The Witches Review

HEADS UP BEFORE READING!:

I'VE NEVER SEEN THE 1990 MOVIE. SO I WON'T BE MAKING ANY COMPARISONS TO THAT FILM. I'M REVIEWING THIS AS IF IT'S ITS OWN THING. MAYBE I'LL GET TO REVIEWING THAT ONE DOWN THE ROAD?

 

The Witches is a dark fantasy comedy based on the 1983 novel of the same name. This movie is also the second adaptation of that book following the 1990 film which also went by the same name. The movie is produced by ImageMovers, Double Dare You Productions, Esperanto Filmoj, and Necropia Entertainment and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures and HBO Max. The Witches is written by Robert Zemeckis, Kenya Barris, and Guillermo del Toro and directed by Robert Zemeckis.

The story is in 1960 an orphaned boy is staying with his grandmother at a hotel. One day this boy stumbles across a meeting for witches and is transformed into a mouse. Now he must find a way to transform back into a boy and put a stop to whatever the witches are planning.

Initial Reaction

Now I'm going to keep this one brief because my reasoning this time around is quite simple, the reason I was looking forward to this movie was because Robert Zemeckis and Guillermo del Toro are involved with this project. And that's it. Those are two of my many favorite filmmakers and I was looking forward to what they did with this movie.

Cons

My biggest problem with this movie is the tone. Now later on I'll explain that's it's fun but bare with me here. I really think the movie could have been better had there been more of a dark tone to it. Now I'm saying the filmmakers should've gone rated R that'd be stupid, what I mean is they should have done something similar to say The Secret of NIMH. That had a dark tone to it but kids could still enjoy it.

Middle Ground

One thing that's fine about the movie is the CGI. Yeah you know it's there but I feel like you won't be bothered by it too much. Another thing thing that's alright is Chris Rock's narration. It does take some time to get use too but afterwards it'll be a breeze. The last thing I'll say for this category is while this was a fun watch the movie definitely needed more depth to it. If there had just been a bit more character development and such, I think it would have made the movie a lot better.

Pros

The only praise I can truly give The Witches is the acting is good. The kids and everyone else do a good job but the best performances are from Octavia Spencer and Anne Hathaway. Octavia does a great with what she's been giving and while Hathaway does get over the top in a lot of scenes you kind of love it, because it's pretty clear she's having fun with this role so you don't mind those moments.

The Witches is an alright movie. It has a decent CGI, Rock's narration is okay, and sure there could've been more depth but it's still fun. Octavia and Anne's performances were very good. The only downside is the movie doesn't have a darker tone to it.

My final rating is Okay

Like I said at the top of this review I didn't see the movie from the 90's, so this literally was me reviewing this as it's own movie. Maybe I'll get around to reviewing the older film. But for now come back on Monday, Oct 26th for part nine of my Looking Back at the Films of 2019. The movie I'll be reviewing is Zombieland: Double Tap. Until then enjoy the rest of your day.