Jack the Giant Slayer is a reworking of Jack and the Beanstalk and a not a remake of the 1963 stop-motion film (Jack the Giant Killer).

The film mixes fairy tale, action and humour with a starry cast. There is a princess, a stoic and decent farm boy, a hiss-able villain and a upright and decent guardsman as well as giants who are all male for some reason.

Stanley Tucci delights as the villain and acts like he walked straight of the set off The Princess Bride. It is just a shame that the rest of the film did not take the slightly off the wall approach of that film.

Its a nice, lighthearted romp with good special effects but the film under-performed at the box office which is a shame as its much more enjoyable than the Transformer films or the Pirates of the Caribbean sequels.

A remake of the '60s cult classic JACK THE GIANT KILLER, with improved CGI effects and less of a fun feel. Saying that, I did get a kick out of watching JACK THE GIANT SLAYER, which is far from the worst big budget CGI spectacle. In fact, I quite enjoyed it, a lot more than the likes of CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY and ALICE IN WONDERLAND.

The lack of a decent storyline is the worst thing about this film. Everything about the writing is clichéd and derivative: the too-obvious villain characters, the steadfast (and dull) heroes, the damsel-in-distress storyline. Nicholas Hoult is one of those bland, youthful, modern-day leading man who brings not one ounce of charisma to the role, although the supporting cast are a little better, especially Ian McShane (who, to my delight, gets plenty of screen time). It seems by this stage that the overexposed Stanley Tucci is desperate to appear in any old thing.

Ewan McGregor is here too, stiff as a board and making STAR WARS jokes, which is embarrassing. Not as embarrassing as Ewen Bremner's dull-witted henchman, though. Eleanor Tomlinson's princess is pretty but also pretty vacuous, although that's more down to the writing than the actress. The film as a whole is dominated by CGI effects work, some good, some not so great. The important thing is that the CGI giants do look fine and are among the better CGI effects I've seen in modern cinema. One thing that amused me is that the storyline is tied up in little over an hour, so there's a whole tacked-on ending involving full-scale warfare which is actually more enjoyable than the simplistic quest storyline that preceded it.

Jack (Nicholas Hoult) is a farm boy who is tasked to sell the horse by his uncle. Instead, he trusts a monk to exchange for magic beans. The monk tried to smuggle the beans from the evil Roderick (Stanley Tucci). With the beans, Roderick hoped to get to the land of the giants. With the magical crown already in hand, he hoped to rule the giants and the world.

Stanley Tucci isn't necessarily the best choice for the villain, and Ewen Bremner is too over the top as the weasel henchman. Nicholas Hoult is a good actor for the lead. Eleanor Tomlinson is just as good as the plucky princess. Ewan McGregor doesn't quite fit as the king's best knight.

The giants are what this movie is about, and are quite grotesque man eaters. That's the whole appeal of this movie. It's a disturbing sight to behold. Not actually seeing them bite people's heads off is interestingly more disturbing. The story could have gotten to the giants a bit sooner. Facing the giants is the best part of the movie especially if they're going to eat you. The battle is compelling but I need more people eating.