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Title: The Witches (2020)
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| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Chris Rock | ... | Older Hero Mouse (voice) | |
| Jahzir Bruno | ... | Hero Boy | |
| Octavia Spencer | ... | Grandma | |
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Brian Bovell | ... | Reginald |
| Joseph Zinyemba | ... | Basketball Kid | |
| Josette Simon | ... | Zelda | |
| Jonathan Livingstone | ... | Raymond | |
| Miranda Sarfo Peprah | ... | Young Grandma | |
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Ashanti Prince-Asafo | ... | Alice Blue |
|
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Lunga Skosana | ... | Grandma's Mother |
| Vivienne Acheampong | ... | Alice's Mum | |
|
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Sobowale Antonio Bamgbose | ... | Alice's Dad |
| Ken Nwosu | ... | Bellman | |
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Arnaud Adrian | ... | Concierge |
| Charles Edwards | ... | Mr Jenkins | |
Reimagining Roald Dahl's beloved story for a modern audience, Robert Zemeckis's visually innovative film tells the darkly humorous and heartwarming tale of a young orphaned boy who, in late 1967, goes to live with his loving Grandma in the rural Alabama town of Demopolis. As the boy and his grandmother encounter some deceptively glamorous but thoroughly diabolical witches, she wisely whisks him away to a seaside resort. Regrettably, they arrive at precisely the same time that the world's Grand High Witch has gathered her fellow cronies from around the globe-undercover-to carry out her nefarious plans. Zemeckis is joined by a world-class team of filmmakers, including Alfonso Cuarón, Guillermo del Toro and Kenya Barris. The cast includes powerhouse performances from Anne Hathaway, Octavia Spencer, Stanley Tucci, Kristin Chenoweth and Chris Rock, with newcomer Jahzir Kadeen Bruno as the brave young hero. Written by Warner Bros./HBOMax
2020's retelling of Roald Dahl's the Witches, brings a unique perspective of the world of Witches set in 1967 Alabama. The film starts out quite well, with some interesting camera work, great screen performance by Octavia Spencer, and Chris Rocks relatively well narration that not only sets the tone, but reminds the viewer that this is a Roald Dahl themed story. There clearly was a lot of attention to detail, which one can appreciate, but unfortunately these nice things don't make up for what the film lacked.
Once Octavia Spencer and Jahzir Bruno (the main child) reach the hotel where most of the film takes place, it all goes downhill. The film was quite slow and struggled to work with the genuinely interesting world that they created. Although Anne Hathaway's performance did invoke emotions of intimidation and even fear, but her confusing accent at many times took away from her performance.
The CGI and effects in some scenes felt dated and generally poor (mice transformation, mice movement), while other (particularly Anne Hathaway) scenes provided cool and even disturbing effects. While this film was most likely made for in-theatre 3D effects, too many scenes where sacrificed for cheap 3D effects that where directed towards children and took away from the experience.
Although this film does stick closer to the original book and introduces a beautiful Alabama setting, strong Octavia Spencer and at times Anne Hathaway performances, the film struggles to stay consistent in its themes and pacing. The film generally feels sloppy and leaves many fans of the original film dissatisfied.