Jack The Giant Slayer Review

20th Mar 2013

A host of starry names can’t lift this slightly-below average take on a classic tale.

Jack, played by Nicholas Hoult, is sent by his Uncle to market to sell a horse, where he encounters the beautiful Princess Isabelle. Distracted by her, he loses the horse, but then a mysterious Monk gives him some Magic Beans (that’s right, capital letters) with a warning – don’t get them wet. When he inevitably does, the Princess becomes trapped in a world above the clouds, where Giants live and would love to pop back down to earth for a bit of rampaging and anarchy.

Stanley Tucci is absolutely fantastic, and his pantomime villain is convincing and thoroughly enjoyable. Ewan McGregor – and I say this as a fan of his – has this terribly posh, heroic voice on, but it all seems a bit put upon. Nicholas Hoult and Eleanor Tomlinson are a bit insipid and uninspiring and Hoult just seems to be going through the motions a bit. In fact, the stand-out characters of the film are the CGI giants who are very well animated and acted.

I couldn’t buy into the cheesy romance at all and there was no chemistry between Jack and the Princess. Comparing it to something like The Princess Bride, I just never really thought it was sweet and joined in with all the kids in the audience who jeered at the pseudo-romantic points of the film.

There’s something lacking about the whole production, it’s just not epic enough for it’s aspirations. It invokes some of the flavours of Lord of The Rings, which is a mistake and in a way I felt that it was over-reaching itself.

Despite it’s best efforts, it’s average at best, which is a shame. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a convincing adventure film for children and I was hoping that this would be it.