Jack the Giant Slayer (B)

It has gaping plot holes, no depth, dozens of cliches, a far-too-short runtime, and numerous other flaws, but I’d be lying if I said this family-oriented action adventure wasn’t entertaining.
Jack the Giant-Slayer is a retelling of the classic story--A young peasant in medieval Europe travels up a beanstalk and battles giants. In this story, Jack is accompanied by a knight named Sir Elmont and is on a quest to rescue a princess.

Jack is already receiving comparisons to last summer’s blockbuster “fairy tale” Snow White & the Huntsman, but despite what trailers may have you believe, Jack is intended for family audiences. Director Bryan Singer certainly has a few moments here and there where he interrupts his tone to have a slightly violent scene (something that the X-Men director seems to struggle with when doing more kid-friendly pictures), but if the harsh PG-13 rating is deserved--and, to be honest, it isn’t--it would take less than 75 seconds of cuts to edit it down to PG. This adventure is significantly tamer than similar PG-fair like Eragon, Chronicles of Narnia, and Tron: Legacy; it is possible that the studio may have wanted a PG-13 rating just to attract older audiences. If that is the case, it didn’t work.

In an attempt to please kids, there are some things that will turn off adults. Flatulence humor and booger jokes, for starters. Also, idiotic comic relief characters, most annoying of which is a human bad guy minion played by Ewen Brenner. The main antagonist--the giant General Fallon--has a second head which serves as a less irritating but still weird sidekick. I suppose Singer agreed to a two-headed villain in order to distinguish the character, and some may find it funny or at least a little interesting. My guess is that the majority of people, like myself, will find it too weird. The second head isn’t exactly another character--it only grunts and repeats garbled versions of the main head’s sentences. Still, it’s dopey grin looks almost friendly and clashes horribly with the gruff giant head on the right, and you kind of feel bad for what may be an innocent (if dim-witted) extra character unfairly chained to his jerk-tastic twin brother.

If you’re wondering, none of the other giants have extra heads (or arms or legs, for that matter). In fact, for the most part they look pretty cool. They are shot with motion capture, like was used for Gollum and Caesar of Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Since there are a lot of them, they don’t look quite as realistic as those two characters, but they still showcase a neat blend of human and beast-like qualities: They are enough like people to seem like formidable foes, but not enough like us for anyone to care when they fall in battle. I do wonder where the female giants are, though. Perhaps the species reproduces aesexually, or the genders just look the same as each other. My best guess, though, is that the she-giants from Jack left the city in the clouds and reside on the same planet as all the girl dwarves from Lord of the Rings.

The biggest flaw of the film is undoubtedly the run time. It is 110 minutes, which is significantly shorter than most action adventure films. With the amount it costs for a family to go to a theatre, it isn’t unreasonable to expect the two plus hours that is standard for this genre. You have been warned.
The other big issue is plot holes. Obviously logic isn’t what one is looking for in this type of movie, but it is always frustrating when you see that the viewer has put more thought into the story than the producers. With four credited writers it is clear this is a story that has undergone several drafts and has lost a bit of coherency in the process.

Still, none of these flaws stop this very playful tale from being entertaining. The action is stellar, the visuals are decent, and the whole thing looks gorgeous. The imagery is constantly inventive, and both the giant and human world looks like the kind of place you would love to visit. Possibly best of all, though, is the acting. Nicholas Hoult, the cute kid from About a Boy, has matured into a charming, personable leading man. He seems heroic and cool while also being a little dorky and completely relateable. His dynamic with Eleanor Tomlinson is genuine and enjoyable, even if her character of Princess Isabbelle is both an annoyingly spunky and precocious (read: selfish) teen and a whiny, utterly useless damsel in distress. In fact, Tomlinson should win award just for successfully thwarting the writers attempts to make the year’s most dislikeable character.

The supporting cast is full of A-list actors such as Stanley Tucci as a villainous human noble and Bill Nighy as General Fallon (it isn’t just his voice; he did all the acting too in a motion capture suit). Character actor Eddie Marson plays a doomed redshirt audiences actually care about (kudos to Singer for not editing him out); and Ian McShane is a scene stealer as the King. Best of all, though, is Ewan McGregor as Sir Elmont, who ends up partnered with the peasant Jack. Generally this role would be comic relief (like Prince Charming in Shrek 2) but the screenplay lets McGreggor form an utterly charming, funny, cool, and actually quite smart warrior: I would love to see a spin-off just about that character.
There are a lot of flaws with this movie, but it is still great fun, and the kind you can bring the whole family to.