The Witches (1990)

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

To begin with, the main reason I rated it 8 and not 10 is the creepiness of the witches. Yes, I know they are shown exactly like Roald Dahl described them, but I really think that it's different to see it on screen rather than read about it. The true face of the Grand High Witch is absolutely repulsive to the point I feel sick looking at it and want to skip directly to her counter-transformation. As other reviewers have noted, it's for PG-13 more than for PG. The rest of the film is very charming. Grandmother Helga is splendid and exactly like I imagined her when reading the book. Luke's a bit shrill with his "Graaaandma!" but acts very well. Anjelica Huston (apart from the true-face sequences) is a perfect Grand High Witch, and the hotel staff and Bruno (a nicer incarnation of Augustus Gloop) are hilarious. Right, but I know it's always more interesting to read about flaws, so…The character of Miss Irvine is a bit underdeveloped and even if one hasn't read the book (I have), it can be noticed that it is a later deus ex machina addition (one moment she's cackling with everybody else and the next she "never really wanted to be with them anyway"). I mean, the Grand High Witch burns at least one witch per year and does horrible things to kids – compared to that, merely not allowing her secretary to attend the banquet is nice everyday behavior; so it seems odd that Miss Irvine alone suddenly snaps and for a petty reason at that. But Jane Horrocks whom I like very much does a wonderful job of the part and manages to make it as convincing as the script allows. I personally liked the change to the ending in itself. I believe that the problem with filming the original ending isn't its bittersweet flavor – it just leaves too many threads hanging. Fine in a book, but, in my opinion, hard to film. It's a pity that the filmmakers took the other option to the extreme as well, and the whole Susan-Irvine-ex-machina thing seems rushed altogether, as many reviewers point out. Besides, although it effectively concludes the plot line of Luke's life as a mouse (the chief one that left the book ending open), it raises an entirely new question of the witches' nature – the book was very vague on it; Grandma said the witches are humanoid demonic creatures, but the Grand High Witch selected the elderly witches and said that they were the ancestors of others. And now we learn that a witch can turn human if she really wants (and I'm really puzzled about the hair – was Miss Irvine by the end still in her wig though with human hands or did her new hair magically grow exactly to match the wig?). Of course, it's Dahl and not Tolkien so no one expects a full story of witches from the creation of the world with all dynasties and rulers, but the witches are left a pretty mysterious species, and here even more than in the book. However, I believe that (again and again, save for the witches' true faces) it's a very nice family movie. The ending of the book is quite a depressing one for kids – I don't know firsthand as I read it at nineteen (it still nearly brought me to tears), but I'm sure that had I read it at around seven, at the same time as the Chocolate Factory, the Giant Glass Elevator, the Giant Peach, and Mr. Fox, I would have been terribly shocked, especially with the contrast. The movie ending is not so much rushed as to be a problem during watching. It's very funny and touching, I particularly liked Miss Irvine sending the white mice back to Luke. The questions only come to your head later, and they don't keep you from enjoying the film.

When the creator of "Sesame Street" and "The Muppets" joins forces with the director of "Walkabout" and "Don't Look Now" for an adaptation of a Roald Dahl book, you know that you're in for something neat. And "The Witches" is just that. While the emphasis is the boy trying to stop the sorceresses from turning England's children into mice, the movie really belongs to Anjelica Huston as the Grand High Witch. The sequences in the conference room and the restaurant have to be some of the coolest scenes ever put on film. I suspect that they had a lot of fun creating those effects. This is the perfect movie for Halloween. I understand that the movie changed a number of things from the book, but on its own this is one enjoyable movie. I recommend it.And now for the other cast members. Playing the hotel owner is Rowan Atkinson, whom we know as the well meaning but inept Mr. Bean. Brenda Blethyn (Bruno's mom) and Jane Horrocks (the Grand High Witch's assistant) later co-starred in "Little Voice", although Blethyn had a lead role in Mike Leigh's "Secrets and Lies".

A PG-rated family-horror tale about witches, unlike THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK (1987, 5/10), this film affords a crystal-clear definition of the hidden witches among folks (wig, purple eyes and flat toes), adapted from Roald Dahl's children book, UK director Nicolas Roeg certainly taps a darker and eerier approach to visualize the images of witches (thanks to a vivd make-up feat and a grisly puppetry), which might scare off most tykes but as for an adult viewer, it has an eye-opening relish. However, up until the last moment, the adventurous rapture has come to a self-contradictory compromise, procuring a spot in the children-friendly zone, the film opts a rather arbitrary happy ending (overtly against Dahl's willingness) in order not to further upset its potential audience's feeble nerves, which cast itself out of the spectre of being an eccentric cult, a lame move with the benefit of hindsight and judging by its tepid box-office that year.The stellar Anjelica Huston has an uncanny brio to demonstrate a genuine grand high witch of Britain, the role, which instantly eclipses the 3D trinity in the TWOE (Cher herself was the original picking for the role) and would later stereotype hers in the impassive, ruthless, and alienated aura where she has been arguably hovering until today, unlike her contemporaneous Oscar- nominated role in THE GRIFTERS (1990, 7/10), where she exaggerates all her alluring poignancy in a shockingly sympathetic role, here she is the impeccable one-note villain. Mai Zetterling is well-suited in her benevolent granny role, although most of the time she is too composed in the tumultuous pandemonium as well as the rest human cast (sorry to see Atkinson and Blethyn are barbarously underused, the latter's only duty is to scream out of her lung).

I found this movie to be a kid's Halloween movie if anything.Still, this being the first time I've watched it, I found it very entertaining. It was very engaging. Once the witch paid Lucas a surprise visit and offered to give him a snake (why?)because little boys liked snakes, you knew Lucas was going to be in bigger trouble. That was when I was hooked. It was funny to see Mr. Bean handle a knife in such a murderous fashion, and the surprise ending seemed to brighten the dark story up.I also liked the theme of Lucas's Grandma warning him about witches, Lucas taking care of his Grandma diabetes problems, and his Grandma accepting him for being a mouse.