Jack le chasseur de géants

As I left the theater after watching this movie I tried to put my finger on the reason why I felt so underwhelmed by what I had just watched. Perhaps it was the overly simplistic video game plot (save the princess), the lack of a well defined villain, or the lackluster development of any of the characters. In the end I couldn't precisely point to any single issue that derailed my ability to really enjoy this viewing. What this movie really lacked was the ability to engage the audience on any meaningful level whether it be emotional, mental or otherwise. In short, it's soulless. I don't know exactly what gives a movie its soul but I know when it's missing and this movie, unfortunately, was quite lacking.

This film tells the story of a farm boy who battles giants from the sky valiantly, alongside brave soldiers and the princess of the kingdom.

I put off watching "Jack the Giant Slayer" because the giants are really ugly! During the film, I kept having sweaty palms because of the scenes involving heights. Those scenes were really scary. I liked the lead character Jack, because he is approachable boy next door. It is a refreshing tale to see him rising through the ranks and valiantly serve his country. The interweaving story telling scenes in the beginning annoyed me a little, because I thought it was a bit too forced. Overall, I like "Jack the Giant Slayer", because of the poignant ending.

In this retelling of Jack and the Beanstalk, the title character and a runaway princess are thrust into the sky when vines sprouting from the magic beans vault Jack's cabin into the sky. A race of giants exiled there by the power of a magic crown plots to return below and recapture the human kingdom. The King sends a rescue party of his knights and the princess's evil fiancé to rescue the princess, and the evil prince uses the magical crown in an attempt to seize the power of the giants to take over the kingdom.

It was refreshing to find a non ironic, non meta straightforward telling of this story, with some elements of charm and humor. The 3D is fairly unspectacular, although there are great sequences, such as the collapse of the vine which causes catastrophic damage below. The body count, for a family film, is quite high, surpassing some of the later Harry Potter movies. It is also notable that there are virtually no females in either the giants' or human's realm. The cast is fine, and Nicholas Hoult makes a fine Jack, and brings more life and personality to the role than he did earlier this year with "Warm Bodies."

Most elements of the film work quite well and it has the potential to work alongside dark family fare like "The Never Ending Story" or "The Dark Crystal."

I wasn't blown away by this flick, but I did enjoy it. And I also enjoyed...

1. No potty humor 2. No overt sexuality 3. No inappropriate language 4. No seemingly random 3D FX 5. No politically correct messages or characters 6. No strutting egotism

In short, it's not a Follywood movie and you can actually let your kids watch it without worrying too much. There is some violence, but...

The script is well written, the acting is better than good, and it moves along at a pretty lively pace. Not a classic, but good. It might have been better a little shorter, but that can be said of most movies these days.

I was surprised to hear so many complaints.

Jack the Giant Slayer is a hit and miss for the majority of this film it provides all the classic clichés and parts that we would see in a well known children's fairytale and it provides a fair bit of the usual good special effects and action sequences but outside that there isn't that much good about it