The eighteen-year-old Jack lives with his uncle in a dilapidated house with a roof full of holes. As an extreme gesture to earn some money and at least prevent rain from entering the house, the boy decides to go to the village and sell his beloved horse. But luck is not on his side, and he finds a buyer only in a friar who, however, does not have the money to pay him and, as a guarantee, gives him a bag with some magical beans, which he assures will be turned into coins when he goes to return them to his monastery, but he warns him not to get them wet for any reason. Jack accepts the offer, but when he shows the reward to his uncle, the latter flies into a rage and throws away the beans. It starts raining, and one of those legumes that ended up under the house's floor absorbs water and gives life to an enormous plant that drags Jack's house up into the clouds. The problem is that at that moment, the princess Isabelle, disguised, had taken refuge in Jack's house after fleeing the castle following a quarrel with her father, the King. Jack falls from the bean plant, but Isabelle remains in the house and gets lost in the sky. Realizing what has happened, the King sets up a team to go and retrieve the princess, and Jack also joins the group. But upon reaching the clouds, the adventurers realize that the many legends circulating about the past of their land are true and that a race of monstrous, man-eating giants has been confined in the sky.
The fairy-tale craze continues to rage in Hollywood. "The Mighty Oz" by Sam Raimi is still reaping box office success worldwide, and now a new fantasy-adventure inspired by a famous fairy tale debuts in cinemas. This time, the source of inspiration is the ancient British fairy tale "Jack and the Beanstalk," of which many variants are known but not the author, and which has often been adapted into famous cartoons, including Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny, and, more recently, within "Puss in Boots" by Dreamworks. But it must be said that in this latest big-screen version, signed by none other than Bryan Singer, only the opening of "Jack and the Beanstalk" remains, because for the rest, "Jack the Giant Slayer" tells a brand-new story that blends a lot of adventure, a touch of horror, and the inevitable assault on the castle, which is now a characteristic of every self-respecting fantasy.
With the insertion of a kingdom, a princess to save, a wicked suitor to the throne, and not a family of giants but an entire population, "Jack the Giant Slayer" proudly stands out for having diverged from the prototype. Even the "fundamental" golden eggs and enchanted harp find no place here, except for a cameo as a quote, and the focus is on entirely different elements that tend to minimize the fairy-tale aspect of the story to build an adventure film that adheres to the canons of post-"Lord of the Rings" fantasy.
The result is pleasant, a fast-paced and entertaining film that benefits from good special effects (consider that a good 60% of the film is in computer graphics!) and has the merit of re-adapting a classic for young people to the tastes of new generations, subverting it but not betraying its underlying essence. And what would be the essence of "Jack and the Beanstalk" and hence of "Jack the Giant Slayer"? Simply that courage pays off. The reckless and overly naive Jack is immediately presented as fearless, whether it's having a scary story told to him for the umpteenth time or saving a maiden from the bad intentions of a trio of brutes (even taking a punch to the face). Perhaps it is precisely his innate recklessness that drives him to fight for unknown values that gets him into trouble, but the fact remains that being a hero is a good investment.
The threat of this film, as the title itself states, are the Giants, a race of monstrous beings of gigantic dimensions who were driven back to the clouds by Erik the Great (or Erik the Terrible, depending on the point of view), liberator from these mythical figures. The Giants live like primitive men, dressed in skins and fond of meat, especially human, which they recognize from great distances thanks to the unmatched smell ("Ucci, ucci, I smell the scent of little Christians," a cult line unfortunately absent from this cinematic version). Among them stands out Fallon, a ruthless leader with two heads, who in the original version is voiced by Bill Nighy.
In the cast, Nicholas Hoult stands out in the role of the protagonist, a young star who has already made millions of young girls fall in love with him with his portrayal of the romantic zombie in "Warm Bodies," although we like to remember him as the chubby and clumsy boy who killed ducks with stale bread in "About a Boy." Playing the role of Princess Isabelle is the enchanting Eleanor Tomlinson, recently seen in "Siberian Education" by Salvatores, and the always excellent Ewan McGregor, who plays the lieutenant of the royal guards Elmont. The cast is completed by Ian McShane (the King) and the underutilized Stanley Tucci, who plays Roderick, the viscous, ambitious traitor.
Directing it all is the unexpected Bryan Singer, one of the most talented filmmakers to emerge from the 1990s with small cult films like "The Usual Suspects" and "The Usual Suspects," then converted to blockbuster comic books like the first two "X-Men" and "Superman Returns."
There are no shortage of scenes of a certain horror that verge on horror, emphasizing how fairy tales are in reality a fertile tabernacle of nightmares, as recent films like "Snow White and the Huntsman" and "Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters" have shown us.
The film is presented in 3D, although in reality, this technology is never used "usefully," so much so that except for the CGI prologue, one quickly forgets that one is watching a three-dimensional film.
In short, "Jack the Giant Slayer" is a film that is enjoyable to watch, a couple of hours that pass quickly and painlessly without leaving much behind. The classic film that will not pass into memory and that, if it entertains at the moment, is easily forgotten once you leave the theater.
Deduct half a pumpkin.
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