The Witches | | Cast : | Anjelica Huston, Mai Zetterling | | Director : | Nicolas Roeg | | Studio : | Warner Studios | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Dolby | | Released Date : | February 16, 1990 | | DVD Released Date : | February 03, 2004 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), French (Dubbed), English (Original Language), French (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | July 12, 2005 | | Summary | Childhood goodie :-) | Content
 | I first saw this movie when I was like 12 years old and even though it thoroughly freaked me out, I loved it nonetheless. I am and have always been an avid Roald Dahl fan so that helped out as well. Definitely see this movie if you have read the book (although it's a bit different). You'll really enjoy how the characters are projected from words to real live people...or in this case, witches. |
| Rating | | | Date | June 20, 2005 | | Summary | Lame | Content
| Lame attempt at making a Halloween show. Love, love, love Angelica Houston in anything, but this was beneath her. |
| Rating | | | Date | June 17, 2005 | | Summary | QUIRKY, A BIT SCARY... | Content
| I didn't know the first time that I watched this film that it was written by Roald Dahl who also wrote Charlie and the Chocolate Factory but it sure made sense. It has that same sort of quirky black humor and mild creepiness that that more famous story has. The story concerns a boy named Luke whose parents are killed in an accident and he goes to live with his grandmother Helga. Early on there is a rather terrifying encounter with a witch and Luke's grandmother certainly knows a thing or two about them.
Helga decides to take Luke on a holiday to a posh British hotel where Luke makes friends with another boy named Bruno who has some rather snooty and preoccupied parents. Sharing the hotel is group of women there for a convention of the society for the prevention of cruelty towards children, or something to that effect. In reality, they are a coven of very ugly witches who wear masks to make themselves look human. Indeed the site of these hairless, huge nosed, witches without their masks may not be for very little ones as the makeup is very effective and chilling. The witches are led by their Grand High Witch played deliciously over-the-top by Angelica Huston. In reality the group is planning to turn all the children of England into mice with a magic potion.
The boys catch wind of the plan and find themselves turned into mice. But they can still think and talk and eventually get back to Luke's Grandmother where they hatch a plot to turn the tables on the witches, setting the stage for a rather gruesome, but humporous climax. Without the use of any sort of Modern CGI the effects and makeup team did a very good job with the witches and the transformations into mice...especially when the characters were in mid-transformation. Rowan Atkinson is along to add some comedy as the hotel's restaurant manager.
Like Willy Wonka, it's a family film with some possible cautions for very young kids who may possibly be frightened by the Witches. A fun film! |
| Rating | | | Date | June 16, 2005 | | Summary | Anjelica Huston - over the top | Content
| This movie is certainly aimed at kids, but you might want to think hard about whether it's right for you and yours.
The plot has lots of promise. The evil witches conspire to turn every child in England into a mouse. Before the plot is carried out, Luke (the small boy in the lead role) discovers it and is mouse-ified. Despite his reduced state, he and his Grandma win against them in the end. Or is it the end - there are lots more witches to take care of ...
Anjelica Huston does a lovely, campy job as the Grand High Witch, the arch-baddy with some vaguely germanoid accent. Mai Zetterling also does a good job as the warm-hearted Grandma, who just happens to like a cigar now and then. Unfortunately, the rest of the characters were on the weak side. Even Luke (Jasen Fisher, at age nine or ten in this movie), wasn't good for much more than occasional goofy looks. For me, though, Jim Henson's contribution was the real disappointment - it was barely there, only a few brief scenes, plus some mouse puppets. I've liked his other work, I liked the bits that were here, and I would have liked this movie more if it had more Henson in it. Despite what the ad copy says, this isn't really for Henson fans.
Although the movie is generally kid-safe, there are a few points you might want to weigh in terms of your own little ones. Early on, Luke's parents die, but he does have that loving grandmother to fall back on. There is some agression (but no violence) against kids here, but with a happy ending. There are also one explicit and a few implicit moments of violence against small animals - even as an adult, I found that one scene distasteful. Some kids will ride out such things quite happily, and you know yours best.
On the whole, there's really nothing wrong with this movie. A lot more could have been right with it, though.
//wiredweird |
| Rating | | | Date | January 25, 2005 | | Summary | The Vitches of Inkland | Content
| In the beginning of this movie, there is one family with a mom, a dad, a boy named Luke and his grandmother. Shortly after the introduction of the movie, Luke's parents died and he had to live with his grandmother. The grandmother told Luke about the witches that lived in England. A short time after this, Luke had an encounter with a witch.
Luke and his grandmother went to a hotel near the sea for the summer holidays, after school ended. On Luke's birthday, he received two mice and started to train them. He trained them in the ballroom behind a screen. While he was training them, a group of women came in and started a meeting. But something strange happened. Luke could tell that all of them were witches! The Grand High Witch told all the other witches about a plan to destroy all the children in England. After the meeting, some strange events occurred and the ending of Luke's vacation is not what you would expect!!!
The Movie "The Witches" was very similar to the book "The Witches". The plotline of the movie was very similar to the plotline of the book. All of the main events are the same. Some examples are: Luke's parents are killed, he goes on vacation with his grandmother, and he meets the witches. The book is also similar in some detailed parts. The grandmother smokes cigars during the movie and the witches' meeting was almost exactly the same in the movie.
There are also many differences between the book and the movie. In the beginning of the book, the grandmother catches pneumonia and is forced to cancel her plans to go to Norway. In the movie, the grandmother was never going to go to Norway, although she does get sick, but she develops diabetes instead of pneumonia. The movie was also different because it had more events that made it more suspenseful. Some of these events include when the grandmother said that she recognized the Grand High Witch and had gotten her finger cut off by her somehow. Also at the end of the movie, Luke's grandmother receives lots of money, which she didn't receive in the book.
I recommend this book to kids in third to sixth grade. I also recommend this book to people who have read other fictional books or books written by Roald Dahl.
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