Film Review: The Witches

To cut right to the chase, no, this is not as good as 1990 version directed by Nicolas Roeg. I even rewatched that version before seeing the new one since I hadn’t seen it since I was very young. It holds up incredibly well. This new one, however, doesn’t strike me as a film that will stand the test of time, at least, not like the previous adaptation of Roald Dahl’s book. I suppose that isn’t necessarily surprising for a lot of folks out there, but what I did find surprising was just how…not bad at all…this version turned out to be.

For those not familiar with the original film or the source material, the film follows a young boy, Charlie (Jahzir Kadeem Bruno), who lives with his grandma, Agatha (Octavia Spencer), after a car accident took the lives of his parents. While at a hotel, Charlie stumbles into a meeting that turns out to be attended by numerous witches, all of whom reveal their true, hideous form as their leader, Lilith, aka The Grand High Witch (Anne Hathaway), informs them of a plan to rid the world of children. Charlies gets discovered by the witches, and along with another boy, Bruno (Codie-Lei Eastick), gets turned into a mouse. They escape the witches, but must now find a way to stop them.

This film has a seemingly random assortment of talent behind the camera. It’s directed by Robert Zemeckis, who co-wrote it with Guillermo del Toro (also a producer) and Kenya Barris (of Black-ish fame), and Alfonso Cuarón also serves as one of the producers. Zemeckis is also bringing in his usual collaborators, cinematographer Don Burgess, and composer Alan Silvestri. With a group of people like that, you might expect something really great, but the final result is not quite up to snuff.

Zemeckis has claimed the film is meant to be closer to the original book, which after doing a quick scan of the book’s plot synopsis, he would be right, though there are still plenty of changes, and moments that are seemingly deigned to mimic the ones in the 1990 version. Most of the changes come towards the final act of the film. The biggest change is obvious from the beginning, changing the setting from England to 60s Alabama. While I wouldn’t say it would have been necessary, but you would think the filmmakers would bring in some kind of racial undercurrent, just to bring in some fresh thematic ground for the material, but it’s totally untouched.

The first act here does spend some more time building on our lead before all the chaos ensues, which is nice, as opposed to the original. It becomes easy to empathize with Charlie as we watch him go through the grieving process with Agatha’s help. Jahzir Kadeem Bruno is totally solid, and I like his bond with Spencer, who is as charming as you’d expect. Other players like Codie-Lei Eastick, Stanley Tucci, who plays the hotel owner, Kristin Chenoweth, who voices a mouse, do good work here, even if the material isn’t particularly demanding.

Who does end up going above and beyond the call of duty is Anne Hathaway. At first glance, one might expect the use of visual effects on her face would take away from the performance, but it seems like Hathaway was way ahead of us, since she chews on the scenery so hard that she practically overpowers the pixels in the frame. It’s a deliciously over-the-top performance, the kind you would only get from a great actor, who has already reached their peak, and is just looking to have some fun without any restrictions. Her vocal inflections, her movements, everything about it is a blast to watch.

If you’ve been watching the works of Robert Zemeckis since around the mid-2000s, you have probably taken notice of his habit of indulging in visual effects, often in places that are unnecessary, or in the case of Welcome To Marwen, just plain baffling. I guess I’m in the minority in that I’m more forgiving of much of his recent films, I thought Flight was solid, and I genuinely loved The Walk and Allied, both of which were among my favorites in their respective release years.

While it is clear the The Witches indulges in visual effects, I think I’m more willing to let a lot of this slide because many of the VFX heavy moments are used for expressive flourishes rather than realism. Be it the lightning taking the shape of a witch’s claw when Agatha describes the appearance of the witches, or the repulsive way The Grand High Witch’s arms begin to extend and contort when trying to grab someone trying to escape. Sure, none of these will be more impressive than the makeup and prosthetics work or as charming as the puppetry of the mice in the 1990 film, but for the purposes of this film here, I ultimately didn’t mind it. Lilith’s CG cat, though? Could have done without that.

The Witches is a perfectly fine family film, that taps into some of the darkness that I’m sure made the original as appealing as it is, but without going too far. While I do vastly prefer the 1990 version, I think this film works just fine, even if it doesn’t add all that much, and I imagine kids will enjoy watching it. It captures some of the whimsy that defined many of Robert Zemeckis’ classics from the 80s, and it’s just a fun and easy sit in general. Its missteps are mostly harmless, and only serve to make the film uneven at its worst, the use of Chris Rock’s narration as a bookend is one aspect of the narrative in particular that I wasn’t fond of. The film is one of many films in 2020 originally slated for a theatrical release, but has moved to either VOD or one of a million streaming services, and honestly, as visually engaging as some sequences are, that is probably the best place for something as fun but disposable as this.

The Witches is now available to stream on HBOMax.