Jack the Giant Slayer

Sometimes an animated adventure has all the bells and whistles you could possibly want, looks real good, but it somehow lacks a soul. I was underwhelmed.

(A FEW MONTHS LATER) I had to give this film another shot, as my initial review was unfair. That’s because I was stoned out of my mind on oxycodone, lying in a hospital bed recovering from knee surgery when I saw the movie. It really didn’t get a fair chance. So I watched it again, and was surprised by several things. One, I remembered almost nothing I was seeing this time, and it hasn’t been that long ago. Two, some of the scenes I did recall just weren’t there. I went so far as to search for similar titles, thinking I’d seen something else, but no, this was the film. And three, it was a lot better than I gave it credit for the first time around. The SFX are really good. The giants are all individuals both in their looks and in their personalities. That includes the two-headed giant, whose smaller head is retarded and can only speak in a snarl. The giants are all appropriately disgusting. And you want horror? How about the scene where the giant cook, in the process of rolling Ewan McGregor and two pigs into pastry dough, pauses to pick his nose and then eat the stringy booger. Eeeew! That’s horrible!