Jack the Giant Slayer

There are plenty of liberties taken with traditional renderings of the legendary British fairy tale in Jack the Giant Slayer, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

The big-budget adventure has some of the staples of the 19th century “Jack and the Beanstalk” story – from magic beans to “Fee Fi Fo Fum” – mixed with multiple giant monsters and modern technological advances such as 3D special effects.

Under the auspices of director Bryan Singer (Superman Returns), it all adds up to a rousing adventure story for youngsters that their parents might find amusing as well.

As the film opens, Jack (Nicholas Hoult) is a teenage orphan living on a rural farm who ventures to town to sell an old horse, but disappoints his uncle when he comes back with only magic beans from a monk. It turns out, of course, that those beans sprout a giant beanstalk to the sky, where a herd of giant flesh-eating monsters reside on the other end.

That’s bad news for Isabelle (Eleanor Tomlinson), a young princess who yearns for adventure but is accidentally thrust up the beanstalk after a friendly encounter with our hero. The distraught king (Ian McShane) dispatches a team of knights to rescue her, led by Elmont (Ewan McGregor), with Jack allowed to tag along.

There’s not much source material for the team of three screenwriters to draw from. So they are forced to fill in the blanks with various details, tailored mostly to contemporary demographics, of course. The result is mildly subversive but mostly lighthearted, using classic themes and storylines involving class structure, royal corruption and unrequited teen romance.

While the script is predictable fluff, the highlight is the visuals, including the seamless use of special effects and creatively conceived if obligatory battle-heavy action scenes. A few sequences make smart use of the 3D capability.

The humans tend to take a back seat in all of this, but Hoult (Warm Bodies) is an appealing hero and a genuine rising star in the midst of a breakthrough year. Relative newcomer Tomlinson gets lost amid the scenery, but it’s nice to see veterans such as McShane, Stanley Tucci and Eddie Marsan elevate their supporting roles.

Jack the Giant Slayer is a clever yet gentle twist on a familiar story, and one that multiple generations can share.

Rated PG, 114 minutes.