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 enlarge | Director: Nicolas Roeg
Actors: Anjelica Huston, Mai Zetterling, Jasen Fisher, Jane Horrocks, Anne Lambton
Studio: Warner Home Video
Category: DVD
List Price: $9.98
Buy New: $3.91
You Save: $6.07 (61%)
New (33) Used (19) from $3.91
Rating:  91 reviews
Sales Rank: 1106
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dvd-video, Full Screen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), French (Original Language)
Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
DVD Layers: 1
DVD Sides: 1
Picture Format: Pan & Scan
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 91 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.5 x 0.5
ISBN: 0790740885
UPC: 125690671276
EAN: 9780790740881
ASIN: 0790740885
Theatrical Release Date: August 24, 1990
Release Date: June 22, 1999
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: BRAND NEW, Factory Sealed items direct from the Studios. 30 Day Satisfaction Guarantee. Quick International Airmail!
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 36-40 of 91
Really good kids movie/good for adults too September 13, 2005
SmartCookie
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I liked this movie a lot as a kid and bought it for my daughter for her 7th birthday. She thought is was great. It's got just the right amount of humor, scary, and gross-out-factor that kids of this age love. The best part is it's a movie that the adults can actually enjoy also.
Childhood goodie :-) July 12, 2005
Yizhou Du (Washington, D.C.)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I first saw this movie when I was like 12 years old and even though it thoroughly freaked me out, I loved it nonetheless. I am and have always been an avid Roald Dahl fan so that helped out as well. Definitely see this movie if you have read the book (although it's a bit different). You'll really enjoy how the characters are projected from words to real live people...or in this case, witches.
 Lame June 20, 2005
We, The People... (Raleigh, NC United States)
1 out of 24 found this review helpful
Lame attempt at making a Halloween show. Love, love, love Angelica Houston in anything, but this was beneath her.
QUIRKY, A BIT SCARY... June 17, 2005
Tim Janson (Michigan)
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
I didn't know the first time that I watched this film that it was written by Roald Dahl who also wrote Charlie and the Chocolate Factory but it sure made sense. It has that same sort of quirky black humor and mild creepiness that that more famous story has. The story concerns a boy named Luke whose parents are killed in an accident and he goes to live with his grandmother Helga. Early on there is a rather terrifying encounter with a witch and Luke's grandmother certainly knows a thing or two about them.
Helga decides to take Luke on a holiday to a posh British hotel where Luke makes friends with another boy named Bruno who has some rather snooty and preoccupied parents. Sharing the hotel is group of women there for a convention of the society for the prevention of cruelty towards children, or something to that effect. In reality, they are a coven of very ugly witches who wear masks to make themselves look human. Indeed the site of these hairless, huge nosed, witches without their masks may not be for very little ones as the makeup is very effective and chilling. The witches are led by their Grand High Witch played deliciously over-the-top by Angelica Huston. In reality the group is planning to turn all the children of England into mice with a magic potion.
The boys catch wind of the plan and find themselves turned into mice. But they can still think and talk and eventually get back to Luke's Grandmother where they hatch a plot to turn the tables on the witches, setting the stage for a rather gruesome, but humporous climax. Without the use of any sort of Modern CGI the effects and makeup team did a very good job with the witches and the transformations into mice...especially when the characters were in mid-transformation. Rowan Atkinson is along to add some comedy as the hotel's restaurant manager.
Like Willy Wonka, it's a family film with some possible cautions for very young kids who may possibly be frightened by the Witches. A fun film!
 Anjelica Huston - over the top June 16, 2005
wiredweird (Earth, or somewhere nearby)
10 out of 22 found this review helpful
This movie is certainly aimed at kids, but you might want to think hard about whether it's right for you and yours.
The plot has lots of promise. The evil witches conspire to turn every child in England into a mouse. Before the plot is carried out, Luke (the small boy in the lead role) discovers it and is mouse-ified. Despite his reduced state, he and his Grandma win against them in the end. Or is it the end - there are lots more witches to take care of ...
Anjelica Huston does a lovely, campy job as the Grand High Witch, the arch-baddy with some vaguely germanoid accent. Mai Zetterling also does a good job as the warm-hearted Grandma, who just happens to like a cigar now and then. Unfortunately, the rest of the characters were on the weak side. Even Luke (Jasen Fisher, at age nine or ten in this movie), wasn't good for much more than occasional goofy looks. For me, though, Jim Henson's contribution was the real disappointment - it was barely there, only a few brief scenes, plus some mouse puppets. I've liked his other work, I liked the bits that were here, and I would have liked this movie more if it had more Henson in it. Despite what the ad copy says, this isn't really for Henson fans.
Although the movie is generally kid-safe, there are a few points you might want to weigh in terms of your own little ones. Early on, Luke's parents die, but he does have that loving grandmother to fall back on. There is some agression (but no violence) against kids here, but with a happy ending. There are also one explicit and a few implicit moments of violence against small animals - even as an adult, I found that one scene distasteful. Some kids will ride out such things quite happily, and you know yours best.
On the whole, there's really nothing wrong with this movie. A lot more could have been right with it, though.
//wiredweird
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