  We present a review of the standard paradigm for giant planet formation, the
core accretion theory. After an overview of the basic concepts of this model,
results of the original implementation are discussed. Then, recent improvements
and extensions, like the inclusion of planetary migration and the resulting
effects are discussed. It is shown that these improvement solve the timescale
problem. Finally, it is shown that by means of generating synthetic populations
of (extrasolar) planets, core accretion models are able to reproduce in a
statistically significant way the actually observed planetary population.
