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Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Movie Review - Jack the Giant Slayer


Jack the Giant Slayer  $$$ 1/2   

 

PG-13
114 Minutes
Starring: Nicholas Hoult, Stanley Tucci, Ewan McGregor, and Eleanor Tomlinson.
Director: Bryan Singer.
 

            In recent years, Hollywood has relied heavily on retelling well known stories. Remakes of old television series and previously successful movies have become a common item on the movie-going menu. Producers seem more willing to back proven stories than take a risk on something new.
            Granted, it is no easy matter to find new material. The longer Hollywood stays in business the more original material they will grind through. As it is we have about a century worth of storylines stockpiled in the celluloid vaults.
 
            Jack the Giant Slayer is a telling of the popular children’s story: Jack and the Beanstalk. For those of you who somehow missed hearing that tale as a child – Jack is sent to market to sell the family horse and buy some much needed supplies. He ends up with magic beans that are thrown out and end up growing a huge beanstalk that rises into the sky. Climbing the beanstalk, Jack finds a land inhabited by giants.
            However, in this version Jack (Nicholas Hoult) has met himself a princess (Eleanor Tomlinson) and ascends the magic stalk in order to rescue her. He is accompanied by a host of the king’s elite troops, including Elmont (Ewan McGregor) and the rascally Sir Roderick (Stanley Tucci).  

            The acting was good. The writing was a decent reforging of a well-known tale. And the special effects were great. I loved watching the giants. The chemistry between Jack and the Princess was believable and fun. All in all, this was an excellent family movie. More mature audience may find it less appealing.
            The film scored a solid three-and-a-half movie bucks from me. The giants definitely need to be seen on the big screen. The action too screams out for a first-run theater showing. But it won’t hurt to catch it as a matinee.  

 
                        Randy’s Rating System 

$$$$   = Full Price    See this movie right away and pay full price, it’s worth it.

$$$     = Matinee      Catch this as a matinee or other discounted showing.

$$        = Discount     Wait until this movie reaches a discount theater near you.

$          = Rental         Wait until this movie reaches your local video rental outlet.

0          = No Sale       Don’t see this movie at any price.

 

8 comments:

  1. It'd probably be safe for me to watch it now that everyone's going to see the Oz movie instead.

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    1. I imagine so. There's a lot of hype over Oz. That will be my next review.

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  2. Good to know. I don't know if I would have bothered but now I'm intrigued.

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    1. My kids loved it. They range from seven to twelve - okay actually thirty - and all of them had a good time with it. It wasn't excessively scary and the romance was a bit hokey, but cute.

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  3. Glad to hear you liked it, Randy! I took my kids to the movies this past weekend and they chose Oz over Jack. Oz was good - we really enjoyed it - but now I'm thinking Jack is worth seeing too!

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    1. Good to hear about Oz. My kids are all bugging me to go see it and I wasn't sure how child-friendly it would be. Sounds as if it will be a good choice as well. Thanks for the heads up.

      And yep, Jack should be great for the kiddies.

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  4. Nice review Randy. It’s a bit dumb and silly, but that’s all of the fun with this movie and that’s all that mattered to me when I was watching this.

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