Rating: NR
Genre:
Fantasy
Release Date: 02/05/2002
Dubbed: English
Sound: DD5.1/DD2
Run Time: 184 min
Distributor/Studio: Hallmark
Wealthy businessman
Jack Robinson (
Matthew Modine) is building a new casino on the site of the family castle in England when the construction crew makes a startling discovery: They find the skeleton of a gigantic human being. Soon, foul weather and natural disasters occur at an unnatural rate.
Countess Wilhelmina (
Vanessa Redgrave) tells
Jack that he's related to young
Jack (
J.J. Feild) who, 400 years ago, climbed a vine into the sky and came back with a goose that lays golden eggs and a harp that can play itself. Disbelieving,
Jack encounters the lovely
Ondine (
Mia Sara), a mysterious woman who says she's 10,000 years old and that the evil weather can be stopped -- in fact, the world can be saved -- if
Jack goes to the land in the sky with her to stand trial for his ancestor.
~ Buzz McClain, All Movie Guide
What if the
Jack and the beanstalk saga were true? It's a fascinating starting point for a special effects fantasy, but at 184 minutes, and even with top-notch effects shots every few seconds, there's a lot of padding in the story. The first half sets up the story well enough, introducing
Jack and his ancestors before flashing back to young
Jack's familiar "fee-fi-fo-fum" fairytale and showing the menacing giant (played by co-writer
Bill Baretta). There's a nifty twist in the second half (the giant gets his side of the story told), but an elaborate trial sequence involving a tribunal of costumed giants (including
Daryl Hannah in a frightening ice queen frock) in front of thousands of computer animated spectators bogs things down a mite, not to mention a momentum-diverting subplot involving the cloning of the goose that lays golden eggs (it
is an interesting idea, however).
~ Buzz McClain, All Movie Guide