It takes certain elements to make a successful fairy tale. You need a damsel in some degree of distress, a seemingly insurmountable foe or obstacle, and a gallant hero. It helps if said hero rose up from nothingness, but it's okay if he's a well-bred prince as well. The recent release,
Jack the Giant Slayer has a lot of these elements and more, along with copious visual effects that are used to try to make you believe in a version of our world upon which giants walked.
Story
There is nothing really groundbreaking or game changing about the writing in
Jack the Giant Slayer. That's not to say it's bad, but it definitely doesn't do anything to innovate the genre of mega budget fantasy movies (if that isn't a genre, it is now). The movie loosely follows the familiar story of a boy named Jack who is tasked with selling a horse for the money he and his family need to survive. In a moment of naiveté, he accepts a handful of beans as payment for his beloved steed. That may seem like the dumbest idea in the world, but what sort of kind-hearted lad wouldn't trust a monk?
Visuals
Let's face it, the reason we go to see movies like this is because it's a two hour eye candy fest. Unfortunately,
Jack the Giant Slayer offers more of an “eye candy party with three teenagers hanging out in a basement” rather than a full-blown festival. The giants in the movie has their scale portrayed nicely, and they seemed to be actually part of their environments rather than pasted on top of it. Even their facial movement was well-done, but their shiny and strangely textured cartoony skin detracted from any of their animated goodness. It seems especially rough upon reflection, now that there
is a movie that spent far less money and has much more believable visuals.
Overall,
Jack the Giant Slayer is a decent movie. It has an easy to follow story, despite being fairly predictable; and despite the textures on the giants looking only a smidgen better than those used in the 90s hit cartoon
ReBoot, the visuals are pretty good. There are quite a few months left until the summer mega hits come to our local theaters, and if you catch a matinee then seeing this movie could be considered money well-spent, especially if you have a couple of kids with you or your other plans for the day got rained out.
