Jack The Giant Slayer (2013)

Well what can I say? It's one of those movies based on myths, legends and fairy tales. It's based on two sources, Jack & The Beanstalk and Jack The Giant Killer. I am very much familiar with the former but not with the latter, but have read about legends of giants from English folklore. This movie brings those sources to life.

Well, one of the best aspects of the movie has to be the score; catchy and memorable in a typical English tone. What's not to love about it? The plot has to be clearly comprehensive, very much explains the events from Jack & The Beanstalk in a broader sense regarding, for example, why Jack traded his horse for beans, how the magic beans came to existence, and why the monks grew the stalk. I also appreciate the movie for staying faithful to the story regarding Jack being rebuked by his uncle for failing his task, sweeping the beans unto the floor so the rain later soaks them and initiates their growth. I also give credit to this movie for the enormous amount of CGI used to create the beanstalks and the giants, but not for the animated prologue where the characters look wooden rather than human-like. I also like to give credit to this movie for a cast of British actors playing British characters instead of the usual ploy of American actors playing British characters.

However, I would like to point out some faults in this movie.

·         The scaling: in some areas I found some objects to be out of scale with the giants, e.g. the bee and the bean each in one scene;

·         Mostly male roles in the movie: the human characters are mostly male with only two females; the giants all male with no female in sight;

·         The frequent weather pattern of rain, as if to define British climate;

·         The unhygienic state of the giants, including one scene of a rather nasty habit and one of flatulence.

·         Lack of character development, notably from the princess: despite pleading with her father to be treated as capable, Princess Isabelle still shows characteristics of a 'fragile helpless creature'. She can handle herself in any ordinary situation, but when the legends come to life she falls back into the stereotypical category of a damsel in distress. 

·         The beanstalks growing inconsistently with the points where the beans were planted.

One note I would like to make is how at the end of the movie, the story is retold for generations and evolves over time, which I do find convincing as it dispels any implication that this movie is a blatant deviation from the famous story.

I would recommend this movie to families who are eager to what fairy tales and folklore come to life.