The Brothers Grimm (2005)

Will and Jake Grimm are traveling con-artists who encounter a genuine fairy-tale curse which requires true courage instead of their usual bogus exorcisms.

Director:

Terry Gilliam

Writer:

Ehren Kruger

Stars:

Petr Ratimec, Matt Damon, Heath Ledger

2 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Petr Ratimec	...	Young Will
Barbora Lukesová	...	Mother Grimm (as Barbara Lukesova)
Anna Rust	...	Sister Grimm
Jeremy Robson	...	Young Jacob
Matt Damon	...	Wilhelm Grimm
Heath Ledger	...	Jacob Grimm
Radim Kalvoda	...	Gendarme
Martin Hofmann	...	Gendarme
Josef Pepa Nos	...	German War Veteran
Harry Gilliam	...	Stable Boy
Miroslav Táborský	...	Old Miller
Roger Ashton-Griffiths	...	Mayor
Marika Sarah Procházková	...	Miller's Daughter (as Marika Prochazkova)
Mackenzie Crook	...	Hidlick
Richard Ridings	...	Bunst

Storyline

Folklore collectors and con artists, Jake and Will Grimm, travel from village to village pretending to protect townsfolk from enchanted creatures and performing exorcisms. They are put to the test, however, when they encounter a real magical curse in a haunted forest with real magical beings, requiring genuine courage.

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Plot Keywords:

village | exorcism | curse | con artist | girl | 

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Taglines:

This Isn't The Way To Grandmother's House

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Comedy | Fantasy | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for violence, frightening sequences and brief suggestive material

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA Czech Republic UK

Language:

English French German Italian

Release Date:

26 August 2005 (USA)

Also Known As:

Los hermanos Grimm

Filming Locations:

Ledec nad Sázavou, Czech Republic

Box Office

Budget:

$88,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$286,812 (South Africa) (6 January 2006)

Gross:

$513,772 (South Africa) (20 January 2006)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Dimension Films, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Mosaic Media Group

Technical Specs

Runtime:

118 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Steven Soderbergh did his own cut of the movie.

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Goofs

When Jacob flies through the tower window and smashes into the floor, the handle of the "metal" ax in his hand bends.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Sister Grimm: Mama, it's so cold.
Mother Grimm: It's very, very cold. Will. Put another log on the fire, lad.
Young Will: There isn't any more firewood, Mama.

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Crazy Credits

At the very start when the MGM lion does his usual roar, he starts as normal but then howls like a wolf.

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Connections

References Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)

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Soundtracks

"Happy Ending"
Composed and Performed by Ladislav Horak, Frantisek Matijovsky, Ivo Mrazek,
Josef Vondracek and Lubos Harazin

User Reviews

Gilliam does Hollywood ...

Being a fan of both good old-fashioned fantasy movies and of director Terry Gilliam, I was really looking forward to this one. I was slightly put off when I heard Gilliam's complaints about the constant interference of the Brothers Weinstein, but the director does have a history of being dissatisfied with the production of projects which actually turn out pretty good in the end, so my hopes were still pretty high.

Rather than being a historical biography of the famous authors, this is a fantastic make-believe story of the possible inspirations behind the stories of the Brothers Grimm. The brothers travel around Europe working as con artists, fooling simple peasants into believing they are witch-hunters and monster slayers. However, when they are captured by a French general and sent to investigate a town which is believed to have been targeted by similar con-men, they discover that there may be some truth behind the fairy tales. The very woods surrounding the town seem to be alive, a big, bad wolf stalks through the darkness and an evil power seems to emanate from a mysterious ancient tower ...

So, Gilliam tries his hand at doing a commercial summer blockbuster. And the results are, well, interesting. Primarily he shows that he can produce some great action sequences, and there are some really great visual ideas here, many of which I'll admit are entirely thanks to top-notch CGI work. These are the moments when the director's creative magic appears to shine through, and there's enough of them to make this movie worth watching. Overall it does feel strangely derivative for a Gilliam movie, but I suppose that's to be expected when he sacrifices creative control to the studio. In the past I've heard that Gilliam simply sees himself as a "hired hand" on such projects.

However, where it fails is in the mixture of action and drama, in repeatedly placing it's characters in peril whilst also making us care about them. Unfortunately this has been a problem in a lot of these big-budget fantasy/action movies lately, including last years equivalent -- "Van Helsing". The other movie with which this shares a lot in common is Tim Burton's Gothic horror "Sleepy Hollow", which was far superior to either. The main problem with the "Brothers Grimm" is that there's little to no character development in the first hour of the movie, and then almost all of the conflict between the characters is suddenly introduced in one scene. This is what we call bad pacing. And the way the characters are written seems somewhat inconsistent (although both Damon and Ledger manage to turn in decent performances all the same), and we never really get a "feel" for their personalities.

For your average light-hearted Hollywood fantasy, this is perfectly fine. But from a director with a history of making fascinating, important works of surreal art, this is somewhat short of what you'd expect.