The Witches

"Despite being a rather unpretentious production, typical of the 'Afternoon Session', the feature film 'The Witches' stirred up the imagination of many children at the beginning of the 1990s. After all, although inspired by Roald Dahl's children's book ('Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'), the movie scared with the bizarre look of the witches who pursue children and turn them into mice. Now, the story is back in evidence with this new adaptation commanded by the great filmmaker Robert Zemeckis ('Forrest Gump', 'Back to the Future') and produced by Guillermo Del Toro ('The Shape of Water') and Alfonso Cuarón ('Gravity'). Sold as a more faithful version of Dahl's book, the new 'The Witches' may disappoint if we look at it from this angle. After all, Zemeckis imprints very little of his quality as a filmmaker in the movie and does not bring truly different looks here, repeating even filming styles from the 1990s version. What stands out here are three things. First, the affinity of the actors, with Anne Hathaway ('Les Miserables') and Octavia Spencer ('Hidden Figures') standing out. Secondly, the good effects, which do not scare as much as the original movie and should attract the little ones. Finally, some cleaning that Zemeckis did on the story and that no longer made sense, in addition to bringing a light racial plot to the story. Otherwise, the warning remains: perhaps, before watching this new version, it would be more interesting to review or get to know the one from the 1990s, with the inexorable Anjelica Huston in the role of the witch-leader."