Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters DVD Review

Director: Tommy Wirkola

Starring: Jeremy Renner, Gemma Arterton, Famke Janssen, Zoe Bell

Running Time: 85 minutes

Certificate: 15

Extras: The Witching Hours

Every now and then a film comes along in which actors visibly lose faith in the project through its duration. HANSEL & GRETEL: WITCH HUNTERS is one such film. Loosely based on the Grimm Brothers tale Hansel & Gretel, WITCH HUNTERS ‘ups the ante’ by transporting the siblings into adulthood and giving them a successful career in witch hunting. In much the same way studios tried with Snow White and Red Riding Hood to breath new life into classic fairytales WITCH HUNTERS adds blood and the odd bit of profanity to its predictable story arc. Sadly instead of new life this maturing of the content, and the resultant 15 certificate, adds very little and only succeeds in alienating a portion of its undoubted 12-16 year old target audience. What joy anybody else will find in proceedings is questionable.

The titular siblings are played by Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton who look almost horrified by writer/director Tommy Wirkola’s dialogue. Opposite the pair is antagonistic witch Muriel portrayed with admirable effort by Famke Janssen, an actress who surely deserves better. Not helping the film are some poor computer generated effects, which overshadow the excellent prosthetics on show.

Questions had to be asked as pertains the calibre of HANSEL & GRETEL: WITCH HUNTERS when its release was put back to coincide with Jeremy Renner’s AVENGERS ASSEMBLE and THE BOURNE LEGACY box office success. This ploy seems to have worked given the $200+million box office, but the quality of the product never threatens to reach even Bourne’s average levels.

To describe HANSEL & GRETEL: WITCH HUNTERS as anything but a mess is near impossible. Sure it has its tongue in its cheek but whilst Renner claims it was fun to make in the solitary extra, it isn’t much fun to watch.

HANSEL & GRETEL: WITCH HUNTERS is released on DVD and Blu-ray via Paramount on June 24th. You can also check out a brand-new clip below from behind-the-scenes that’s both on the DVD and Blu-ray: