Movie Review - The Witches (2020)

For the most part, Disney is the supreme leader in remakes of children's stories, mainly its own. It's done well financially for the company with recent hits like Maleficent (2014), Beauty and the Beast (2017) and Aladdin (2019). Disney has had hit after hit with the possible exception of this year's Mulan (2020), which had the coronavirus and other controversies keeping it down. Warner Bros. is another company in love with remakes and bringing back already established properties. Warner hasn't really aimed at children the way Disney has, except with the properties of JK Rowling. Warner Bros. did release Scoob! (2020) at the beginning of the summer. Now, it's releasing this remake of a 30 year-old, children's film, directed by Nicolas Roeg. Based on a Roald Dahl book, it focuses on a child along with his grandmother who have to battle a legion of witches who want to kill all the children in the country. The 1990 film by Roeg featured a central performance by Anjelica Huston and visual effects in part by Jim Henson Productions, utilizing the puppetry for which Henson is well known. This one also has a central performance but its visual effects are mostly CGI animation.

Anne Hathaway (Interstellar and The Dark Knight Rises) stars as the Grand High Witch, the leader of the group of witches who have come to the southern United States in 1968 with a plan to wipe out as many children as they can. She goes to a fancy hotel to stay. She also gathers all of her fellow witches at this hotel, in its conference room. She does so in order to tell them what her plan is and to get them to implement it. Even though it's not a Disney film, the Grand High Witch is akin to a lot of the female villains from Disney pictures like Maleficent, the villain from Sleeping Beauty (1959), or Cruella de Vil from 101 Dalmations (1996).

Some might see the Grand High Witch as being a version of the antagonist in The Devil Wears Prada (2006). Hathaway co-starred in that film and has seemingly absorbed some of the villainous qualities as embodied by Meryl Streep. I also invoke The Devil Wears Prada because that film not only shares Hathaway but it also shares Stanley Tucci who here plays Mr. Stringer, the hotel manager whose main function is to make sure animals aren't running around the hotel, particularly rats and mice. It's not just for sanitation purposes. He also has a no pet policy.

Jahzir Bruno (The Oath and Atlanta) plays a young African-American boy who is unnamed but who is from Chicago. He goes to live with his grandmother in Alabama after his parents die in a car crash. Unlike the Roeg film, this narrative deals with this young black boy's grief over the loss of his parents. Seeing this young black boy's relationship with his grandmother is a rare thing in cinema, especially mainstream cinema. That relationship does become a centerpiece in this film.

Octavia Spencer (Hidden Figures and The Help) co-stars as the aforementioned grandmother. She's this really great, Southern black woman who is of a certain age. She's warm but tough. She's strong but fair. She's smart but open. We immediately fall in love with her, as we see her take care of her grandson and guide him through his grief and depression over losing his parents. The way she guides him is about telling him about a loss she had as a child as well. She tells him about how her best friend was the victim of a witch's evil spell.

When her grandson reveals he's seen a witch, the grandmother tries to flee the area and retreat to some place safe. Unfortunately, they aren't able to get away from the witches. What follows is a combination of Ratatouille (2007) and Spies in Disguise (2019). I don't think that the machinations and even action that occur in the second half of this film are as engaging or exciting as either of those two films. The emotions in that second half certainly aren't as engaging or exciting as Spies in Disguise. Despite the fact that the adventure is fun and a bit thrilling, it doesn't pack an emotional punch that gives us great character development or dives deeper to make us care about the characters more. A Disney or even Pixar film would have accomplished that or tried harder than this film does.

Roald Dahl was a British author who had several of his works adapted into films. Probably the best well-known adaptation is Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971). In several ways, Hathaway's character is the anti-Willy Wonka. At one point, she even wields chocolate bars to lure children into her trap, just as Willy Wonka does. However, her purposes are much more sinister. Her and her witches represent a group of women who hate children, mainly for superficial reasons. It's a shame that the anti-maternal feelings as a theme wasn't utilized to better dramatic effect, instead of just being a novel motive here. Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory could be seen as a commentary on childhood morality as it related to commercialism or marketing. I'm not sure what the greater takeaway was meant to be here. It seems like the takeaway would be the black boy dealing with grief and loss, but that thread is lost in the second half of the film. In terms of other Dahl adaptations, it's not as effective as James and the Giant Peach (1996) or Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009).

Rated PG for scary images, scary moments, language and thematic elements.
Running Time: 1 hr. and 45 mins.

Available on HBO Max.