To begin with, the main reason I rated it 8 and not 10 is the creepiness of the witches. Yes, I know they are shown exactly like Roald Dahl described them, but I really think that it's different to see it on screen rather than read about it. The true face of the Grand High Witch is absolutely repulsive to the point I feel sick looking at it and want to skip directly to her counter-transformation. As other reviewers have noted, it's for PG-13 more than for PG. The rest of the film is very charming. Grandmother Helga is splendid and exactly like I imagined her when reading the book. Luke's a bit shrill with his "Graaaandma!" but acts very well. Anjelica Huston (apart from the true-face sequences) is a perfect Grand High Witch, and the hotel staff and Bruno (a nicer incarnation of Augustus Gloop) are hilarious. Right, but I know it's always more interesting to read about flaws, so…The character of Miss Irvine is a bit underdeveloped and even if one hasn't read the book (I have), it can be noticed that it is a later deus ex machina addition (one moment she's cackling with everybody else and the next she "never really wanted to be with them anyway"). I mean, the Grand High Witch burns at least one witch per year and does horrible things to kids – compared to that, merely not allowing her secretary to attend the banquet is nice everyday behavior; so it seems odd that Miss Irvine alone suddenly snaps and for a petty reason at that. But Jane Horrocks whom I like very much does a wonderful job of the part and manages to make it as convincing as the script allows. I personally liked the change to the ending in itself. I believe that the problem with filming the original ending isn't its bittersweet flavor – it just leaves too many threads hanging. Fine in a book, but, in my opinion, hard to film. It's a pity that the filmmakers took the other option to the extreme as well, and the whole Susan-Irvine-ex-machina thing seems rushed altogether, as many reviewers point out. Besides, although it effectively concludes the plot line of Luke's life as a mouse (the chief one that left the book ending open), it raises an entirely new question of the witches' nature – the book was very vague on it; Grandma said the witches are humanoid demonic creatures, but the Grand High Witch selected the elderly witches and said that they were the ancestors of others. And now we learn that a witch can turn human if she really wants (and I'm really puzzled about the hair – was Miss Irvine by the end still in her wig though with human hands or did her new hair magically grow exactly to match the wig?). Of course, it's Dahl and not Tolkien so no one expects a full story of witches from the creation of the world with all dynasties and rulers, but the witches are left a pretty mysterious species, and here even more than in the book. However, I believe that (again and again, save for the witches' true faces) it's a very nice family movie. The ending of the book is quite a depressing one for kids – I don't know firsthand as I read it at nineteen (it still nearly brought me to tears), but I'm sure that had I read it at around seven, at the same time as the Chocolate Factory, the Giant Glass Elevator, the Giant Peach, and Mr. Fox, I would have been terribly shocked, especially with the contrast. The movie ending is not so much rushed as to be a problem during watching. It's very funny and touching, I particularly liked Miss Irvine sending the white mice back to Luke. The questions only come to your head later, and they don't keep you from enjoying the film.

I had to rate this 10.I saw it has a 6.8, and that's just not good enough. My son is 4 and I just let him watch this movie for Halloween. Its by far the scariest movie he could watch. This is not a 10 for adult movies, just kid movies. If you want to scare a kid for Halloween show them this. Its a shame so many people do not know about this movie. This should easily be a cult classic. There is no other movie like this one. Its horrific, but no 4 letter words, and 100% what you would want for a family movie aimed at scaring kids. This will also make them afraid of strangers.

The Witches The most utilized potion in a witch's repertoire must be the starchy brew used to get their hats so pointy.However, the hags in this fantasy are more interested in a new concoction that turns children into mice.On his birthday, recently orphaned Luke (Jasen Fisher) heads to the shore with his ailing grandmother (Mai Zetterling).Checked-in at the same seaside resort as a convention of witches, Luke's exposed to a new serum that transforms him into a mouse.While the Grand High Witch (Anjelica Houston) and the rest of the coven try to exterminate him, Luke hatches a plan to give them a taste of their own medicine.Based on Roald Dahl's book, The Witches contains his trademark dark wit and an imaginative narrative, all of which are accentuated by Jim Henson's witch designs.Furthermore, with their surplus of brooms, the witches can clean hotel rooms for free board.Green Light vidiotreviews.blogspot.com

A PG-rated family-horror tale about witches, unlike THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK (1987, 5/10), this film affords a crystal-clear definition of the hidden witches among folks (wig, purple eyes and flat toes), adapted from Roald Dahl's children book, UK director Nicolas Roeg certainly taps a darker and eerier approach to visualize the images of witches (thanks to a vivd make-up feat and a grisly puppetry), which might scare off most tykes but as for an adult viewer, it has an eye-opening relish. However, up until the last moment, the adventurous rapture has come to a self-contradictory compromise, procuring a spot in the children-friendly zone, the film opts a rather arbitrary happy ending (overtly against Dahl's willingness) in order not to further upset its potential audience's feeble nerves, which cast itself out of the spectre of being an eccentric cult, a lame move with the benefit of hindsight and judging by its tepid box-office that year.The stellar Anjelica Huston has an uncanny brio to demonstrate a genuine grand high witch of Britain, the role, which instantly eclipses the 3D trinity in the TWOE (Cher herself was the original picking for the role) and would later stereotype hers in the impassive, ruthless, and alienated aura where she has been arguably hovering until today, unlike her contemporaneous Oscar- nominated role in THE GRIFTERS (1990, 7/10), where she exaggerates all her alluring poignancy in a shockingly sympathetic role, here she is the impeccable one-note villain. Mai Zetterling is well-suited in her benevolent granny role, although most of the time she is too composed in the tumultuous pandemonium as well as the rest human cast (sorry to see Atkinson and Blethyn are barbarously underused, the latter's only duty is to scream out of her lung).