Customer Reviews
Blast from the Past 
2008-08-26
I remember seeing Jack the Giant Killer when I was young on a saturday afternoon movies channel.
Its a little corney, but for its time, it was a well done flick, Brings back old and good memories!
A disappointment in special effects 
2008-07-22
Jack the Giant Killer could be considered an adult version of an old English fairytale, Jack and the Beanstalk "Fee-fie-foe-fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman", or Walt Disney's delightful 1947 movie version Mickey & the Beanstalk.
Jack the Giant Killer is more about Boy meets Girl, Boy saves Girl, Boy falls in love with Girl and I'm not sure if they live happily ever after.
Although the Producer Edward Small hired Director Nathan Juran, the handsome hero Kerwin Mathews and the villain Torin Thatcher from the similar and very successful film the 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958), it lacked the most important ingredient, the genius of Ray Harryhausen, master of the motion picture special effects and most famous for his brand of stop-motion model animation.
The monsters and fight scenes in Jack the Giant killer are laughable and hardly interesting. A disappointment!
Some of the favorite Ray Harryhausen movies that can still be enjoyed today are: the 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958), The 3 Worlds of Gulliver(1960), Mysterious Island (Widescreen) (1961), Jason and the Argonauts(1963) and Clash of the Titans(1981)
Jack the Giant Killer (Kerwin Matthews) 2008-05-27
This should have been a better quality production - not sure why it failed to entertain...
JACK THE GIANT KILLER 
2008-04-25
THIS MOVIE IS AS GOOD AS IT WAS WHEN I FIRST SAW IT IN 1964 OR 1965. MY BROTHER AND I WENT BACK AND SAW IT AGAIN. WE EVEN SAT THROUGH THE "B" MOVIE TO SEE IT TWICE IN ONE DAY.. I NOW HAVE HAD AN OPPURTUNITY TO WATCH IT WITH MY GRANDSON, WHO ABSOLUTELY LOVES IT. THE SPECIAL EFFECTS ARE JUST A SMIDGE OUT OF DATE,BUT GOOD.
Sprightly fantasy romp 2008-03-05
This movie reunites several of those involved with the higher profiled The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad including director Nathan Juran ,star Kerwin Matthews and baddie torin Thatcher.Sadly,it does not feature effects by Ray Harryhausen ,thje ones in this movie being courtesy of Howard Anderson.They are okay but below the standards set by Harryhausen and this make it a lesser movie .A nice ,fun movie but not top drawer fantasy cinema.
The action starts in Cornwall.The king's daughter receives a gift from the evil sorceror (Thatcher)who is out to gain the throne for himself.It is a music box in the shape of a castle and it incorporates a dancing clockwork figure which at night turns into a giant .The giant takes the hapless girl prisoner and it is up to the dauntless farmer's boy Jack to tackle the creature and slay him.That is not the end of the sorceror's plans and he takwes the girl prisoner yet again and hypnotises her into being a mindles puppet and slave of his will.Jack must swing into action once more aided by an imp of the bottle ,liberated by Jack.
Matthews is agile and engaging and Thatcher a suitably hissable villain .The effects let the side down now and agin -the giant is effective and I suspect a mite scary for very young viewers but the sea serpent is very weak and more than a bit rubbery looking .
On balance this is an okay fantasy but misses the Harryhausen touch .
Please note this is a review of the "straight "version -there is a musical version and this is best avoided as the songs are tedious and slow things down abominably
Jack the Gian Killer 2008-02-17
Forget about beanstalks. This vivid fairy tale (LA Herald-Examiner) brilliantly re-imagines the beloved fable as a rugged adventure that delights with vigorous acting [and] excellent trick effects (Halliwell s Film and Video Guide)! Reuniting the director and stars (Kerwin Mathews and Torin Thatcher) of The 7th Voyage of Sinbad this visual treat is a journey you ll want to take again and again!Farm boy Jack heroically rescues Princess Elaine from sorcerer Pendragon by slaying his bloodthirsty giant. But when Pendragon uses his evil powers to bewitch and imprison Elaine in his enchanted fortress Jack must cross the ocean to brave dragons two-headed ogres and an army of ghouls to save his lady love!System Requirements: Runnig Time 93 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: CHILDREN/FAMILY Rating: G UPC: 027616903884 Manufacturer No: 1006186
Not Free SF Reader 2007-12-02
Very loose adaptation adds bikers, bogles, bogans and more.
Definitely an archetypal example of the urban fantasy novel, if a bit lighter and more fairyish than some of the more recent examples.
Here, Jack is a girl, and she gets involved with the world of Faerie after he boyfriend gives her the arse, and taking a friend along for the ride ends up having the usual sort of experiences that you would expect if you ran across faery bikers and other such oddities.
3.5 out of 5
We want the musical version.....!!!! 2007-09-21
Jack the Giant Killer has always been in my heart since i saw it as a kid.
Great stuff for those days...monsters...action...pricesses.
Then all of a sudden, the movie had songs and music. The musical scores
gave a new life to the movie, and was again great stuff for many years to
come. But now, a couple of decades after...its been re-release, but only
the non-musical version. AAAAAAAARRRRGGGG, i guess the companies releasing it are sooo young, that none of them remebered the great musical version. Hello out there,,, we demand the musical version be
put on DVD. If ever done, that company will be a savior.
Non-musical 2007-08-29
I had watched this movie with my sister more than 10 times 25 years ago and really enjoyed the musical bit.
I was really excited to find out that there was still a copy left in HMV here in Hong Kong. I watched as soon as I got home but it just wasn't the same without the musical bit.
Is there a musical version that has been released as well?
Killed that giant!! 
2007-05-26
Super reviews for both product and delivery!! Thanks for caring and packaging the DVD for travel!!
