Based on the novel by the ever-popular children’s author, Roald Dahl, The Witches, directed by Robert Zemeckis, is the second attempt at adapting Dahl’s sinister story. The first, released in 1990 and directed by Nicolas Roeg, is beloved by millions, and despite being a movie aimed at children and the family market, has many terrifically terrifying moments. With the practical effects and scare sequences still holding up thirty years later, Zemeckis has his work cut out for himself with the remake. But surely, if anyone is up to the challenge, then it’s the director of The Back to the Future trilogy and Who Framed Roger Rabbit, right?
One of the biggest flaws that The Witches has is that it just simply isn’t scary. There might be the odd shot or fleeting moment that will unnerve a handful of children, but in its entirety, there’s no real threat presented. Dahl’s novel and the original film are packed full of uneasy feelings and feature elements that frightened adults watching or reading as much as the children. The opening story of the girl cursed to grow old in a painting is pure nightmare fodder and the visualisation of the witches, the Grand High Witch in particular, is iconic and seared into the brains of all who have seen it. In the remake, we skip the opening painting story in favour of one with more in common with a latter years Simpsons Halloween special story in which a girl is turned into a chicken. And the witch design is just – well we’ll get to that a little later, but it’s just not remotely the same.
It’s not just this version of The Witches that is devoid of trying to induce fear in children, there seems to have been a pattern forming for the last couple of decades in which films aren’t allowed to frighten children. Yes, some films rated 12A have managed to pull off some creepy segments, but they are after all, 12A movies, and should be scary to anyone below that age. I’m talking explicitly about those films rated PG. Once upon a time these films could, and did, contain enough to make films like The Witches, Return to Oz, even the first Jumanji, a little bit creepy. Learning to handle the feeling of fear is an important life experience for children, and films offer a safe way for them in which to explore this. By sheltering generations from that experience we are denying them that excitable tingle you get when watching something just a little unsettling. Considering Zemeckis himself gave us that Christopher Lloyd moment in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, one would assume that this film would go against the current trend and embrace the fear, but sadly not.
The story sticks reasonably close to Dahl’s source material, but does make several changes. The opening alteration has already been discussed, but other changes include the addition of a third mouse working against the witches, a shift in time to the year 1968, and most importantly, the story moves from England to America. This change in location only works to strip the story of all its atmosphere. Roeg’s film was set in a dreary Newquay. The rainy autumnal and chilly weather seeping into the fibres of the film helped create an oppressive level of tension before anything else had happened. This time around, the story and hotel are moved to sunny Southern America, complete with golden beaches outside. It makes everything too bright and garish, and it’s very hard to be scared in the daylight.
Angelica Huston’s The Grand High Witch is one of movie history’s greatest villains, everything about her performance oozed spite and malice, and that reveal of her true form is just incredible. The prosthetic work is impressive and worked to make the viewer believe that witches might be real. Anne Hathaway’s portrayal is unfortunately lacking in that underlying threat that Huston had. Her interpretation is more brattish, and therefore comedic. This Grand High Witch has more temper tantrums than a teething toddler, and by making your villain so silly, you yet again dilute the fear factor. It is in their appearance though that the two witches significantly differ; gone are the prosthetic pieces in favour of some ill advised CGI work, which make her look more like a featherless bird than fearsome foe.
The Witches 2020 has far too much of a reliance on CGI, yet another element that pulls the viewer out of the film and once more acts as a barrier to being frightened. The effects for the mice, the witches, and for some reason the Grand High Witch’s cat, have been pushed beyond looking realistic and consequently all of them have more of a cartoonish sheen to them. Scenes with the mice feel more like an outtake from Ratatouille, and with such an artificial appearance, all realism and immersion is lost.
Clearly a product of the time, The Witches manages to squeeze all the frightful fun out of Dahl’s source material and Roeg’s original film, in favour of bright brash silliness. It’ll likely entertain the kids for a couple of hours, but will not instil that same feeling of magic and dread into them that the 1990 film did for a whole generation.
The Witches is available to watch instantly at home on Monday 26th October 2020.
The Witches
Summary
An excessively Americanised and heavily diluted attempt at re-birthing Roald Dahl’s classic novel on screen.
