Jack the Giant Slayer - 3D (2013)

When it's over, Fee Fye Foe Fumm, the giants, here they come. The giants get a bad wrap. They're unmannerly, uncivilized, and ill-tempered, and the kids will love their grossly bad habits, including their booger-eating and flatulent ways. But despite their unruly persona, they are the main attraction in this fractured fairy tale about a farm boy named Jack (Nicholas Hoult), who accidentally opens the doorway between two worlds. The special effects on the giants are wonderful  and believable in a mythical sort of way. I like how each giant has their own distinct personality, making them relatable on a human level despite their size and barbarity. There is a princess, a king, knights, and a love story that inevitably ends happily every after. There isn't much character development, but that doesn't seem to hurt the overall entertainment value. The story offers enough info about each character, including the giants, for the viewer to know who represents what in the context of the story, such as the comic relief, the baddie who gets what he deserves, the king's loyal subject, the defiant one, the trader, the ambitious one,  etc. It is standard fairy tale fare, where the story is completely linear and requires no deep pondering. There is plenty of action to propel the story forward, while amassing a large body count, including humans being eaten, but all of it is shown without any graphic detail or blood. I would consider this a family adventure film, but do not recommend it for very young viewers.

My rating: 3.5 out of 5