Showing from Mar. 1: Jack the Giant Slayer ***

Stars: Nicholas Hoult, Stanley Tucci, Ewan McGregor.
Director: Bryan Singer.
Rated: PG-13
Showing: For show times call 292-2135.
Runtime: 114 minutes
Adventure, drama, fantasy

In the make-believe middle-ages of the children’s tale Jack and the Beanstalk, it’s highly unlikely that anyone ever said, just before attempting some feat, “I got this.” But it’s this little anachronism — a slight nod to modernity without pushing it too far — that makes the updated retelling, Jack the Giant Slayer, a breezily enjoyable blast of sword-wielding fantasy.

Nicholas Hoult (the zombie teen in Warm Bodies) is Jack, a good-hearted peasant kid orphaned at a young age and in the care of his uncle (Christopher Fairbank). Forced by poverty to sell their horse at the market, Jack ends up trading it for a handful of magic beans from a mysterious monk. This is also where he unwittingly rescues the local princess, Isabelle (Eleanor Tomlinson), from some local ruffians who don’t realize who she is. Of course, he’ll have more chances to save her later.

Unlike Peter Jackson with the overstuffed The Hobbit, this shies away away from the epic and settles for entertaining. Sometimes that’s more than enough.