I love the idea of re-vamping a classic child's tale and taking it a step further. What happens after they kill the Witch in the gingerbread house? What would Hansel and Gretel be like when they grew up? What would they do for a living? What adventures would they have? These questions and more are answered in the film "Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters".
The movie starts by re-telling the story we all know, with their father leading the children into the woods and leaving them. Then they wander the forest finding a house made--rather unlikely--of Gingerbread and candy. When they enter they find that the innocent-looking home is inhabited by a Witch. Capturing the siblings, the Witch forces Hansel to eat candy to fatten him up, and Gretel to heat the fire for the stove in which she'll bake them. When the children fight back trying to escape, the Witch tries to use magic on them but they are immune to it. They shove the evil Witch into the stove and burn her alive. Thus, she becomes their first kill as Witch Hunters, a profession they carry on into adulthood.
Fast forward to present day; Hansel and Gretel (played by Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton) come to the aid of a village plagued by children-stealing Witches. But not everyone in town is confident of the legendary Witch Hunters' abilities. The town sheriff assembles his own Witch hunting party, and both groups attempted to solve the mystery. But time is running out, it appears that the children might be taken for a specific spell, one that will make Witches impervious to fire. They need one more child and the heart of a White Witch before the blood moon is past to cast their spell. If they succeed they the Witches will be unstoppable.
Although they attempted to put some modern twists into the story, I still felt it was believable in the era and style it was told. They gave Hansel and Gretel some rather advanced weaponry for the times, but I was able to look passed that and still enjoy the action scenes. Famke Janssen (Jean Gray in the x-men movies) was fantastic as the Grand Witch, a dark yet sexy villain. The performances from the two leads were at times a little weak, but overall I enjoyed this movie. It's not the greatest Fantasy film of all time, however, it did had some clever twists in the plot that made it enjoyable.
I Give "Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters" three out of four stars. It was well done, fun, and original.
Now go forth and see it for yourself, or if you have already, share your thoughts on the film with us here. Also, below I added for your viewing pleasure the wicked opening titles for the movie. Enjoy.
R.J. Craddock
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