After Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland” grossed more than $1 billion worldwide in 2010, every big studio joined the mad rush to churn out as many fairytale reboots as humanly possible.

In the three years since, every single one has bombed.

The entire misguided trend has been an expensive disaster, from over-stylized mishaps like “Mirror Mirror” and “Red Riding Hood” to the so-called “edgy” re-imagination of “Snow White and the Huntsman” and “Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters.”

“Jack the Giant Slayer” is a bit of both, lurching back and forth between fanciful children’s tale and action epic. “Jack” doesn’t quite work as either, but the mildly entertaining popcorn flick benefits from charismatic acting and cheeky dialogue to counteract its weak story, along with CGI graphics so underwhelming they resemble an Xbox game.

Directed by Bryan Singer (“The Usual Suspects,” “X-Men”), the big-budget 3-D fable is a cheerful two-hour distraction — more than what can be said for the other remakes — but it doesn’t offer much beyond light, campy amusement.

Nicholas Hoult (“Warm Bodies”) was the ideal casting for Jack and Ewan McGregor charms as a friendly knight, but they’re unwitting passengers on what feels a clichéd, vaguely familiar theme-park ride.

“Jack”’s fresh retelling of the classic story is ultimately a generic adventure, borrowing elements from “The Princess Bride,” “Shrek,” “Harry Potter,” “Vertical Limit” and “Aladdin,” as well as landscapes straight out of Middle Earth.

Literally book-ended by parents reading storybooks to their children, “Jack” chronicles the Kingdom of Cloister, an average medieval land a la “Shrek”’s Duloc, but without the giddy puppet welcome song. Angsty teen princess Isabelle (Eleanor Tomlinson) is mad at her father, cartoonish King Brahmwell (Ian McShane), for forcing her to marry his nefarious adviser Roderick (the usually brilliant Stanley Tucci).

Roderick and his lackey Wicke (Ewen Bremner) slip away down secret passages into their underground lair, revealing secret plans to overthrow the king — cackling away like the live-action caricatures of Jafar and Iago they are. It’s a wonder Roderick never called Jack a “street rat.”

That night, Isabelle sneaks out in disguise and happens across Jack, fresh off of trading his uncle’s horse for a handful of magic beans. But Aladdin — sorry, Jack — is a lowly peasant, so the princess is off limits.

Hoult’s Jack is a charming lead brimming with the toothy-grinned curiosity and teenage vulnerability fast becoming the young Brit’s shtick. Hoult and Tomlinson’s romance is serviceable enough for glorified Aladdin-and-Jasmine impressions, trading slightly out-of-breath flirting and furtive glances in between Jack’s giant-slaying.

Jack accidentally drops a bean underneath his house where it gets wet, boosting the wood shack with Isabelle inside up into the clouds on a massive beanstalk. Jack ventures up the stalk with Elmont (McGregor), the king’s knights and the scheming villains to save Isabelle.

McGregor is the only supporting actor who seems like he’s having any fun, skipping through the film with dandy enthusiasm as the sword-fighting, comic relief donkey to Jack and Isabelle’s Shrek and Fiona. He even says “tally-ho.”

The harsh climbing sequence whimsically re-enacts “Vertical Limit” with blinding wind and rain, giving the terrible, no-good, dastardly fiend Roderick cover to cut the rope, sending several knights kersplat.

Up in Giant Land, the remaining knights set off across a Middle-Earthly plain, following Isabelle’s tracks like when Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli chased after captured Merry and Pippin. At times, the pixelated backdrops legitimately seem lifted from a video game.

Eventually, they meet the race of foul giants with comically hackneyed voices led by General Fallon (Bill Nighy lazily re-using his Davy Jones voice from “Pirates of the Caribbean”) and lots of pulpy death ensues both in Giant Land and down on Earth.

The giant-slaying generally involves Jack jumping on their backs, like when Harry Potter leaps on the troll in “The Sorcerer’s Stone.” After some predictable fights and an overblown medieval battle sequence, Jack saves the day and gets the girl. The end.

“Jack the Giant Slayer” is harmless, derivative fun and sadly, the best entry in a foolish genre, which isn’t saying much. For once, it’s a fairytale adaptation that doesn’t take itself too seriously.

Published on March 7, 2013 at 3:48 am

Contact Rob: rjmarvin@syr.edu