A pumped up retelling of the story of Jack and the Bean Stalk, with Jack (Nicholas Hoult) climbing the bean stalk to rescue a fair princess from a horde of angry giants, with a little help from the young Obi-Wan Kenobi himself (Ewan McGregor).
Bryan Singer's first foray into both fantasy as well as a more family friendly style of storytelling is a light hearted affair that probably won't make quite the impression that his Usual Suspects and X-Men films made (and the giants may be just a little too cartoony looking for some), but it's an engaging adventure saga with a good cast. Hoult (fans may recognize him as the young Beast in X-Men: First Class) is likable enough to keep you invested in him and his plight - even as he is upstaged by Ewan McGregor as the right hand of the king (it's easy to imagine that had this film been made 20 years ago McGregor himself probably would have played Jack).
Perhaps if Singer (who I admit I've probably been unfairly harsh to in other reviews) had tried this approach with Superman he'd have had his own Superman trilogy to go alongside Nolan's Batman trilogy.
Bryan Singer's first foray into both fantasy as well as a more family friendly style of storytelling is a light hearted affair that probably won't make quite the impression that his Usual Suspects and X-Men films made (and the giants may be just a little too cartoony looking for some), but it's an engaging adventure saga with a good cast. Hoult (fans may recognize him as the young Beast in X-Men: First Class) is likable enough to keep you invested in him and his plight - even as he is upstaged by Ewan McGregor as the right hand of the king (it's easy to imagine that had this film been made 20 years ago McGregor himself probably would have played Jack).
Perhaps if Singer (who I admit I've probably been unfairly harsh to in other reviews) had tried this approach with Superman he'd have had his own Superman trilogy to go alongside Nolan's Batman trilogy.