Jack the Giant Slayer: good example of mediocre

It was a memorable show. Not that the movie was great, but it was the opening of the first cinema in 20 years (or so they claim) in my own hometown. So, I told myself, on that opening day, I shall, I must catch a show. And so as I went, there was not much choices though. After what they did to the Astro CNY movie last year, I was really skeptical about Jack Lim's movie. So, on the other end, what wrong can they do to a child fairy's tale?



Seems like Hollywood is going to revamp all these children stories. There were Hansel & Gretel and the coming soon Oz. Last year was 2 Snow White stories, which both of them was a waste. And that is exactly the reason why I have low expectation when I stepped into the cinema. But watching a movie in the afternoon would really test your patience.



Stories is simple. Instead of Jack who foolishly swapping his horse and cart for magic bean and climbing up the beanstalk and stealing gold and singing harp from the giant.....We have here Jack who accidentally got hold of the magic bean which was banned since long time ago. Seems that long long time ago someone created the bean but when they climb to the Giant's land, the Giants retaliate and invaded the human's kingdom. Jack meet princess (there has to be a damsel in distress), went up the beanstalk to rescue her. Throw in a villain who got hold of a magic crown which can be used to control the giants. Of course the villain want to use the giants to control the kingdoms and rules the lands. Jack save the day, princess fell in love, and throw in a final epic battle where the giants came down to earth to invade the land. The end. And they live happily ever after.



Duh. The story is sooooo predictable that by watching the trailer and the first 5 minutes into the movie (which they explain the magic bean and the magic crown), one can see the end already. Chemistry between Nicholas Hoult as Jack and Eleanor Tomlinson as Princess Isabelle is acceptable but still does not surprise anyone. The only character that stood out is Ewan McGregor as Elmont, the royal guard. The whole movie appeared to be in the middle of everything, wanted to achieve everything but in the end none. The character was not develop fully. The humour was spread evenly but too few moments that made me laugh and none that I can recall when I stepped out. The action is utterly none until the epic battle in the end. The CGI is great and breath-taking but at this age, great CGI is in all films. The whole show, in the end, ended up as a children show, but there are lots of scenes which are not suitable at all for them. Imagine Giant eating human. Still could not beat Stephen Chow's roast human scene though.



Do not be mistaken, this is still a fair movie. But a fair mediocre movie is not what I want to watch today. Definitely something I would forget by next week.

Ratings: 2 poink!
comments: probably the low ratings due to the fact I watch this at 3pm, my usual hibernation time.