Roald Dahl may not have enjoyed the towering (financial) success of J K Rowling, but he knew how to spin a good yarn for kids.
'The Witches' screens an excellent blend of The Master's dark story and British slap-stick humour, the whole thing realised in a seaside hotel that might be run by Basil Fawlty.
These witches have gathered at the hotel to finalise plans for the extermination of nasty, smelly children (good luck to 'em, I say). Ably led by Angelica Housten - who camps it up so far over the top as Grand High Witch that you almost wish she could win - they are going to put her master-plan into execution, using a particularly powerful magic poison.
Our young hero, staying there with his invalid grandmother, accidentally discovers their plan, and being captured, is turned into a mouse.
The whole adventure becomes a race against time to stop them before it's too late.
Dahl has such a dark humour that - brought to screen - almost qualifies for an adult rating. Some of the scenes of - what are, in effect, child cruelty - are singularly out of step with modern political-correctness (now there's a real poison). And some of the scenes of metamorphosis, especially amongst the witches, are almost the stuff of nightmares. This is certainly not suitable for tots. Rowan Atkinson's groping of the hotel staff may also raise an eyebrow or two amongst more sensitive viewers.
The movie has extremes. At one level it is hilarious, at another it is extremely creepy, then at another it seems oddly realistic, with people engaging in fractious and believable arguments. The switch from one situation to another is sometimes a little uneven. Rowan Atkinson plays a strange role as hotel manager; at once the rubber-faced clown of 'Mr Bean', then later as suave as one of his 'Blackadder' incarnations. Then, at other times he is the lecherous groper of room-maids. Once again, it's a little uneven.
Dahl can be shocking. He is a phenomenon you really need to have grown up with. He doesn't baulk at belching and farting, or even torture and cannibalism. And most kids love his anarchic style of story-telling. Enid Blyton he ain't. Despite the wobbly continuity of this movie, it offers a worthy presentation of his work that will have most kids, grown-up or not, thoroughly entertained.
'The Witches' screens an excellent blend of The Master's dark story and British slap-stick humour, the whole thing realised in a seaside hotel that might be run by Basil Fawlty.
These witches have gathered at the hotel to finalise plans for the extermination of nasty, smelly children (good luck to 'em, I say). Ably led by Angelica Housten - who camps it up so far over the top as Grand High Witch that you almost wish she could win - they are going to put her master-plan into execution, using a particularly powerful magic poison.
Our young hero, staying there with his invalid grandmother, accidentally discovers their plan, and being captured, is turned into a mouse.
The whole adventure becomes a race against time to stop them before it's too late.
Dahl has such a dark humour that - brought to screen - almost qualifies for an adult rating. Some of the scenes of - what are, in effect, child cruelty - are singularly out of step with modern political-correctness (now there's a real poison). And some of the scenes of metamorphosis, especially amongst the witches, are almost the stuff of nightmares. This is certainly not suitable for tots. Rowan Atkinson's groping of the hotel staff may also raise an eyebrow or two amongst more sensitive viewers.
The movie has extremes. At one level it is hilarious, at another it is extremely creepy, then at another it seems oddly realistic, with people engaging in fractious and believable arguments. The switch from one situation to another is sometimes a little uneven. Rowan Atkinson plays a strange role as hotel manager; at once the rubber-faced clown of 'Mr Bean', then later as suave as one of his 'Blackadder' incarnations. Then, at other times he is the lecherous groper of room-maids. Once again, it's a little uneven.
Dahl can be shocking. He is a phenomenon you really need to have grown up with. He doesn't baulk at belching and farting, or even torture and cannibalism. And most kids love his anarchic style of story-telling. Enid Blyton he ain't. Despite the wobbly continuity of this movie, it offers a worthy presentation of his work that will have most kids, grown-up or not, thoroughly entertained.