Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1499 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-10-17
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 87 minutes

Synopsis
Following the death of his parents in a car crash, young Luke is taken to England by his grandmother, who delights him with her tales of dark forces, witches, and their wicked ways. While stopping at a seaside hotel, Luke discovers a plot by the Grand High Witch to turn all the children of England into mice. Can Luke and his grandmother foil the evil witch's plan?

Customer Reviews

Mice to see you, to see you...
Recently at the school I work at they had this as their home-time story, which led me - a life-long Dahl fan - to re-read both The Witches and Matilda, my favourite Dahl books (as well as Danny the Champion of the World), and rent the movies.

It's said that Roald Dahl, by then close to the end of his life, cried when he saw this film of one of his best books (god knows what he might have thought of "Matilda"!). However for once I couldn't disagree with his assessment more - the film is richly comic, frighteningly fantastic and despite the fact that Luke has become an American kid (while all the rest of the characters are Norwegian or British - it would have been more believeable had Luke been English too as he was in the book), Jim Henson's puppetry adds the icing on the cake, the mice looking like proper mice as far as possible rather than too cartoonish, and the hideous vision of the Grand High Witch without her mask is enough to give every sensitive child nightmares. It appears that a lot of the film was shot on location, even the indoor scenes, lending it a fresh, exciting air.

Anjelica Huston, despite her tacky Eastern-European-cum-German accent which is never quite believeable, and Jane Horrocks (playing Jane Horrocks as always :-) although the wig is actually scarier than when she takes it off!) are tantalisingly witchy, and although her name escapes me, the lady who plays Luke's Norwegian grandmother - of course Dahl's parents were both Norwegian, so it is logical that the Land of the Midnight Sun should feature so prominently, and it is rendered in an incredibly vivid way - is a wonderful "bestemama" for Luke, the kind of granny all of us dream of having as children (though I'm happy to say my granny is wonderful without smoking cigars or giving me white mice as pets!). Rowan Atkinson and his clumsy hotel staff are all-too-believable. The added twist with Horrocks' character is ironed in to the main Dahl narrative with a minimum of fuss; it is not simply grafted onto the story without some verisimilitude.

The ending of the book, while in keeping with Dahl's understated climaxes, would have looked dull on film, and on balance I would have to say that I agree with the decision to "Disneyfy" it - only really because the rest of the movie is so tragicomically funny that we can relax in the Jim Henson team's capable hands. It's a really good watch for adults too, and like Dahl's books themselves, it treats children as intelligent human beings in their own right, with wonderful (and accurate) glimpses of another European culture and a powerful supporting cast (Bruno's parents run away with their scenes - as does the chambermaid with her ill-advised cosmetic treatment!). Recommended for all ages.

Great film, but little scary in parts!
Its a some kind of fantasy film with witches. I loved this! i could keep on watching it. At first when i was 12 and i saw it i expected it to be great for younger children, although the base is of fantasy it is quite scary in parts,frightening. But not a horror lol. If you can stand children being turned into mice and that type of stuff you should get in and enjoy this unusal film.

Very good, but the audiobook is better
The Witches is an enjoyable but scary story about, well, Witches, and one boy's adventures in getting rid of them all. It is normal Dahl stuff - slightly dark, with lots of frighteningly real characters, a great plot and more than a little humour.

However, for those familar with the book or Simon Callow's excellent audiobook, you quickly realise something is slightly amiss with the potion used to create the DVD - and this starts when Luke opens his mouth.

On the whole it sticks faithfully to the book but misses out some important and interesting details (an example being the ancient ones - probably too politically unacceptable for Warner Bros). The biggest departure from the book comes at the end, where more than a drop of "happily ever after" potion was added to the brew.

The Grand High Witch is indeed horrible and her consort of English witches a jolly mixture of revolting, incredible and ridiculous. True Dahl characters. Luke and his Grandmother are believable and Rowan Atkinson is enjoyable as the Fawlty-esque hotel owner.

Overall, very enjoyable and certainly frightening enough for our five year old, who still brings up witches every night before bed, three days after watching it. If you enjoy Roald Dahl, you will enjoy this - but sit close to your little ones when the witches remove their human faces.