the movie's problem is that its script is commoner still, an enchantment-free pretext for animated action, straight-ahead storytelling and ersatz romance
the film cuts a good-looking trailer, as the desire for summer blockbuster spectacle bleeds into early March. But it falls apart upon closer examination
the film always looks believable, and it's easy to get wrapped into Singer's fairy-tale world. Most of the time, a viewer watches a movie and thinks, "Great special effects"
"Jack the Giant Slayer" feels, unsurprisingly, like an attempt to cash in on a trend, recycling storybook characters, situations and battle sequences to mechanical and wearyingly predictable effect
by Peter Hartlaub [San Francisco Chronicle ]
by Colin Covert [Minneapolis Star Tribune ]
by Rafer Guzman [Newsday ]
by Claudia Puig [USA Today ]
by Kenneth Turan [Los Angeles Times ]
Reviewed by Manohla Dargis [New York Times ]
