The confident sense of scope in the production design and visual effects were admirable enough to keep me interested in the action long after the story had allowed for caring. The film is sufficiently directed by the always-reliable Bryan Singer.

Fortunately for the viewer, everyone else working on the project is giving it their all.

Every beat is exactly as one would imagine it, the visual cues are overtly on-the-nose, and any sense of adventure is, for the most part, sucked away by the lack of originality at play. This is a very minor dig on what is a rather subtle part of the movie, but for some reason, besides how derived the mythology comes off as, the thin line established between Christianity and dark magic was a little frightening.Īs for moviemaking quality, the story is abysmally generic. Overall, monks, the only representative of spirituality/religion in the movie, are depicted as suspicious and perhaps, a little shallow. In the opening montage, retelling an ancient “myth,” monks are depicted as dabbling into dark magic in order to conquer the giants. Outside of strict content, there is some potentially troubling mythology at play here, which could prove frustrating.

Besides the gratuitous cartoon violence and the use of “p- off” and “b-tard,” sexual and drug content is nearly nonexistent. This desensitized portrayal of “clean” violence, as if there was such a thing, could prove just as dangerous to the young viewer. Admittedly, most of these actions are only implied, sometimes seeing only a bloodless aftermath. People are eaten, mutilated, thrown around, stabbed, and beaten up consistently throughout. I simply find this movie too grotesque to be seen by children. Yet, in an attempt to attain that wide Lord of the Rings-ish fan base, the film also markets itself as a movie for young and old. Overall, this movie is an extremely mild (at least by today’s standards) PG-13. The duration of the film plays out as a fast-paced race to save the princess, stop the giants, save the city, etc., etc. Along the way, Jack makes friends with the princess of the city, Isabelle, and some of the King’s top men. The story follows the young commoner Jack, who happens upon those magical beans that have the ability to create a giant beanstalk connecting Earth to the realm of the giants. “Fee-fi-fo-fum.” This iconic line from the classic tale of Jack and the Giant Beanstalk opens this strange piece of derivative fantasy. David Frost … Kings Minister and Upper Class Gentleman

Jack the giant killer political cartoon