For fans of "Snow White And The Huntsman", "The Hunger Games" and "Twilight"

Rating: 7/10 (2 March 2013)

I've recently watched the Korean "Hansel and Gretel" movie which was an incredibly imaginative tale with a haunting atmosphere and stunning kid actors.
This Hollywood version rather heads for a public that recently enjoyed movies such as "The Hunger Games", "Snow White And The Huntsman" or the "Twilight" series. This film is addressed to a teenager or young adult public. Younger auditors might find this flick too tough, even though old German fairy tales often head for younger auditors and are generally brutal for education purposes. Older auditors might find the film a little bit lifeless and vapid after all.
It features some mild action scenes, several small gore effects, a few witchcraft elements, the usual love story and the predictable good versus evil story. This is nothing new but the movie is quite entertaining without having any lengths and for one of the rare times, the three dimensional technique is well employed in a movie and worth the money you have to spend on it.
The acting by the main characters is not that spectacular. Gemma Arterton remains surprisingly faceless while Jeremy Renner who was last involved in "The Bourne Legacy" seems quite out of place and especially a little bit too old for this kind of movie by now. A great job is though delivered by the absolutely charming Famke Janssen who delivers a reserved but efficient acting and who looks very stylish in this film.
In the end, the good special effects, a few well chosen secondary actors and the fast paced story that never gets boring save this movie and make it watchable for a young but not too young auditory. Anybody who is expecting something more original should absolutely go for the Korean movie.