Jack the Giant Slayer

Directed by Bryan Singer

(PG-13)

**

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

The latest fairy tale to be given a big-budget makeover “certainly looks good,” said Steven Rea in The Philadelphia Inquirer. When its hero—a teenage peasant farmer—accidentally lets bloom a magic beanstalk that reaches into a world of nasty giants, “squads of visual-effects artists are at the ready.” Soon the screen is filled with “spittle and drool the size of tsunamis, nostril hairs like garden hoses,” and plenty of eye-grabbing warfare. But while Nicholas Hoult and Eleanor Tomlinson are charming as Jack and the princess he goes to battle for, said Michael Phillips in the Chicago Tribune, the movie is too grave-spirited and noisy. Even Ewan McGregor and Stanley Tucci, in supporting roles, can’t lighten the mood for long. Which raises the question: “Who is this movie made for?” said Tom Long in The Detroit News. “It’s way too scary for small kids. Teens and above will think it ludicrous. Females will find the love story watered-down at best.” Apparently, New Line is betting that there are a lot of 9- and 10-year-olds out there. That may be the only audience this $200 million behemoth will satisfy.