Review: I Kill Giants

DVD: I Kill Giants (2017)

First things first: do not go into I Kill Giants with expectations of a ‘Harry Potteresque’ fantasy movie about a young girl battling huge cgi giants as proffered in the trailer below. Never has a trailer been so misleading since The Road to Terabithia sent unsuspecting kids into the cinemas, only to have them all in shock and tears way before its end credits rolled.

Luckily for me, I watched the trailer after watching the movie and so went into it with no preconceived expectations.

Barbara (Madison Wolfe) is an outcast both at her school and at her home, where her older sister is struggling to keep the family unit together, as both Barbara and her brother refuse to engage in helping to keep everything running smoothly.

The mysterious absence of any parents is glossed over to begin with, but slowly starts to play a more important part as the narrative progresses.

When Sophia (Sydney Wade), a young girl from the UK (Leeds to be exact) moves in close to Barbara and starts at her school, a friendship begins between them which is pushed to its limits as Barbara’s obsession with protecting the town from giants makes her behaviour ever more erratic.

I Kill Giants is not a movie about slaying huge tree monsters. It is a heartfelt story of a young adult trying to cope with overwhelming emotions and the knock-on effect that her actions have on the people around her.

To say any more would be to completely spoil what is a wonderful, slowly paced movie, which is in no hurry to expose its true meaning.

The cgi can be a bit low budget at times, but this in no way detracts from when wood giants and ethereal creatures appear onscreen.

I Kill Giants may well have messed up its marketing campaign, but this release from Umbrella Entertainment will hopefully give it a new lease of life to find its true audience.

Review by Dave (host of 60 Minutes With) from a disc kindly supplied by Umbrella Entertainment.