Jack the Giant Slayer Trailer

We all know the story about Jack and his beanstalk, right? Boy gets beans, boy plants beans, beans grow rapidly, unveiling a portal to an unknown world where a giant lives, right? Apparently not. As the Jack the Giant Slayer trailer lands we’re told to think otherwise… but can such a classic fable really be rewritten?

Starring Nicholas Hoult, who’s set to make quite a name for himself in Hollywood next year thanks to his appearance in the adaptation of Isaac Marion‘s Warm Bodies (read our review of the novel here), the film tells the story of Jack, a boy who enlists on a journey to the treacherous land of the giants to save a princess. Directed by X-Men: First Class director Bryan Singer, the effects laden film also stars Ewan McGregor, Stanley Tucci, Bill Nighy, Ian McShane and Warwick Davis.

The trailer tells us “don’t know Jack”, which, as well as being a fun play on words, also underlines the fact that this is a new telling of the well known story. But just why is it that the film is so keen to distance itself from the story everyone knows? There’s been few well-received adaptations of the story so there isn’t a classic lurking hidden in Hollywood history for the film to try and out-do. Could it be the studio’s way of overcoming people’s skepticism about how well it would adhere to the original story… in predicting such skepticism they’ve done away with the original for a new take that should stand alone? After all, 2012’s two Snow White outings both tinkered with the original story and were criticised for it.

From the trailer it would seem that the decision to stray away from the tale people know and love has been taken to flesh out a story; to create a film filled with romance and giant peril. It’s difficult to ascertain what to expect just yet – the quips used in the trailer (like “let’s cut a few of them down to size”) may feel better placed in the film. Watch the trailer below and let us know what you think!