Reel Fish Stories #12 By John Earle

Beans, beans the magical fruit!

Can you believe I’ve gotten away with writing a dozen of these things and only a few death threats and house toilet paperings! Seriously I do get egged a lot!

We recently brought my son to Jack the Giant Slayer in 3D. I was really excited to see it as well) Nicholas Hoult was a great Jack. Like the fairy tale versions, he runs off to sell his horse and cart (for his uncle), loses said horse and cart, gets beans…yadda, yadda, yadda… So that we know. The movie gives a twist, adds in a boy meets girl, defends pretty girl, girl ends up being the princess, who ends up in Jack’s house…you get the rest of the story.

All-star cast. Stanley Tucci is superb in his role as Roderick, the would-be next king and current advisor to the king. Ewan McGregor plays the head of the Princess’ protectors, Elmont, and really ties things together nicely. He even delivers some nice one-liners (great one at the end of the movie) and looks dashingly handsome as he survives near death experiences throughout the complete film. One of my all-time favorite English actors Bill Nighy voices the character of General Fallon the head of the giants, and delivers a very solid performance.

The movie was very well done in my opinion. The CG was outstanding, and the arms in the big battle scene at the climax were spectacularly created. They even tie the ending to current times, which I thought was very creative and leave with the sense that the giants are still up there waiting to pounce the next time someone plants a magic bean and down the vine we go.

So what was my problem with it? Well, out of all the giant’s treasures (golden harp, gold coins, golden cups, etc.) Jack only grabs a Faberge knock-off. If I was a poor peasant tenant farmer I would have grabbed at least 5 or 100 gold pieces.

The Princess (Eleanor Tomlinson) I think for me was one of the weakest points. I’m sorry. She’s a lovely young woman (20 years old) however I just didn’t buy her “I need to be free and see the world” routine, as it’s her rebelliousness that gets her into the pickle she’s in.

Some people I’ve talked to said the movie was predictable. Of course it is! The story is hundreds of years old! The greatness of the film is how they took that very old story and made it new!

I would recommend you catching Jack on the big screen. The AVX 3D was crappy as usual, so if you can see it in 2D you’ll enjoy it a whole lot more! When’s G.I. Joe out again?

Keep it reel my movie geeks!