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Amazon.com essential video
This splendid adventure-fantasy from 1990 was adapted from Roald Dahl's book and directed by maverick British filmmaker Nicolas Roeg, who turned out to be a perfect (if seemingly unlikely) interpreter of Dahl's fiendishly clever tale of witchcraft in contemporary England. Scary, funny, and wildly entertaining, it's all about a young boy named Luke (Jasen Fisher) whose parents have died in a tragic accident, and whose grandmother (Mai Zetterling) takes him to a posh hotel in England, where a secret coven of witches is holding its annual convention. The Grand High Witch (Anjelica Huston, in a scene-stealing performance) has decreed that all children in England be turned into mice, and Luke and his pal Bruno (Charles Potter) are the first victims on the list. That's when the movie magicians from Jim Henson's creature shop have their work cut out for them, turning Luke and Bruno into clever little rodents and The Witches into a dazzling display of imaginative special effects, using a seamless combination of real mice and superb animatronic puppets. Director Roeg doesn't compromise the sinister edge of Dahl's story, but comedy gets equal time from the brilliant cast including Brenda Blethyn (from Secrets and Lies and Little Voice), Rowan Atkinson (of Black Adder and Mr. Bean fame), and Jane Horrocks (Little Voice) as the Grand High Witch's beleaguered assistant. Although it was largely neglected during its brief theatrical release, this wonderful movie has since enjoyed a thriving appreciation on video--see it and you'll understand why. --Jeff Shannon

Description
From the great Muppet creator Jim Henson comes this classic bursting with enchantment and adventure. Academy Award winner Anjelica Huston stars as the Grand High Witch in this exhilarating tale.Year: 1990

Customer Reviews: Read 86 more reviews...

3 out of 5 stars

A perfect family movie, but a shoddy disc. February 2, 2006
36 out of 37 found this review helpful

Roald Dahl man...he's the guy to turn to when you're looking for a good book for kids. 5th grade was the year I was introduced to his stories, and I'd be lying if I said he wasn't a big influence on my style over my school years. Unfortunately, any movie based off of his work doesn't fare as well. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (which should've just been called Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory) was despised by Dahl, and I'm sure the recent remake wouldn't have done any better if he were alive to watch it. James and the Giant Peach was good for what it was- a puppet movie, but it was too sugar coated. Matilda had potential, but had a weird tone to it. The Witches, however, is a different story. It was one of my favorite books of his, and the movie version translates the story perfectly. While I don't know if Dahl watched it or not, I don't think he would've had much bad to say. It's a great movie for any child 10 or older, and doesn't rely on special effects or songs to keep your interest. The only bad thing is, the dvd is just pitiful. A movie this good deserves much better. It has terrible audio, poor picture quality, no special features, and is stuck in full screen. The people who put out this disc deserve to be turned into mice.

The Witches starts out simple enough. A child, Luke, is being told a story about witches by his grandmother. The witches she tells him about are very distinct in the way they act- they pinch their noses when children walk by, have purple eyes, no toes, massive hands, are bald and have to wear wigs, and kill children. She then tells him a story about a little girl that was taken by a witch during a trip to the store to get milk for her dad. After she was kidnapped, she appeared in a painting that her father had, and would age each year until one day, she vanished from the painting for good. Luke's parents bid him goodnight as they go off for a night of dancing or something, but the next morning, his grandmother gets some bad news. Luke's parents died that night. Luke and his grandmother, in order to up their spirits, head for the beach and stay in a nice hotel. But it's here, that everything takes a turn for the worse. Luke sees strange women, one of which he notices has purple eyes. He stays away for a while, and does a good job. But eventually, he's caught. When he heads to an empty meeting room to teach his pet mice tricks, the room floods with the strange women. Their leader, the grand high witch, is there as well, and holds the meeting. She tells them all of a new plan to wipe out all of the children in England- using a special formula she's created. It turns children into mice. How will it be used in order to work? By giving all of the witches money to open/buy candy shops in the country, and put the formula in the candy. 'pretty sinister, eh? They get to see the formula in action firsthand, when Bruno, a tubby boy, enters the room, demanding the chocolate the grand high witch promised him. At the right time she said it'd work, he transforms before their eyes. Sure enough, it worked, and he's now a mouse. Luke is caught as well, and suffers the same fate. It's now up to them to not only revert back to their original forms, but to stop the grand high witch's plan, as they only have that evening to take care of it before she sends off the other witches with the formula and their money.

While it does drag on in a few small spots, The Witches gets the job done of translating a perfect kids book to the big screen. It doesn't have a very big cast outside of the grandmother, Luke, Bruno, the grand high witch, and Rowan Atkinson as the hotel manager, but it's enough to keep you interested. All of the actors do a superb job. Angelica Houston has been praised enough, but no one mentions how great of a job Mai Zetterling does as Luke's grandmother. She never comes off as too forced or goody-good. She's just perfect. Luke's just as good- he's the model all child actors should set the standard for. Had this movie been made now, each character would have their own back story that we'd have to hear before they did anything particularly interesting, and there no doubt would've been a few musical sequences. The movie isn't loaded with special effects either, much less, impressive ones. When the grand high witch eradicates someone who questions her, it looks like purple MS Paint lines are coming out of her eyes, and I couldn't help but laugh. And when people turn into mice, the green smoke that comes from their mouths and ears looks weird. But the make up during the transformation(s) is good. It doesn't look too fake. And the animatronic technology back then? Not good, but damn good enough to look convincing. Mouse-Luke and mouse-Bruno are adorable no matter what they do. The younger kids will be sure to get a kick out of them. I guess I should mention how violent the movie is, as well though, because I know some uppity parents will freak out over some scenes. Mouse-Luke gets a tiny piece of his tail cut off, and there's blood. When a certain person is transformed into a mouse later on, and is stepped on, it explodes in a rain of green goo. Other than those two things, and maybe the transformation process, there isn't much that's going to creep kids out. Well, unless they're sissies and get scared by old bald women with scabs and huge Pumpkinhead-esque hands. If you must, read the book prior to having them watch the movie so you know what you're getting into.

Here's where the fun stops. The picture quality made me cringe. Presented in its original full screen version, The Witches is plagued with grain, artifacting and compression issues, not to mention some blocking here and there. Even during the opening credits, where names are just on a black background, you can see grain. Later on in the movie, there are even lines that appear over the picture, making it look like it was made in the 60s. I watched this on my high definition monitor, and couldn't believe it. The audio's worse- I had to turn up the sound on my computer all the way in order to even make out some of what they say in the first half hour. When the characters enter the hotel, everything gets louder, but I still had to move closer to the screen in order to get anything. The audio is almost entirely center-focused.

There are no special features at all. Languages and scene selection are the only options other than Play Movie on the main menu. It makes me sad to see a movie that was released early in the dvd's life get such poor treatment when others that came out in the same time got tons of special features. This disc is begging for a rerelease with interviews, something about Roald Dahl, maybe a commentary, bloopers, a proper transfer and audio job, and more. ANYTHING would be better.

I definitely recommend The Witches over just about anything else that's released for kids these days. With poor attempts like 5 Children and It, Valiant, Garfield and anything dealing with orphaned kids being taken care of Special Ops members, we need to give our kids -something- good to watch. And in times like these, our only choice is to go back to the past and show them what real family movies were like. Especially The Witches. It doesn't feel too dated aside from that one poor special effect.

3 out of 5 stars

.....and they lived happily ever after? July 30, 2006
23 out of 28 found this review helpful

That woman with the purple eyes
and ugly square-toed shoes
The one who's scratching at her scalp
is certainly bad news!

Does she look faint when kids draw near
or hold her nose and run?
If women like this roam the world
God bless us, everyone

Convention time at the hotel
we goggle at the sight
of Grand High Witch Angelica
whose wig is on too tight

Her followers cheer gleefully
as she takes off her mask
revealing all her ghastly warts
and gives them one big task

"Quit your jobs," the Chief Witch says
"and open candy shops,
free chocolate should do the trick
we'll pull out all the stops"

The witches have an evil plan
to rid the world of brats
those stinky, smelly rotten kids
will now be meals for cats

But all bad deeds must have a hitch
their plan's been overheard
a clever boy is eavesdropping
and has heard every word

Soon he's crawling through the kitchens
and dropping in the cress
too many cooks DO spoil the broth
and make an awful mess

The ending differs from the book
it's really very sappy
I'm sure Dahl's rolling in his grave
because they made it happy

Rated: 3.5 stars

Amanda Richards, July 29, 2006

PS - The sound quality on this DVD is not up to standard, and you'll need to watch it with remote in hand to make volume adjustments. There are no sub-titles or closed-captioning, and the packaging is of the cheaper variety.

5 out of 5 stars

A Must! An Absolute Must! March 2, 2000
20 out of 20 found this review helpful

This is the kind of movie you can watch over and over, and each time you'll find something new to laugh at. Trying to mimic (rather pathetically) the hilariously delivered lines in the film, has yet to lose it's novelty between me and my friends. The film certainly does do justice to the classic Roald Dahl novel about the adventures of Luke, a young boy staying at an English seaside hotel which happens to be inhabited by the entire population of English child-hating witches and their supreme leader, the grand high witch, who are all under the guise of nice charitable ladies. The special effects are dazzling in combination with the delightful British humour which is contributed to by a number of familiar faces- Rowan Atkinson (Blackadder, Mr Bean)as the dry illtempered hotel manager, Jane Horrocks (Little Voice) as the fed up secretary, as well as Bill Paterson and Brenda Blethyn (Secrets and Lies). Yet the most fabulously larger than life performance is given by Anjelica Huston who plays Eva Ernst aka The Grand High Witch. The actress rightfully lets it rip, pumping energy and eccentricity into the character whist also displaying subtlety and composure when needed ie while she is in public view, disguised as chairman of the Royal Society for the prevention of cruelty to children. The film is accessible to all and has the ability to tickle the dryest of hearts. Stocked with nice touches, even the extras are part and parcel of the fun. DO YOUR SENSE OF HUMOUR A FAVOUR AND WATCH THIS FILM!

4 out of 5 stars

Not Quite for Children, Not Quite for Adults October 5, 2000
15 out of 16 found this review helpful

"The Witches" is one of my favorite films. The film combines the substantial filmmaking talents of Nicholas Roeg with the wonderworking of Jim Henson and an unforgettable performance from Angelica Huston. Every time I watch this film, I find something new to like about it.

Since I have seen the film numerous times, I was a bit disappointed that the DVD did not contain any special features, such as a commentary from the filmmaker or one of the actors. Other than the most basic chapter selection, the DVD does not offer any of the bonuses that one would like to see. Fortunately, the film itself is so good that it is worthwhile to buy this disc in spite of the substandard packaging.

From the very beginning of the film, we are thrown into an imaginative world where witches reside in literally every small village and where no child is safe in any country. As the credits roll across the screen, Roeg treats us to a ride on a broomstick, to a witch's-eye view of the frozen Scandinavian countryside.

The film then introduces us to Luke and his grandmother, the protagonists of this tale. We learn that the grandmother has long been fighting the witches and even has lost part of her finger in the struggles. After tragedy strikes the young boy's parents, the pair travel to England, which is literally infested with witches. Fortunately, Luke has been well-warned how to recognize them and can play safely in his tree house when other children would be in grave peril.

The delicious irony compounds when the grandmother takes Luke to a seaside resort hotel for her convalescence. It is the precise time when all the witches of England are meeting under the cover of the Royal Society of Prevention of Cruelty to Children. In a closed-door session, the witches remove their wigs and uncomfortable, yet practical, shoes, letting us see them in all their repulsiveness. The Grand High Witch (played to perfection by Angelica Huston) reveals her plan to turn all the children of England into mice. Of course, the witch's plan goes astray, and tables are turned on all the witches in one of the most delightful scenes in all of modern cinema. Every time I watch it, I think to myself how much fun it would be to make a film like this one.

This is a charming, delightful film with enough diversions to keep children fascinated, told with enough skill to keep adults interested. It is a keeper, worth watching many times.

5 out of 5 stars Cute mice and ugly witches. October 16, 1999
10 out of 12 found this review helpful

Anjelica Huston is so hideous as a witch it isn't funny. Actually, it is a bit funny, with the accent and everything. Oh, and the mice are simply adorable. Everyone else told the plot, so I won't linger about it. Basically, the Grand High Witch turns a boy, Luke, into a mouse and he has to save all the children in England. While a mouse. That presents some problems, and a kinda scary scene with the Grand High Witch's cat. The witch convention would be the most impressive scene in the movie. Eva Ernst (The Witch) tells everyone to take off their shoes. Then she tells them to remove their "vigs" (wigs). They are bald with purple eyes and ugly teeth. Then Eva proceeds to remove her hair AND face at the same time, with a little help from her secretary. Eva's chin grows, her nose lengthens, and underneath her mask is the most hideous thing you have ever seen. Long ears, no hair, and that awful face. I suppose it's still Anjelica Huston under all that. She keeps the accent, and even while she is being scary she is funny when explaining the results of her Formula 86. I highly recommend this movie, because the acting is suberb and the effects are better.

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