| Warner Bros. | Release Date: August 24, 1990 | CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION | ||
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Positive:
25
Mixed:
0
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews
Almost perfect ghoulish family entertainment. [24 Aug 1990]
Using a screenplay by Allan Scott, Roeg directs with care, blending fantasy and whimsy with a chilling touch of evil. It works and it works well. [21 Feb 1991, p.4E]
The combination of Dahl’s bleak plot turns, from the offscreen death of Luke’s parents to a witch who lures the grieving young boy out of his treehouse with the promise of a pet snake, Roeg’s in-your-face camerawork and Henson’s creature effects make every second of The Witches unencumbered, gleeful torture.
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There are moments of genuine charm and solid invention, but it's a film that doesn't believe enough in itself. [28 Aug 1990, p.4C]
No, this isn't the Care Bears. But it is a compelling yarn, in a Grimm sort of way, a throwback to a time when storytellers felt freer to tap the emotional currents that run deep and often dark in all children, and when the stories themselves formed a moral maze that trusted the kids to find their own way home.
The one really solid performance is turned in by Anjelica Huston as the Grand High Witch. [15 Feb 1991, p.16]
The movie doesn't have Dahl's narrative confidence and it goes in for a little sweetening, but it has major compensations.
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