The Witches (DVD)

I must confess that when this movie was in theaters, I avoided it like the plague. I rolled my eyes, and sucked my teeth. I even turned the channel when it was on pay TV channels that I had already paid for anyway, until one rainy day, I found myself watching a movie I did not know the title of, only to find out that it was this. Well, I was hooked, and scoured the listings to find when it would come on again to see it from the beginning. Since then, I have taped it off pay TV, purchased this film on VHS, and DVD, and if they ever were to release the Widescreen edition, I would spend new money to rebuy this movie all over again, just like I did Schindler's List when the Widescreen DVD finally came out. I have even tried to locate a LaserDisc copy, because they usually have Widescreen by default, but so far no luck, as there were only two short run releases, and one was in Germany.

So needless to say, this movie will entertain both you and your children, and if you are a fan of Angelica Huston, or Jan Horricks, this is a gem. Those who like the TV show Absolutely Fabulous, will enjoy seeing Jan Horricks play a character who gets to do a little more than the Ab Fab Character "Bubble" gets to do, and even gets to be the key to the happy ending.

This was one of my "poorly films" when i was younger....you know the ones, you're off school ill and your parents just stick you in front of the telly with a few videos!? Well this was one of my favourites - although it was definitely a bit scary for me!
I love The Witches - it is a pretty good,true screen adaptation of the book by Roald Dahl about a young boy who stumbles upon a convention held in a Cornwall hotel for Witches! Of course, he in true movie style, instead of legging it (lets face it, wouldnt you have done a runner if faced with Anjelica Huston (The Adams Family, The Royal Tenenbaums) as an evil witch?!) he sticks around and is subsequently turned into a mouse - But fear not, despite being a rodent he still tries his absolute best to stop the witches from hatching their biggest plan yet - to turn ALL the children in the world into mice!! This film has a few nice cameo roles - the most famous probably being Rowan Atkinson (Mr Bean, Blackadder) as the miserable hotel manager and Jane Horrocks (Ab Fab, Little Voice)
Its a brilliant film - i would say for kids above the age of about 5 it'll be fine....my little boy is 3 and he'd be much to scared of this film (although maybe its just a family trait - maybe we're all just big scaredy cats!!)

This is one of those movies you have to have grown up with. As a kid I was terrified by this movie: women taking their wigs and faces off, chasing after little children, cursing them to live inside oil paintings forever, and havign purple eyes.

The premise is fairly straightforward. A little boy gets told of witches, and goes on holiday with his Grandma after his parents die in a car accident. They go to a hotel and soon realise that they are in the presence of all the witches in the UK having their annual conference (auspiciously titled the "RSPCC"). After finding out accidentally that the witches are planning to turn all the children in the country into mice the little boy luke decides to take action, but not before he has been turned into a mouse himself. What follows is a silyl caper which lasts for an hour and a half, which is not too much and not too little to enjoy its silliness.

One of the scariest parts when I was a child was when one of the witches was burnt alive. I won't go into any more detail than that... you just have to see it.

O yes, and it has Rowan Atkinson in it too, who provides the comedy element...

The following is written by my 9 year old daughter who wrote this for part of her homework:-

First Luke's grandma is ill so they had to go to another country and stop in a hotel. And the hotel was full of witches that hated children and wanted to kill them. In the afternoon there was a meeting that included witches and children At the meeting the grand high witch introduced a potion to make children into a mouse. Then they tired it out on Bruno and while Luke was hiding then they got Luke and turned him into a mouse. And finally a kind witch turns Luke into a human like before and he got Bruno back again. By Molly.

This is one of those films that when you first read the write up you could easily pass on watching. However in my opinion that would be a grave mistake. It is soo good Angelica Houston is just fantastic her acting is spot on! However i would not recommend you let young children watch it or at least watch it yourself first as the make up is so good that i think it would scare younger viewers! The witch in the tree is the sort of nightmare i used to have growing up and it brought back all those horrible memories!! Now as an adult i know thay are not true........ Or are they? Rowan Atkinson is a dream,as usual, as the hotel manager. A film truly worth watching.