Halloween is days away. Will you be Trick or Treating or staying home this year? If you choose to stay home with the kids and want something fun to watch try, ‘The Witches’ on HBO Max. The film is directed by Robert Zemeckis (“Who Framed Roger Rabbit”) who puts his own twist on the 1983 Ronald Dahl children’s novel. Starring Oscar winner Octavia Spencer as Agatha Hansen, grandmother to the orphaned Charlie (Jahzir Bruno). Anne Hathaway plays The Grand High Witch and seems to have a lot of fun in the role.
Where it all begins
The movie starts with Chris Rock narrating the story, “The Witches”, “Witches are REAL!”. Witches are everywhere! Soon Charlie is confronted by a witch in the grocery store and Grandma becomes ill. Charlie orphaned by a car accident and sent to live with his grandma Agatha retreat to a high-end hotel. Only thing is that is where the Witches are having a conference.
From there Charlie learns that the witches have assembled to discuss their plans to rid the world of children. A couple of drops of the magic potion and children become mice. Talking mice too. With the help of Grandma Agatha, the children/mice set out to reverse the spell and get rid of the nasty witches. I won’t spoil how it ends but let’s just say there are lots of rats and black cat.
Performances
Anne Hathaway does a brilliant performance as High Witch. From her wicked smile to the unveiling of her claws, to taking off the wig she disguises herself with and reveling a bald head with red sores and blisters all over it. I’m still not sure what she pulled out of her ear and I’m not sure I want to know. The way she sniffed out a child, along with the special effects, that was very funny. Hathaway went all the way in and did a great job, I for sure not longer see her as the awkward princess.
In 1990 ‘The Witches’ were adapted to film. It made a debut with amazing groundbreaking special effects for its time, directed by Nicolas Roeg. That said the film did not do well at the box office. It was a good call for HBO Max to put this out on streaming service. I put the movie in my ‘Cute’ box. Ages ten and up I think are a fitting age and adults may find the movie a little slow.
The movie had the potential for more and I kind of expected that from Zemeckis. The special effects, and performances by Anne Hathaway and Octavia Spencer (she just makes you want her to be your grandma) make it “Cute”. The soundtrack was the other thing with the film. Good music can really get you into a movie and ‘I’ll be there’ and ‘Sittin on the Dock of the Bay’ got me in the mode. There was enough adventure and charm to keep the kids on the couch for a safe Halloween.
Overall, I give it a B.
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Mamma, Mimi, Michele, call out any one of those names and I will answer. There are several hats on my shelf. My passions are photography, being outside, movies, tv, pop culture and anything haunted or spooky. People are my other interest, I love meeting new people and socializing. When I lived in Savannah GA I worked as a tour guide both haunted and historical tours. I met people from all over the world, that was the best part of the job. All of this I can write about too, that’s the beauty of being a writer.
