'Jack the Giant Slayer' is more ho-hum than fee-fi-fo-fum
Not awful, not wonderful, 鈥淛ack the Giant Slayer鈥� is a midrange fairy tale epic that鈥檚 a lot more ho-hum than fee-fi-fo-fum. Director Bryan Singer offers little of the distinctiveness that occasionally still peeps through his productions. (He鈥檚 migrated from 鈥淭he Usual Suspects鈥� to the 鈥�X-Men鈥� franchise). Dewy Nicholas Hoult plays an orphaned farmhand who ends up rescuing an equally dewy princess (Eleanor Tomlinson), as well as much of her father鈥檚 kingdom, from a sky-high race of giants who are badly in need of dental care.
The 3-D effects are perfunctory, and so are most of the performances, at least those given by humans (Stanley Tucci and Ewan McGregor among them). The giants come across better. It鈥檚 nice to know that Method acting has taken root in the clouds. Grade: C+ (Rated PG-13 for intense scenes of fantasy action violence, some frightening images and brief language.)
