The Witches — Movie Review
by KJ Proulx
I’m not sure where to begin on this one, so let’s wind the clocks back to 1990 and talk about the original film based on the same book. While I haven’t read the Roald Dahl classic book of the same name, I enjoyed the creativity throughout the first adaptation of his work. The Witches from 1990 had many issues and stretched out a very small story to fill the run time of a feature film, which was absolutely the most notable negative of that film for me, as it was for this 2020 version as well. At a mere 105 minutes, Robert Zemeckis’ The Witches felt like an eternity to sit through and missed the mark almost entirely for me.
This film begins with a montage of images that showcase the fact that witches exist in this world. After the death of his parents, a young boy and his grandma flea to an expensive hotel, where they can get away from the witches, whom they believe are following them. Without knowing it, they end up going to this hotel during some form of witch conference. This in turn leads to this young boy being turned into a mouse by them, as well as another young boy at the hotel. The two of them, along with another mouse, venture around the hotel, trying to escape from these witches.
The premise itself is the most intriguing part, as it’s equally strange and fun. With that said, the idea was created as a book, then as a mediocre film in 1990, and now remake nearly exactly the same in every way. Because it did nothing new with the material, I have nothing but criticism honestly, aside from one major thing that I really appreciated. Without ruining it, the original film ends in a way that left me disappointed, but this remake actually had the guts to do something that I wished the original had done. For that reason, I give this film a little praise, but that’s just how the film ends, because the rest is absolutely the same.
I admit that I was enjoying the first act of this film, because Octavia Spencer made for a very enjoyable grandmother to this young boy and I would’ve loved more of that. Sadly, once they get to the hotel, the movie takes no chances and the witches themselves chew up the scenery, and not in a good way. Anne Hathway plays the head witch and although she’s absolutely committed to the role and having a blast, I just found her performance to be way too overdone. I commend her for going all out, but it didn’t work for me. This was a major issue because she has more than half of the screentime of the duration of the movie.
In the end, Robert Zemeckis is a director that I love, but his latest efforts in Allied, Welcome to Marwen, and now The Witches have all been less than stellar to say the least. I thought The Walk and Flight were great films, but I haven’t truly loved one of his films since Cast Away, which was 20 years ago. On top of that, Zemeckis also wrote the screenplay with both Kenya Barris and Guillermo del Toro, so I’m really not sure how all those creative brains just made a copy and paste of the original. There was so much talent behind the lens here and I’m still scratching my head as to how this was the final result. I don’t believe this film is worth anyone’s time, but it’s now available through HBO if you wish.
Rating: 1.5/5
Check out the trailer below:
