Over-all Rating: 3 out of 5.
General Story - 4
I wasn't too sure how I would like this movie. I've never really been a fan of the Jack and the Bean Stalk story as a child and with the boom of Fairy Tale movies coming out, I was a little unsure. Of course the general flashiness of the preview piqued my interest, but it was mainly Ewan McGregor. I do love him.
As we all know, the most common rendition of Jack and the Bean Stalk is the story of a boy who sells the family cow for three magical beans instead of food for his sick sister. In anger, his mother throws them out the window and a bean stalk grows. From here, the story differs from what Jack finds up the bean stalk and if he kills giants or not.
This movie begins a split view of the tale between Jack and the Princess Isabelle. Each are told the story as a child, thus setting up the mood, if you will, for the progression of the story. Our hero, Jack, grows up to still be a farm-hand living with his uncle, who lets his mind wander. The princess grows to be a rebellious woman, who wants to choose her own fate instead of being kept within the walls of the palace.
Of course, the two start their story together when the princess runs from the palace (as seen in the previews) and is whisked away up the stalk.
As with all movies today, there is a love story between Jack and Isabella that grows throughout the movie, leading the audience to know how the story ends.
As much as I would love to go into detail of the entire plot line, it would ruin it for those of you out there that may want to see the movie. Needless to say, I did enjoy the twist in the plot that is completely different from our childhood tale. It did grasp and bring me into the story, where I felt for the plight of the characters. Character development was apparent, and quickly progressed. The princess realizes that she can't run from everything and Jack becomes the man he wanted to always be.
VFX - 3.5
I am not a VFX artist. I do not know all that goes into generating a 3D character or elaborate backgrounds or even matte paintings. However, I hang out with enough people who do know all those things to get a gist of it and form my own opinions.
The giants were more cartoonie than I expected. I understand, or believe I understand, why it was done this way, however it bugged me a bit. The details on the giants were done amazingly, though. The close-up of the giant's eye when the crew first reaches the giants' land was extremely detailed. There were individual lines of color in the irises with pupil dilation.
During the fight scene, towards the end of the movie, where the giants are throwing flaming trees at the castle was one of the more spectacular scenes. The effects used on the trees, and the composite trees themselves, were convincing enough that at moments I wondered if the director really did decide to use trees on fire and launch them at the cast and crew.
Score - 4
As with any movie, a score is always pivotal to bring the audience into the story, and accompany the scenes of the movie. I enjoyed the score and thought it went very well with each and every scene. The compositions did not over-power the scene or undermine the message that it was helping to pass along to the audience.
Though, I do admit, I miss having soundtracks with songs in them. However, if there was anything as....cheesy as that in this movie, it would have seriously lowered my opinion of it.
As this is my first review...I know I'm missing something. However, these three categories are the ones that stuck out in my mind the most. I'm sure these will get better with more movies (or at least I think they will).
Next review: Oz the Great and Powerful (which I may praise purely because it was filmed in Michigan and I personally know some people in the movie)
