Jabberwock

Actually, I believe Lewis Carrol's poem, on which this legend is based upon actually said 'Beware the Jabberwocky', which is its full name, here shortened to differentiate it from Terry Gilliam's rather more Python-esque version from 1977.

This, more straightforward TV movie was on The Sy-Fy Channel who it was made for. The other reviewer (so far) did a good job at going into some detail about some aspects about it and I feel that the film doesn't warrant unnecessary repetition.

To say that the entire project is a lacklustre affair is an understatement. On the IMDb its budget was not listed but shoestring immediately comes to mind. Filmed in Bulgaria, usually either in a forest or a quarry, this supposed fairytale about saving a lovely damsel from the creature (it never attacked her, anyway) says remarkably little in quite a long time.

The dialogue is always stilted and often bad,"Guys!!?" in medieval times seems quite a wrong way to address your comrades in arms and is usually delivered with monosyllabic non conviction. People in fear of their lives tend to get a little emotional - it's called adrenaline and here there's none.

Common sense also fails when, for instance, the two brothers who are main characters decide to fight to the death by swords and knives as they cannot decide which of them will finally slay the Jabberwock. Out of an entire village, they're seemably only two of about four that are physically capable to possibly stand up to the monster. Hmmmm.

The Jabberwock lives in a cave. Which is a CGI-d hole at the top of a quarry, which the men climb the face of without ropes. Hmm again. And when nasty old Jabberwock swoops and carries off his prey, we have no idea what he does with them. We presume it eats them, but you'd never know.

Most of the actors look quite bored. The only one that is worth keeping an eye on is the 'damsel', previously mentioned. She, Annabel (a medieval sounding Kacey Barnfield!?) looks quite regal and beautiful and worth saving from most things, I'd say.

The CGI creature itself could be worse. But not in 2011. 1990, maybe.

The final slaying of the beast has a climax that's about as tepid as is possible.

However, one almost redeeming feature was the music which was always suitably rousing, melancholic and soulful. That alone cannot make up for a pretty lame film all round, but if you like your creature flicks, it's up there with the rest of them.

As much as I do dislike a vast majority of SyFy's movies, something about their badness makes them compulsively watchable. I found Jabberwock not their worst or even one of their worst, but it was an awful movie in my opinion. The effects, as I have said before for previous movies that were also lame but not horrifically bad, have been worse but that is in no way excusing how artificial, crude and un-menacing the Jabberwock in particular actually is. The scenery is not actually too bad, but I never got a sense of wonder because the camera work was so jumpy. The music is also generic and there is nothing thrilling about the action, it all feels half-hearted with the climax very tepid. I've known SyFy fantasy-adventure-genre movies to have anachronistic and horrendously stilted dialogue and Jabberwock was no exception. The story was sluggish and held few if any surprises, and the characters are not only clichéd but you don't get to know or feel for any of them. The acting is dire with none of the actors showing any sense of genuine dread or even concern for their situation. I'd actually go as far to say that they didn't look as though they wanted to be there. Overall, I've seen worse, but this was very poorly done and amateurish on the whole. 2/10 Bethany Cox

Tim-764-291856: The monk, Lewis Carroll's poem "Jabberwocky" does not say the word "Jabberwocky" anywhere in the poem. The young man is warned by his elder to: " "Beware the Jabberwock, my son! The jaws that bite, the claws that catch! Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun The frumious Bandersnatch!"

Carroll was only making a silly, meaningless poem, most likely to amuse his young friend,( whom "Alice Through the Looking Glass" was based upon) thus, the title "Jabberwocky" which has no meaning.

Based solely on your review Tim, I chased this movie down and watched it. Now I wish I could unsee what I saw. I always loved Jabberwocky, it being one of my favorite poems of all time. It is now somewhat ruined by this very lame attempt to create a Jabberwock and slay it on film.

As if it is not enough to have unclear storyline, the director have to add it with bad acting as well and of course very bad CGI as well.

The dragon like creature that you will encountered on this one is exactly like what you have seen on the cover. Imagine an animal who has 2 way mouth opening, up-down and sideway movement of the jaw ??? Does it make sense ? I know this is fantasy movie, but even when you fantasize at least be a little bit realistic about it.

The acting is very bad, some of the characters do not even look that they are in a dire situation, even when this ugly dragon is attacking their village. A lot of the action on do not make sense. If you scare of something, the last that you will do is to dash across the frightening entity from your hiding place. Right ? Wrong...., this movie will tell you otherwise. If you scare of dragon, then you should parade in front of it.... to see if you can outran a dragon. And of course, when you have an airborne enemy, the first thing you do is to walk in open space instead of seeking the protection of trees.

Watching this movie makes you realize that movie world is a place where bad is not bad enough, but they have to make it into something really disgusting and then try to sell it...... My rating of 1 is too generous, but then that is the minimum that you can give....

This movie is one of the many produced by the SyFy Channel: in general they are regular to bad (mostly) productions, in all senses, and Jabberwock is not an exception.

The movie is about two travelers, in the Medieval Age (aparently in our world, since they mention the Romans), and who traveling by the mountains, find a lake with some egg like stones - that are in fact eggs of Jabberwock.

One of the eggs hatch, in a rainstorm (in this area there wasn't rain for decades), and a dragon like creature, the Jabberwock, emerges, killing one of the travelers and starts pursuing the other, who ends up in a village, where we meet the other protagonists.

The rest of the story is the hunt to kill this creature, among other small clichés hooks of tragedy, heroism and romance.

The movie has nice scenarios, but the general acting in the movie is terrible, with no exception. The Jabberwock itself is made with CG, and is relatively acceptable.

The action and fighting parts of the movie are the worst: the camera shifts from views from the men branding swords, and the CG monster, like bad movies of the 60-70's, among many other incongruence in story and actions that occurs.

By the way, "Jabberwocky" is a poem from Lewis Caroll, that appears in the sequences of the book Alice in Wonderland - and many things are related to it in the film) - I don't know and don't want to know why they done this (in general all writers from Scy-Fy Channel are the worst writers that I've seen).

The sound effects and background music you don't even realize if they were good or not, since they are generic, and in a absolute background in the movie.

At the end, this is a very bad choice of movie, even to watch if there's nothing interesting in the TV: I had the displeasure of watching it in 720p.

I'd advise to stay away from the Jabberwock - my score: 2,0 / 10,0.