Ask not whence the thunder comes.
Ask not where the herds have gone,
Or why the birds have ceased their song.
When coming home, don't take too long,
For monsters roam in Albion."
This was my daughter's first cinema trip, at the age of three weeks, in the Wakefield Cineworld.
We open with a father and son and a mother and daughter, cross-cutting between poor Jack and princess Isabelle being told the story of the giants who once terrorised the kingdom after dark magic created the seeds which joined Earth to the giant kingdom of Gantua, and before darker magic forged a magical crown which allowed the king to command the giants and send them back.
Flash forward and now-orphaned Jack is sent to sell his uncle's horse and cart, and a moment of chivalry and a stranger's plea catapult him into the political machinations of the capital. Chancellor Roderick Soclearly-Evil plots to bring back the giants and use the crown to control them as his weapons and become king of the world, but the seeds fall into Jack's hands and later trigger the release of a beanstalk bridge, bringing the two worlds together and the gigantomachy back to Albion. Isabelle, seeking a life of adventure rather than marriage to a smug chancellor, runs away and is caught up in it all, with Jack and Sir Elmont, the Captain of the King's Guardians, leading the rescue mission.
Ian McShane and Ewan McGregor are having a blast as the King and Elmont, and in general the cast look to be having fun, which is kind of important. It is a bit of a sausagefest - apparently the director balked at having women killed on screen, so just kept them off screen - and Isabelle is plucky, but not actually all that useful, with Jack even wearing the crown at the end to send the giants home. Overall, it was a lot of fun, however, and I especially liked the montage of the crown being concealed in the crown of St Edward, while a voice montage showed the transformation of the 'history' of the film into the modern fairy tale, ending with a kid who looked disturbingly like Stanley Tucci plotting to steal the Crown Jewels and rule the world.
This was my daughter's first cinema trip, at the age of three weeks, in the Wakefield Cineworld.
We open with a father and son and a mother and daughter, cross-cutting between poor Jack and princess Isabelle being told the story of the giants who once terrorised the kingdom after dark magic created the seeds which joined Earth to the giant kingdom of Gantua, and before darker magic forged a magical crown which allowed the king to command the giants and send them back.
Flash forward and now-orphaned Jack is sent to sell his uncle's horse and cart, and a moment of chivalry and a stranger's plea catapult him into the political machinations of the capital. Chancellor Roderick Soclearly-Evil plots to bring back the giants and use the crown to control them as his weapons and become king of the world, but the seeds fall into Jack's hands and later trigger the release of a beanstalk bridge, bringing the two worlds together and the gigantomachy back to Albion. Isabelle, seeking a life of adventure rather than marriage to a smug chancellor, runs away and is caught up in it all, with Jack and Sir Elmont, the Captain of the King's Guardians, leading the rescue mission.
Ian McShane and Ewan McGregor are having a blast as the King and Elmont, and in general the cast look to be having fun, which is kind of important. It is a bit of a sausagefest - apparently the director balked at having women killed on screen, so just kept them off screen - and Isabelle is plucky, but not actually all that useful, with Jack even wearing the crown at the end to send the giants home. Overall, it was a lot of fun, however, and I especially liked the montage of the crown being concealed in the crown of St Edward, while a voice montage showed the transformation of the 'history' of the film into the modern fairy tale, ending with a kid who looked disturbingly like Stanley Tucci plotting to steal the Crown Jewels and rule the world.
No comments:
Post a Comment