Cheap Jack and the Beanstalk - The Real Story (DVD) (Brian Henson) Price

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Customer Reviews of Jack and the Beanstalk - The Real Story

This movie makes sense, but not suitable for kids.
Whether you prefer the classic or this new version, it doesn't make any difference. The classic Jack and the magic Beanstalk is not suitable for kids anyway,Why? It teaches Killing and Stealing. No Parents will allow their children to watch a movie which if you'll analyze the meaning of the whole story, It's a horrible one.
The Giant, The golden eggs and the harp represents the Rich man with a lot of wealth. Jack represents a poor man who wants to get rich easily. What Jack did, he relied on this magic beans to get to the top where wealth is abundant. The key word here is "Magic". This is not the way to start teaching child how to live. In the real world there's no such thing as magic. If you want to live you have to work. Not by killing Giant (Rich People) or stealing someones golden egg (Money).
This movie makes sense because no matter how cruel the Giant was, Jack doesn't have the right to kill and take the Giants wealth.

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Disappointing - fine cast could not rescue this one
Since I love fairy tales, and have a weakness for "retellings," the beginning of this film, with its promise of providing the rest of the story, indeed captured my interest. I enjoyed the beginning, and expected that the interesting premise, not to mention the sort of special effects and acting which one could expect from the Henson shop and Vanessa Redgrave, would be delightful.

My enthusiasm paled rather quickly as the action progressed. Apparently the dual, and confusing, premises were that one is responsible for unknown events set in motion by ancestors of centuries before, and that some vague, puzzling removal of a magical economic boost (despite the golden eggs being in storage...) destroys the entire resources of a magical people. Much as the viewer is supposed to be outraged by the lying (original) Jack's theft and treachery, the violence implicit in the people "up there" and their bizarre giants makes it rather difficult to believe that Jack had been in a cosy wonderland.

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Major disappointment -- What a waste!
"Jack and the Beanstalk" was my favorite fairy tale when I was a child; and I had great hopes when I heard about this television adaptation that Hollywood would finally do it justice. They did not. The Abbott & Costello take on the story (released in 1952) at least gives you a few good laughs. Why on earth has NO ONE tapped into the incredible cinematic potential which the earliest version of this story has??? I was fortunate enough, when young, to be exposed to retellings based on the earliest surviving text of this folk tale, which was published in 1807. For those who are interested in reading the original, it may be found in The Classic Fairy Tales, a scholarly work by Iona and Peter Opie (published by Oxford University Press). The vocabulary used in this earliest version is well above that of younger children, and it reads more like a novella, with its long flashback section. In it, Jack does not find himself in some fanciful cloud-kingdom in the sky when he reaches the top of the beanstalk; he finds himself in an arrid wasteland (presumably at the top of a cliff up which the beanstalk grew). He does not steal the treasures from the Giant for the fun of it (which would, of course, make him amoral); a fairy in the disguise of a beggar woman tells him that the cannibalistic ogre had gained the confidence of Jack's father, who was as rich as a prince, stabbed him to death, and then stolen all his treasures. His duty is to punish the Giant and avenge his father's death. When Jack reaches the Giant's castle, he is admitted by a normal-sized woman who leads him past a dungeon, where the groans of future victims for the Giant's table are heard. The Giant does not come stomping in reciting a silly rhyme: "Fee Fi Fo Fum, etc." -- but simply says in a grim fashion: "Wife, I smell fresh meat." This sustains an atmosphere that is by no means light. Moreover, it is quite clear that the Giant could not be even 20 feet high -- let alone sixty. Given the size of his wife and the fact that no mention is made of abnormally sized furniture, etc., it seems reasonable to suppose that he would be 10 or perhaps 12 feet high. This makes him monstrous, without turning him into a cartoon-like figure such as one sees in Disney's (excellent) "Mickey and the Beanstalk" (1947). Jack steals a hen that lays golden eggs, and on the second and third trips up the stalk bags of money and an enchanted harp. Must we impose political correctness on a robust, traditional fairy tale??? Save political correctness for real issues: women's rights, racial equality, etc. I mean, really, this IS a fairy tale. The giant is a murderous man-eating monster who deserves death; he isn't some poor fellow with a pituitary gland problem! I can just imagine what a marvellous story might have been told with the budget wasted on this piece of tripe. And Vanessa Redgrave --what a delightfully sinister fairy she would have made! The beanstalk effects were very well executed; how great it would have been to see them incorporated into a story set entirely in the past (in the 9th century, in the reign of King Alfred, to be precise). In addition to the unneeded political correctness, there is too much comedy in this version; I mean, give me a break, the Giant in this version has (if I recall correctly) a chef with an Italian accent!!! I could go on and on, but I won't. If you want to see a good, old fashioned fantasy film, watch "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad" (1958) or "Jack the Giant Killer" (1962). Some of the effects may be creaky (particularly in the latter film), but at least they don't mangle the rich story-telling tradition that has existed since 750 B.C., when Homer wrote the Odyssey and first gave us an evil-flesh-eating monster in the form of the Cyclops. And, if you want to see an adult version of "Snow-White," for example, watch "Snow White: A Tale of Terror," with Sigourney Weaver. AVOID "Jack and the Beanstalk - The Real Story" like the plague unless you want to see Hollywood mangle a traditional story and serve it up as pabulum for people with no stomach for traditional stories, which are not going to warp a child's mind. I did not turn into a sociopath from reading the violence-filled fairy tales, which some psychologists feel help children work through the issues we all face when growing up. Enough said!