The Witches

Tonight I checked out “The Witches” adaptation that was released on HBO Max, so I will talk about both adaptations, starting with the 1990 adaptation that I saw a little of in third grade but didn’t see entirely until a while back.

The best children’s stores are the scariest ones, because to kids they seem most likely to have the truth. A lot of stores end with everybody living happily ever after, but they’re boring stories if they have a good chance that awful dangers must be faced as they travel to the ending. Roger Ebert noted in his review, “Roald Dahl's children's stories always seem to know that truth, and the best thing about Nicolas Roeg's film of Dahl's book "The Witches" is its dark vision - this is not only a movie about kids who are changed into mice, it's a movie where one of the mice gets its tail chopped off.”

The film starts in a dark way in Norway, with Luke (Jasen Fisher) being told stories about witches by his grandmother (Mai Zetterling). She tells him that they’re real and they are all around us. However, you can see them if you get a good look at them, because they have square feet. They’re also bald and have pointy noses, but the important thing is, they’re not made-up. The grandmother has even heard about a Grand High Witch who is the leader of the crew, and is the most terrible out of everyone.

Suddenly tragedy happens when Luke’s parents, played by Darcy Flynn and Vincent Marzello, are killed in a car accident. He travels with his grandmother to England on family business, and they stay at a seaside hotel that is hosting a convention of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. Somehow when you see the leader of the crew, Miss Ernst, played by Angelica Huston, you don’t feel good about you avoiding cruelty if you’re a child.

Ebert noted, “Huston, whose energy dominates the film, dresses like a vampire vamp with stiletto heels, a tight black dress, a severe hair style and blazing red lipstick. Roeg often photographs her using lenses that make her leer into the camera, and she's always towering over everybody, especially little boys like Luke. Wandering through the labyrinthine hallways of the old hotel, Luke stumbles upon a private meeting one day, and discovers to his horror that the Society is actually a convention of witches - and that Huston, the fabled Grand High Witch, has plans to turn all of the children in England into mice.”

Suddenly Luke is seen while eavesdropping, and becomes one of the first children forced to drink a secret potion and become a mouse. This is where the mastery of the late Jim Henson is shown, as Henson and his special effects team makes a place where large pieces of furniture hover the little boy-mouse and his friend Bruno, played by Charlie Potter, as they try to survive cats and extermination and save the children of England.

Some of the parts are predictable form other movies about people who shrink to a size that you cannot see with your eyes. Others are new, including the way Luke is finally able to convince his grandmother he is her grandson and not a mouse. Lucky for him she believes in witches already. The movie turns into a saving mission, good against evil, and Roeg doesn’t let his young audiences go of the evil acts in the story.

Ebert noted, “This is the first so-called children's movie from Nicolas Roeg, that most unorthodox of directors, whose credits include "Don't Look Now," "Eureka" and "Insignificance." He almost always expresses a twisted, sinister sensuality in his films, and in this one that sensibility expresses itself in his willingness to let the child-mice face some of the real dangers of their predicament.” What happens is the movie might be a lot for children audiences (despite some of them currently being too soft for anything). However, “The Witches” is an exciting movie, motivated and innovative, and almost worth seeing just for Anjelica Huston’s obvious enjoyment in playing a completely uncompromised villainess.

But what can be said about the 2020 adaptation, which came out on HBO Max today? This isn’t the first time the book has been adapted. Brian Orndorf said in his review, “In 1990, director Nicolas Roeg and co-producer Jim Henson had their way with the source material, combing nutty Euro filmmaking sensibilities with glorious Henson-y practical magic for their take on evildoing inside a luxury hotel, with mice making life difficult for dangerous witches.” It was a very dark adaptation of a very dark book, and now 30 years later director Robert Zemeckis and co-writter Guillermo del Toro try their take with a second adaptation, and one that’s mainly CGI-heavy in the finale. Orndorf said, “While the thrill of puppetry and makeup effects is gone, the new version of “The Witches” doesn’t take it easy when it comes to the demented activities found in Dahl’s work, and while the endeavor is more adrenalized with chases and near-misses, it remains an entertaining sit for brave young audiences.”

Losing his parents to a car accident in 1968, Charlie (Jahzir Kadeem Bruno) moves in with his Grandmother (Octavia Spencer) in Alabama, starting a new life. Even though the two get close, there is evil lurking, with Charlie dodging an early encounter with a witch who offers Charlie a special piece of candy. Reacting quickly, Grandmother moves Charlie to a remote hotel for safekeeping, hoping to use her healing magic to take control of the problem. Also at the hotel is The Grand High Witch, played by Anne Hathaway, who books in for a weekend even with other witches, making a plan to destroy the children all over the planet by using a special potion that will be added in chocolates that will turn them all into mice. Charlie, with pet mouse Daisy, voiced by Kristen Chenoweth, learns of the plan, soon turned into a mouse himself by The Grand High Witch. Running for safety with Daisy and another victim, Bruno, played by Codie-Lei Eastick, Charlie goes back to Grandmother, with the four going out to stop the witch convention.

Orndorf said, “Charlie is introduced as an older character at the beginning of “The Witches,” with Chris Rock becoming his most Chris Rock-iest as the character (he’s an unnecessary addition), taking on narration duties as the tale dials back to 1968, where the boy was put into his guardian’s care.” The screenplay (credited to del Toro, Zemeckis, and Kenya Barris) inserts the work to help the relationship between Charlie and his Grandmother, with Charlie learning about the healing magic of music and food, and Daisy gives him animal friendship. We also are told more about Grandmother’s history with the witches, as she says in a flashback (Miranda Sarfo Peprah) where one of her good friends (Ashanti Prince-Asafo) was turned into a chicken, leaving Grandmother to be scared of stranger women offering candy. Grandmother gives the warning signs of a witch, helping Charlie to look out for large nostrils, reptilian cheek slits, and special glamour to help hide their true face.

Once the danger is made, the action moves to the hotel setting and stays there, following Charlie and Daisy as they accidentally go into the ballroom with the witches, where the evil make their horrendous plans to expunge children. Orndorf noted, “It’s here where Zemeckis begins to unleash CGI and wirework, transforming The Grand High Witch into a violent creature with a wide bite and scarred head, also showcasing extending arms and talon-like feet, giving Hathaway (who’s having a ball here) a full creature makeover, embracing the threat of the character by keeping the camera tight on her flesh-tearing freakouts. “The Witches” doesn’t soften Dahl’s imagination, preserving menace and bodily harm, but the 2020 adaptation is definitely a slicker production, animating mice, witch transformations, and a cat, while the director’s appealing preference for lengthy tracking shots remains intact, following a transformed Charlie, Bruno, and Daisy around the hotel as they make their way to safety and, later in the feature, execute special attacks on the convention attendees (armed with the special mouse potion).”

Orndorf ended his review by saying, ““The Witches” maintains a ripping pace and offers compelling set pieces for younger audiences, with the mice and Grandmother creating all sorts of chaos around the property. While the wonderful textures of the 1990 version are gone here, Zemeckis maintains screen energy, offering lighthearted adventuring and sinister witch visitations, coming together with spirited performances and the director’s longstanding interest in wicked encounters. “The Witches” remains quite fun and in line with Dahl’s imagination, even when it branches out to sample other areas of this world with newfound cinematographic fluidity.”

The original 1990 version is definitely a dark film, as it came out during a time when PG did used to scare children. However, it is still a good film that I think everyone can check out and get a good scare while watching it. That’s not to say that the 2020 adaptation is in any way bad, even though reviews of it don’t look good. I still think Anne Hathaway and Octavia Spencer are amazing in the film and the effects, even though they are CGI, are still pretty scary for kids today. Also, the new adaptation tries to follow the book more, although I cannot say how good of a job it does, since I never read the books. However, check the two adaptations out, since they are good movies to watch around Halloween time.

Thank you for joining in on my reviews tonight. Look out tomorrow for the continuation of “Pirates of the Caribbean Month.”