The Witches (1990)What would happen if all of those fables about child-eating witches disguised as everyday women and casting spells on children were true? The Witches (1990) is a children's movie about a young boy named Luke (Jasen Fisher) who is transformed into a mouse by the Grand High Witch, Eva Ernst (Anjelica Huston), after witnessing her demonstrate her horrible secret weapon on his new friend, Bruno (Charlie Potter). Luke must rely on his grandmother, Helga (Mai Zetterling)--who first told Luke about the existence of witches--to help him stop Eva from realizing her evil scheme of ridding England of its children.
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The Witches opens with Luke staying at his grandmother's in Norway for a vacation; she tells him stories--with all sincerity--about how witches are real. (It makes you wonder how this topic was broached in the first place.) She recalls a story about a friend of hers who was stolen away by a witch as a child. Her soul was locked away in a painting, aging as the years rolled on--Helga's story wouldn't be out of place in "Grimms' Fairy Tales". Luke listens to the cautionary yarns she spins with a mixture of rapt attention and awe at the terrible power of these supernatural agents of evil. Helga doesn't share these stories to terrify her grandson, but because she knows from experience that the only defense against a witch is to be prepared--her dismembered pinky finger is insinuated to be the result of an ill-fated encounter with one. This prologue establishes the ground rules of witches--they can look like anyone, except that they have piercing purple eyes, no toes, and have a tendency to get a rash on their scalp from wearing wigs all the time. These witches are more akin to the fantasy crones from fairy tales of yore, with Eva being the apex of this trope, complete with a ponderously long nose, warts, and skeletal talons concealed behind magical skin camouflage. Because Luke is cognizant of their distinguishing characteristics, he is a step ahead when one bug-eyed witch tries to lure him out of his tree house with promises of snakes and chocolate bars. There is little he can do about the way that he "smells" to witches--according to Helga, they smell like dog droppings to them. Suffice to say, witches really hate children--Eva can't even say the name without retching. Of course, no one believes that witches exist, and this is what allows them to operate in the shadows; as Helga observes to Luke while revealing the secret history of witches to him, "nobody's ever seen the devil, but we know he exists". After Luke's transformation, they are the only ones poised to defend the children of England--and ultimately the world--from joining Luke in his transmogrification into a rodent. Eva holds her conference--ironically presented as a children's welfare charity--while Luke and Helga are (coincidentally) staying at the same hotel, run by the insipid manager, Mr. Stringer (Rowan Atkinson). With her icy attitude, sleek black dress, and Eastern European accent, Eva is the quintessential witch. As the leader of the global coven, she browbeats her charges like the abusive motivator played by Alec Baldwin in Glengarry Glen Ross--demanding "maximum results" for eliminating the children of England. Eva seems to possess limitless funds to finance her campaign of destruction, and proposes that her followers give up their day jobs and buy candy shops to distribute her shapeshifting potion--dubbed "Formula 86"--via chocolates and lollipops.
Directed by Nicolas Roeg and adapted from the novel of the same name by Roald Dahl, The Witches embraces a mixture of horror and comedy that is rarely achieved in a film with children as its target audience. This effect is heightened by the special effects contributions by Jim Henson Productions, who also co-produced the film. When Eva's makeup is discarded during the coven's seminar, she is truly a hideous sight. Extreme close-ups and wide-angle lenses of the cackling witches, combined with scenes when they use the formula on Bruno and Luke--who spasm and exhale blasts of green mist before transforming--potentially makes The Witches the stuff of nightmares. But this makes it reminiscent of another Roald Dahl classic adapted for film, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, especially considering its infamous boat ride scene. The Witches grasps what few movies meant to thrill children do--that in order for the stakes to seem real, the threat of evil must be more than mere comedy shtick. Luke is very much a normal boy, even if he has endured more than his fair share of tragedy. He is implied to have come from a background of some affluence--going to school in England, hailing originally from America, and visiting his grandmother in Norway. Yet Luke never comes across as spoiled, which is implied to be due to his good upbringing, unlike the food-obsessed Bruno, whose father (Bill Paterson) is an ill-mannered boor. Luke's parents are slain in a car crash, but he seems unusually adept at coping with unfortunate events; even when he is transformed into a mouse, he resigns himself to it, ignorant of the complications that will arise when his grandmother is no longer able to care for him. After the metamorphosis, there are several shots which are deliberately low to the ground--a "mouse's point-of-view" intended to make it easier to relate to Luke's plight. The film embraces another trope of the children's film through Luke, that the main character--who is a child--sets a good example for children at home about how to behave. Luke courageously argues against his grandmother's idea that they escape the hotel to avoid anything worse happening to him. He presses the point that they must stop Eva and her diabolical plan, even if it puts him in great peril--including everything from being eviscerated by Eva's cat to falling into a vat of "cress soup".
Recommended for: Fans of a charming and unsettling children's film, about vile hags trying to turn little boys into mice, and all the antics that come with it. Principally designed for children, The Witches never truly delves into uncomfortable territory, even when it is being gross. It is a good story for children about defending the innocent from the machinations of wicked bullies and tyrants, embodied in the eponymous witches.
Directed by Nicolas Roeg and adapted from the novel of the same name by Roald Dahl, The Witches embraces a mixture of horror and comedy that is rarely achieved in a film with children as its target audience. This effect is heightened by the special effects contributions by Jim Henson Productions, who also co-produced the film. When Eva's makeup is discarded during the coven's seminar, she is truly a hideous sight. Extreme close-ups and wide-angle lenses of the cackling witches, combined with scenes when they use the formula on Bruno and Luke--who spasm and exhale blasts of green mist before transforming--potentially makes The Witches the stuff of nightmares. But this makes it reminiscent of another Roald Dahl classic adapted for film, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, especially considering its infamous boat ride scene. The Witches grasps what few movies meant to thrill children do--that in order for the stakes to seem real, the threat of evil must be more than mere comedy shtick. Luke is very much a normal boy, even if he has endured more than his fair share of tragedy. He is implied to have come from a background of some affluence--going to school in England, hailing originally from America, and visiting his grandmother in Norway. Yet Luke never comes across as spoiled, which is implied to be due to his good upbringing, unlike the food-obsessed Bruno, whose father (Bill Paterson) is an ill-mannered boor. Luke's parents are slain in a car crash, but he seems unusually adept at coping with unfortunate events; even when he is transformed into a mouse, he resigns himself to it, ignorant of the complications that will arise when his grandmother is no longer able to care for him. After the metamorphosis, there are several shots which are deliberately low to the ground--a "mouse's point-of-view" intended to make it easier to relate to Luke's plight. The film embraces another trope of the children's film through Luke, that the main character--who is a child--sets a good example for children at home about how to behave. Luke courageously argues against his grandmother's idea that they escape the hotel to avoid anything worse happening to him. He presses the point that they must stop Eva and her diabolical plan, even if it puts him in great peril--including everything from being eviscerated by Eva's cat to falling into a vat of "cress soup".
Recommended for: Fans of a charming and unsettling children's film, about vile hags trying to turn little boys into mice, and all the antics that come with it. Principally designed for children, The Witches never truly delves into uncomfortable territory, even when it is being gross. It is a good story for children about defending the innocent from the machinations of wicked bullies and tyrants, embodied in the eponymous witches.