Jack the Giant Slayer (2013)
5/10
"The ancient war between humans and a race of giants is reignited when Jack, a young farmhand fighting for a kingdom and the love of a princess, opens a gateway between the two worlds."
Director Brian Singer brings you Jack in the Beanstalk. The opening begins with two separate children, and their respective parent, telling the old story of the menacing giants and the savior king. It hints of interesting mystical themes with monks seeking God and the power of heir-ship, but these themes are not explored. This opening narration, and accompanying visuals and sound, is by far the best part of the film. It's very well done. The rest of the film will make you wish they told the new story the same way... along with 10 other short stories to fill the hour and 50 minutes.
After the opening narration, it seemed like three paragraphs of story are slowly dipped on the screen, like Chinese water torture.
The giants are CG, which may have made a few scenes easier to produce, but turned out to be a horrible decision. The facial rendering of giants was both lifeless and numbing.
The story was extremely cliche for 2016. I don't know if this film was for children, adults or both, but seems to miss all those marks.