I had read the Ebert review of Jack the Giant Slayer and thought that
youngest son and I could have a movie night out. I had also seen the cut outs
at the theatre advertising this, but never put much thought into it.
I did like the idea of Ewan Macgregor being in this film. We headed
out and (not on purpose) ended seeing this in the assigned seating
fancy 3D shaking seat theatre. Cost for two – $32!! Egad! Mine was
$17.99 and his $13.99 for a child. We put on our cheesey ill-fitting
glasses and watched.
This was fun. We had a good time. Son of course being the typical
boy laughed at the farting and nose-picking of the Giants. I thought
that a rather mundane and pointless fairy tale was brought to the
screen with a story that made a little more sense. Jack here is
portrayed by the same little kid (no longer little) from the Hugh
Grant movie About a Boy. Hell we likely reviewed that movie when he
was a 10 yo! Damn I am old! Anyway, in some way I couldn’t get
that boyish face out of my head, and didn’t think of him as the
dashing guy who could whisk away the heart of a princess. But never
mind. I also could not get over the voice for the two-headed Giant
of Bill Nighy who was, of course, the octopus faced villain in Pirates
of the Caribbean. He is effective, it just sounds like the same
voice and was a distraction.
Here you know the story. Jack looking to sell the family’s only
possession (the horse and cart) ends up with “magic beans” and then
there is a beanstalk to the sky to deal with a Giant. In this case,
MANY Giants. And they are pissed. There are a series of adventures
here and they are well done, and look good. Do we need the 3D here?
No. Does it add anything? Not really. But do you care about the
characters? Yes for sure. And you are intrigued by how the whole
thing will resolve itself when you have these Giants that clearly have
very few weaknesses. A prickly problem and satisfyingly resolved. I
won’t tell you how it all ends…..but the last two words are “…ever
after…”
Worthy of a viewing and good on the big screen. These shaky seats
incidentally are not worth it. So you throw even BIGGER subwoofers
in the theatre to have my seat actually shake…but it really adds
little. More gimmicks to draw in people, but they are only as good as the story allows.
Mondays With Robbie 