Along with his scenery-chewing malevolence is his cadre of Witches, monsters and demons. It is then up to the farmer Jack to fight against the evil magician, storm his castle, slay the Dragon, rescue the princess and live happily ever after.Īt nearly 50 years old the film, for the most part, stands the test of time, while there are laughable bits such as the castles of Cornwall being near day-glo orange and pink and the hammy acting by the beat of B-movie jobbing actors playing the kings, knights and squires of the ‘medieval’ times (think Americans trying to do English at the renaissance fair) some of the other elements still remain pretty well developed Torin Thatcher (who also plays the evil Sokurah in the 7 th Voyage of Sinbad) gives a brilliant performance as the evil a moustache twisting bad-guy who is the epitome of pantomime villain. Essentially the evil magician Pendragon wants to rule Cornwall (but not the rest of the UK?) and kidnaps a princess as a ransom for the kingdom. The plot of ‘Jack’ is a pretty standard fairy tale affair with princesses, evil magicians and dashing heroes.
#Jack the giant killer political cartoon movie#
This, of course, was at this time I first saw this movie and it still has that appeal, a piece of harmless fun that should not set expectations too high but entertaining – if you are in this mood and not expecting stop-motion perfection this perfect for a reminder of simpler times. Generally, it’s all rather silly and falls into the ‘fantastic Saturday afternoon’ bracket of the mid-1980s when it was a rainy day, you could not be bothered to walk to the video shop and Sky hadn’t been invented. Jack and its array of monsters are really the giant fibreglass mushrooms or the Chine, a bit tatty but loved over time – it’s cheap and cheerful and attempt to entertain but knows it restrictions and is content to not really attempt to compete with big-budget spectaculars.īased on the myths of the south-west, more specifically Cornwall this is an early 60s light-hearted adventure is really aimed at kids and teens, there is, of course, no blood, gore and plenty of stop-motion monsters to watch. top-notch classics and worth the reputation so let’s be honest, for all its charm Jack the Giant Killer is not this – it’s essentially Gulliver’s Kingdom of stop-motion monster movies.įor those of you who have never had the pleasure of Gulliver’s Kingdom – The Peak District’s premier theme park, it’s JUST like Disneyland if everything was a little on the tatty side… still fun, still enjoyable but everything was done on the cheap – it’s a make-do and mend mentality of a movie and that’s not to say it’s not fun: a little run down with no recent investment, a tad shabby around the edges, dated and lacks the pizzazz of its more pricey counterpart but really for all its weathered, worn out feel the kids will not fail to love it. Harryhausen movies are premiership rides of fantasy. If say the 7 th Voyage of Sinbad was a theme park then really it would be Disneyland – the top, best and most expensive one you could visit with all the thrills, spills and excitement you would expect.
However, if you are expecting the same quality from of ‘Jack the Giant Killer’ I’m afraid you are going to be a little disappointed. From Sinbad to Clash of the Titans the creatures and films created by him still are as enticing today as they were when they were first released. Ray Harryhausen, the pioneer of stop-motion techniques bought us many myths and legends to the cinematic screen.
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