The Witches (or, more properly titled: Roald Dahl’s The Witches) is the second film version of Dahl’s classic novel. I really enjoyed that original from 1990 though I was too old to be scared of it. This new version is not as good but still worthy of a watch. It’s available on HBO Max.
The movie is set in American in the late 60s and tells the story of a little boy who loses his parents in a car accident and is taken in by his grandmother, played by Octavia Spencer. Together, they spend some time at a grand old hotel where they run smack into a meeting of witches, including the Grand High Witch as played deliciously by Anne Hathaway in a fantastic performance.
This film is definitely aimed at children as are most Roald Dahl books… but, of course, it’s a children’s story with gleefully sadistic fangs. It has enough creepy/spooky elements that the kiddies will probably have nightmares. And, indeed, the visual FX around the witches are genuinely creepy, even for a crusty grumpy guy like me.
Those visual effects are par for the course for Robert Zemeckis who loves his visual toys. I also was and wasn’t surprised to see Guillermo del Toro has a writing credit since this is just the kind of creepy-for-kids story that would attract him. Alfonso Cuaron is a producer… not sure the connection there but the man has talent.
As far as the actors go, the star of the show is Anne Hathaway and not just for the amazing FX they give her. She’s camping it up in every scene and clearly having a ball. She’s fun to watch but never so much as when they pull off her visual transformation into a witch. It’s genuinely pretty creepy and that creep factor just keeps amping up. We get a super wide, disturbing smile, misshapen feet, three fingered hands ands she FLIES now?!? Some of that may even give me low key nightmares.
But not all is perfect. The movie does start to run out of steam and starts tossing things at the walls near the end. The inability to stick the landing drags the movie down too much. It’s unfortunate, especially considering how fairly strong the first half was. It’d never be a timeless classic but it was edging up to it.
So, yeah, I think this is worth watching on HBO Max, especially if your a kid or you have kids who you want to mildly traumatize. The actors are all having fun and so are the visual FX guys. It’s an entertaining watch and might even be more watchable than the original, at least to people under a certain age.
Score: 77