Chix Chat on Film Review: The Hansel and Gretel story continues.

Rating: 3/10 (28 January 2013)

The movie industry is leaving vampires behind for a while and has started to focus on fairy tales. With two recent takes on Snow White, an upcoming Jack and the Beanstalk tale and now Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters. This film is the continuation of their story and how their lives have evolved after their fateful defeat of the witch in the cottage made of candy. From what I had seen in the trailer my expectation was that the special effects would be amazing and in actuality they were. I saw the film in 3D and was satisfied that they met the quota with things flying off screen directly at me, mostly splintered wood but I did flinch a few times. The acting was not bad either, both Hansel (Jeremy Renner) and Gretel (Gemma Arterton) were portrayed straight and focused on the task at hand, nothing too over the top and the same goes for their primary nemesis Muriel (Famke Janssen). The problem with the story was that there was this major issue with incongruences. The weaponry used to snare witches was too advanced, even if you have to wind up a stun gun, it's still a stun gun. The era was tied to the time that witches were being burned at the stake, which in Salem was the late 1600s and the first gatling gun was not invented until around 1860. Congruence matters, I know this is as I stated originally an updated fairy tale, but I'm just saying. Had the story been truly updated and told during modern times it might have made more sense that they used automatic weaponry, I had less of an issue with the flying around on brooms since that is a witch staple. Then there was the whole Gretel being lost in the woods moment and then magically she is in a cottage. The story wasn't entirely awful, because it did make these familiar characters from a child hood fairy tale richer. It was entertaining and I liked that Gretel was a tough girl, but some things could have been done differently that would have me like it more than I did. This film would not lose anything if viewed on the Syfy channel in the comfort of your own home, in fact it would fit in nicely and be a slight step up because of the special effects. I give it a red light.