Killer”).

This is how Roger Ebert began his review: “You never know.

“Based on those unavoidable TV ads for "Jack the Giant Slayer" featuring CGI-looking giants clomping around and throwing windmills while a hipster-quipster Jack romances a generic-looking princess, I wasn't exactly dreading the screening, but I can't say I had it circled on my calendar, either.

“I'm pleased to report, however, "Jack the Giant Slayer" is a rousing, original and thoroughly entertaining adventure. Director Bryan Singer, a first-rate cast and a stellar team of screenwriters, set designers and special-effects wizards have dusted off an old and (let's face it) never particularly compelling fairy tale and have given us a great-looking thrill ride in which we actually care about a number of characters.

“There's even room for just the hint of empathy for the giants. It's not easy being a giant. In fact, I have a few questions about the Giant Way of Life, but we'll get to that later.”

“Jack the Giant Slayer” begins with the telling of a same bedtime story in two different houses told on the same night. Young Jack, a farm boy who is 8-years-old (Michael Self), has read this story so many times, and the pages are nearly worn out, but he pleads his kindly, widowed father (Tim Foley) to read him the story one more time.

Meanwhile, at the castle of the Cloister, a princess (Sydney Rawson) is also desperately waiting the same story, read to her by her mother, who, like Jack’s dad, isn’t going to be seen after the opening credits of the movie.

Jump forward to 10 years later. Jack has grown up to become Nicholas Hoult, a handsome and almost blandly noble young man now living with his bitter old uncle, played by Christopher Fairbank, after the plague killed his Dad.

Eleanor Tomlinson plays Princess Isabelle, who obviously is adventurous and romantic and hopeless, and “really” wishes she didn’t have to marry the gross, old and obviously two-faced Roderick, played by the great Stanley Tucci, hamming it up just short of a twirling mustache.

To be honest, a few scenes past the point of great timing, it takes a long time before we see the magic beans and the stalk grows towards the sky and the mysterious land above Earth populated completely by giants. Once we arrive there, it’s time.

Especially in the close-up shots, the giants look pretty awesome. They’re an ugly bunch of hoodlums, picking their noses and passing gas and making pigs in a blanket, which “are” pigs…In blankets.

As always, the 3D is mostly about 2.5D, but we do get a few fight scenes where you would want to duck. Over all, the special effects are impressive. It really looks like the little men are fighting those colossal giants, whose leader is a two-headed general, with the important Bill Nighly buried there somewhere playing the general.

There’s no way you can have a fair fight between giants and people, so there’s a convenient device to level the battlefield. A magic crown made from elements including but not restricted to the heart of a long-ago defeated giant. Whoever wears a crown are in complete control over the giants, and the evil Roderick’s plan to take out the crown when the time is right and lead the giants to travel to Cloister and all the kingdoms of Earth.

Ebert suggests, “You'd think Roderick would have been pleased with the deal he already had: marrying the hot young princess, commanding the kingdom and living a cushy live, but there you have it.”

“Jack the Giant Slayer” is filled with great looks, from the casting of Ewan McGregor as Elmont, a knight in shining armor who’s supposed to be the protagonist of the story and is definitely “a” hero, but not “the” hero, to be an epilogue that’s hands-down cool. The PG-13 violence, including a close-up of an eyeball bulging out of one of the giants, means the action is not meant for very little children. Ebert does admit, “But for everyone else, including cynical grown-up critics who didn't think they'd ever give a Fee, a Fi, a Fo or a Fum about this movie, it's a terrific adventure.”

Finally let’s talk about the giants. They live in a world between Earth and heaven, and if you want to overlook scary rock formations and isolation, it seems like a pretty cool look with fertile greenery, room for a giant to wander around, and plenty to eat if you can develop your appetite for humans.

Ebert does ask, “What I want to know is, where are the lady giants and the teenage giants and the baby giants? If there are no women, how do these guys not die off? They're not immortal, because several get killed during this movie.”

It would have been nice to see the two-headed general’s wife, just to see what her problem is and how she spends her days. Maybe in a sequel, if they are planning to make one, but if not, then that’s fine.

Anyways, if you want to check this movie out then by all means do so, it’s really good. I personally liked this movie a lot. However, I didn’t know that all these movies that are based on children’s stories I grew up reading were originally stories made by the Grimm Brothers. Maybe I should check out their movie to see for myself what tales they made or research which ones were they’re stories that were made child-friendly.

Well, stay tuned tomorrow for the finale of “Halloween Month.”