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Eric Atreides

The Witches (2020)

The Witches (2020)  

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Wasn’t really a whole lot I liked about this. Even Hathaway was too hammy. The characters make horrible decisions for the plot, none of the kids are endearing, Octavia Spencer even gave sorta a lame performance. 
 

Henson’s work in the original made the witches way more intimidating back in 1990. The CGI looked straight out of 2001, and everything felt weirdly rushed, even though I’m pretty sure this had a longer runtime than the 30 year old version.

@Rorschach wbu?

Edited by DAJK
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I'm mostly going off my Letterboxd review here (and expanding on it as well) but I thought this was a decently fun time. Not great or anything but still a fun enough time. I've never read Roald Dahl's original book and I only just recently watched the Anjelica Huston film from 1990 so my experience with this source material is very limited. I know that a lot of people consider the 90s version to be far superior to this version, and while I would agree with them that Roeg's version is probably the better film, the fact that they essentially tell pretty much the same exact story (minus a few key differences, mainly the setting/time period and the ending) made me see the two versions on equal ground.

 

While I do side more with the 90s version's preference for practical effects and make-up, I think the remake's designs of the witches are a different enough interpretation to stand on their own. I've seen a lot of people criticizing this film for its special effects as being dated and eerily reminiscent of Zemeckis' motion capture films from the 2000s (I'll throw Welcome to Marwen in the mix there as well). I think the main difference between those films and The Witches is that, while the former group of films were going for a more realistic approach that resulted in a heavily uncanny valley feel to them, the latter feels appropriately over-the-top and cartoony with the mostly zany tone and vibe that its going for. There are some moments that border on the uncanny valley, mainly with the mice characters (with Chris Rock's mouse design in particular looking a tad wonky), but when you have Anne Hathaway pretty much channeling Bill Skarsgard's Pennywise and a fairly fantastical storyline driving everything, it kind of put things into perspective for me and allowed me to be far more forgiving of the film than I otherwise would be.

 

I think what mainly holds the film together for me is both Octavia Spencer and Anne Hathaway's performances (similar to how Mai Zetterling and Anjelica Huston were the highlights of the original film for me). Spencer's character just radiates a ton of needed warmth and delivers a lot of the film's well-needed comedy, while Hathaway is an awesomely over-the-top and delightfully hammy blast as the Grand-High Witch. Both actresses brought a lot to their roles and, for me, were the main reason the film was heavily elevated from simply being a competent but mediocre film to an enjoyably watchable feature. 

 

I'll admit that I don't think this is a perfect film, but I found there was a lot of good, simple fun to be had here. It has story problems but to be fair to the film, those problems extend to the 90s feature as well – mainly that it takes halfway through the film (right around the midpoint) for things to actually get interesting. But I think the film gets by mostly on the charm of its two leading actresses and its zaniness. I also think it succeeds in matching the first film's disturbing factor, and I imagine that it will also scar a new generation of children who are exposed to this version. Though I certainly could be very wrong in that regard. 

 

B-/C+

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Really lame, and just makes you wonder exactly what happened to Robert Zemeckis. Perhaps the years of trying (and failing) to make his mo-cap technology a thing has taken a creative toll on him. Everything about this comes across as pedestrian, as there isn't much charm to be found here despite taking place in a world of witches and magic. Anne Hathaway just devours the scenery throughout as the Grand High Witch without any of the nuances Anjelica Huston brought to the part, while Octavia Spencer could play this type of role in her sleep. It's probably for the best that this skipped theaters: too scary for young children and too undercooked for everyone else, there isn't much here. C

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4 hours ago, filmlover said:

Really lame, and just makes you wonder exactly what happened to Robert Zemeckis. Perhaps the years of trying (and failing) to make his mo-cap technology a thing has taken a creative toll on him. Everything about this comes across as pedestrian, as there isn't much charm to be found here despite taking place in a world of witches and magic. Anne Hathaway just devours the scenery throughout as the Grand High Witch without any of the nuances Anjelica Huston brought to the part, while Octavia Spencer could play this type of role in her sleep. It's probably for the best that this skipped theaters: too scary for young children and too undercooked for everyone else, there isn't much here. C

Yeah, I think the studio might have been spared a embarassing bomb by the Covid virus....

 

This kind of film is really  hard to pull off. You need to hit a narrow target between scary and whimsical, and the film apparently missed.

And I had my doubts about Hathaway in the  lad from the beginning. Always though Cate Blanchett would have been a better choice.

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After a woeful miscalculation with 2018’s Welcome to Marwen, Robert Zemeckis unfortunately not only fails to right the ship with his remake of The Witches, but he may also have made an even worse film. When I originally held out hope that perhaps Zemeckis could tap into the playfulness of some of his classics and the underappreciated campiness of Death Becomes Her with a new take on Roald Dahl’s children’s book, he instead delivers a film that alternates between cringy and boring; much of the material involving the titular villains does not succeed as camp, and the material that focuses on our heroes is so rote that it becomes all too easy for the viewer to let their mind wander. Worse yet, it’s all punctuated by some of the worst CGI I’ve seen in a big-budget movie in years, which is a glaring problem for a film that places such heavy emphasis on its effects. As infamous as the dead-eyed uncanny valley characters of Zemeckis’s mo-cap films may be, at least they existed in a fully animated universe where their presence wasn’t nearly as conspicuous (and the technology was novel enough at the time that I am willing to give it a generous pass); when looking at the ghastly work on Anne Hathaway’s character in this film, however, I’m left absolutely baffled at how anyone involved with this production thought that CGI was a better call than makeup and prosthetics. However, it is not just the technology that proves a letdown – the script is also weak and fails to do anything particularly creative with its concept. The acting is also surprisingly weak for such a talent-laden cast. Anne Hathaway is trying to have fun with her role as the high queen, but she’s miscast; she just never figures out a way to vamp it up effectively, and I couldn’t help but think of how much better Cate Blanchett – or, even better yet, Meryl Streep – would have been in the same role, even with the limitations of the lame script. Octavia Spencer and Stanley Tucci both give competent performances, though it’s clear that their hearts aren’t really in it. There are a few sequences where Zemeckis’s skill as a technical filmmaker almost shines through, but even the sequences that have potential for some visual and spatial playfulness feel strangely perfunctory. I’ve long been a fan of Zemeckis, and I’ve been a willing defender of much of his output. With The Witches, however, he really misses the mark and makes a film completely lacking in the wonder, warmth, and wit that define his best work. 

 

C-

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