Jack the Giant Slayer (2013)

All Critics (182) | Top Critics (35) | Fresh (95) | Rotten (87)

A mash-up of old-school heroism, pantomime villainy, starstruck lovers and post-'Shrek' archness, it's more exhausting than exhilarating.

March 19, 2013 Full Review

Nigel Floyd

Time Out

Top Critic

It's fast, rousing, and blessedly brief - under two hours instead of, say, nine in three bladder-straining installments.

March 4, 2013 Full Review

David Edelstein

Vulture

Top Critic

Not awful, not wonderful, Jack the Giant Slayer is a midrange fairy tale epic that's a lot more ho-hum than fee-fi-fo-fum.

March 1, 2013 Full Review

Peter Rainer

Christian Science Monitor

Top Critic

Jack the Giant Slayer is slight, but consistently amusing.

March 1, 2013 Full Review

Tom Charity

CNN.com

Top Critic

The movie feels so much like a video game that your fingers instinctively itch to do something, though a Jack video game isn't one we'd really want to play.

March 1, 2013 Full Review

Mary F. Pols

TIME Magazine

Top Critic

The script sets up the situation and characters nicely, and the actors are terrific.

March 1, 2013 Full Review

Stephen Whitty

Newark Star-Ledger

Top Critic

Apparently spent most of its 'giant' $195 million budget on lavish, impressive special effects and nary a tinker's nickel on the ho-hum script.

April 25, 2013 Full Review

Bruce Bennett

Spectrum (St. George, Utah)

The cast seem stilted, even a bit surprised, to find themselves in the fictitious land of Cloister, dressed in panto regalia with dreadful hair-dos, no doubt under orders to deliver their lines with a touch of deliberate theatricality.

April 23, 2013 Full Review

Simon Weaving

Screenwize

Thanks to the marvel of digital visual effects and the clear influence of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings, [director Bryan] Singer does a terrific job showing us just how realistic a battle set in a fantasy world can look.

April 12, 2013 Full Review

Jim Schembri

3AW

... a clever yet gentle twist on a familiar story, and one that multiple generations can share.

March 29, 2013 Full Review

Todd Jorgenson

Cinemalogue.com

Between the magic beans or a ticket to this film... maybe take the beans.

March 27, 2013 Full Review

Tom Glasson

Concrete Playground

The family audience deserves better than this.

March 24, 2013 Full Review

Philip French

Observer [UK]

Singer is more concerned with old-fashioned storytelling than chasing a target audience's fleeting fads.

March 23, 2013 Full Review

Andy Lea

Daily Star

You don't know Jack. And, I'm not so sure you want to get to know him, because he's a bit on the bland side.

March 23, 2013 Full Review

Paul Chambers

Movie Chambers

More half-hearted than a total dud, but flatulent, nose-picking CGI creations are beneath the man who gave us The Usual Suspects.

March 22, 2013 Full Review

Stephen Carty

Flix Capacitor

This is, at best, dull escapism but there are a few reasons to keep watching, including Stanley Tucci camping away as the hissable villain and knight Ewan McGregor being sausage-rolled up by a chef colossus.

March 22, 2013 Full Review

Alan Jones

Radio Times

We may sigh heavily at the thought of yet another fairy tale blockbuster, but the filmmakers and cast here demand a bit more attention. And sure enough, it's refreshingly smarter and funnier than we expect.

March 22, 2013 Full Review

Rich Cline

Contactmusic.com

It could almost be funny, how Jack keeps trying to fly off into could-be fascinating directions and then gets yanked back into a mushy mediocrity.

March 22, 2013 Full Review

MaryAnn Johanson

Flick Filosopher

McGregor's dashing Elmont never loses his posh sang-froid... and with Tucci gleefully hamming it up as the villain, it's the supporting cast who are full of beans, rather than the overshadowed young leads.

March 22, 2013 Full Review

Jason Best

Movie Talk

Singer does a respectable job of turning a fairytale into a muscular epic but my overriding impression was: why bother? Fee...Fye....Foe....Hmmm.

March 22, 2013 Full Review

Henry Fitzherbert

Daily Express

A story of derring do and social climbing, serving as an excuse for colossal battles with a load more orcs, the true purpose of the movie.

March 22, 2013 Full Review

David Sexton

This is London

Far from perfect but not without it's moments of fee-fi-fo-fun.

March 22, 2013 Full Review

Alex Zane

Sun Online

Singer should be commended for bringing this fairytale to life triumphantly, enlarging it for the cinema screen, and adding that epic quality a film such as this requires.

March 22, 2013 Full Review

Stefan Pape

HeyUGuys

Its conflation of two old English folk-tales, Jack And The Beanstalk and Jack The Giant Killer, turns out to be among the most enjoyable of fairytale fantasies.

March 21, 2013 Full Review

Christopher Tookey

Daily Mail [UK]

An action-packed and swashbuckling cool fantasy adventure ...

March 21, 2013 Full Review

Mark Adams

Daily Mirror [UK]

An adventurous lad in a class-challenged romance and a complete overhaul of a classic. The biggest surprise is how well it's crafted and portrayed by a very able cast.

March 21, 2013 Full Review

Jules Brenner

Cinema Signals

• 1. Elmont: I may not be the hero of this story, but at least I get to see the end of it!
  – Submitted by Alexandria P (8 days ago)
• 1. Elmont: I had this jack, I had it.
  – Submitted by Joe O (29 days ago)
• 1. Jack: There's something behind me, isn't there?
  – Submitted by Jay P (37 days ago)
• 1. 2nd Child: Can you tell it again?
  2. Jack: Alright
  – Submitted by Amber V (46 days ago)
• 1. 2nd Child: Can you tell it again?
  2. 2nd Child: You never tell us that part
  – Submitted by Amber V (47 days ago)
• 1. Jack: Giants!
  – Submitted by Jacklord Alan K (51 days ago)