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| "Never walk into a house made of candy" I do not own the copyrights for this image |
I give this film an eight out of ten. It was really well
done, the performances were believable and at some times funny, reminding the
audience this may be an action film but it’s a children’s tale as well. To give
everyone a basic understanding of the story, the first few minutes is the story
of Hansel and Gretel the children and how their father tries to save their
lives and hides them in the forest (for a reason unknown to the audience) and
the two stumble on the Gingerbread House where a witch is inside. The pacing is
quick but it’s steady enough to give the audience a general background of the
story before setting off into the older version of the siblings we have been
waiting for. After Hansel and Gretel successfully kill the witch as children, a
narration from the adult Hansel comes on and says, “Number One: Never walk into
a house made of candy. If you want to kill a witch, set her ass on fire.” This
already lets the audience know that fire will play a role in the movie and is a
huge weakness for witches.
The director and editors establish forwarding in time with
old medieval newspaper graphics of Hansel and Gretel killing witches (sometimes
in a cartoony but graphic way) until we come up on present day, where a town is
condemning a young woman as a witch. Sheriff Berringer (Peter Stormare) is
doing the condemning when a gun is pointed at his head, at first we don’t see
the one holding the gun but a quick turn and we see it’s Gretel (Emma Arterton)! When I saw
this is how the director chose to introduce Gretel made me want to scream out
‘FEMINISM!’ I was so happy to see Gretel come off as the badass sister, who is
tough as nails and fights like a warrior.
Hansel (Jeremy Renner) is the quiet one but still knows how to kick some
ass, and rightfully so. But we find out Hansel has a weakness, the Sugar
Sickness (aka modern day Diabetes) from when he was forced to eat candy all the
time as a child held captive in the witch’s house.
Automatically I loved what the
director and writer, Tommy Wirkola did to the characters. He gave them distinct
personalities of course, but he made the male counterpart weaker then the
female. Isn’t that mostly the other way around in movies? Especially siblings, wouldn’t the brother
feel the need to constantly protect his sister? So seeing Gretel take over in
certain scenes and become a major part of the storyline was intriguing and not
something I expected at all sitting down in the theatre. Hansel of course has
his own story line where he learns a valuable lesson that changes his outlook
on life while Gretel is figuring out certain mysteries from the past while
trying to concur the Dark Witch Muriel (Famke Janssen).
Portraying the witches were not easy as from
the constant face changes and using intense graphics to make their powers seem
real and dangerous was well done. Their face makeup had deep cracks saturated
eyes or lips, which really pronounced how ugly they were. Also the creation of
Edward the Troll was impeccable and watching him come to life on screen was
always enjoyable. The graphics showed off the witches intense powers which were
using super speed, springing up trees out of no where during chase scenes,
power to move objects, changing their faces, flying and exploding people. It allowed
the movie to live up to its ‘action’ theme. Especially when there were some gruesome
deaths there was definitely a hint of what I call, ‘Quentin Tarantino’ gore but
not nearly as much, it looked fake enough for children to watch and not have
nightmares over it.
Overall,
it was a fun movie to watch with some plot twists that you probably could see
from a mile away if you are paying attention. The writing helped the story
along especially adding little jibes at the story and other storylines. There
was a shout out to Goldilocks when Ben (Thomas Mann) a Hansel and Gretel super
fan gives Gretel some porridge and says “Not too hot, not too cold, but just
right.” Also the storyline was easy to follow and every little thing ties
together in the end, which wraps up the movie perfectly. The acting especially
well done not only thanks to the talented duo but for their chemistry on screen
as well. Renner and Arterton nailed is as brother and sister bounty hunters and
I couldn’t ask for a better portrayal of the two. It’s definitely worth seeing if you want to
see a childhood fairy tale come to life in a kickass way., enjoyable for all
audiences from 9 to 90.
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