Post by moviemouth on Nov 17, 2021 23:35:34 GMT
I am not a big fan of the 1990 version overall, but there are many things the movie does very well. It has perfect atmosphere that combines horror with a comfortable family movie charm, the casting is very good and acting is a lot of fun and it uses practical effects well.
The remake (or re-adaptation) isn't terrible. Let me get that out of the way.
It has been a couple years since I have watched the original, so I can't make all that many direct comparisons. I have no problem with the change of white characters to black characters (I have a feeling that might be an issue for certain people). I think that the child actor does a good job and is very likable and Octavia Spencer does a good job as well, she has a very warm, loving and protective presence. Those 2 performances are the closest in quality to the 1990 movie. I care about these 2 characters in this movie, as well as Bruno, and these performances are what carry to the movie. Chris Rock narrates the movie and his narration adds to the the limited amount of charm the movie has.
The Bruno character is on par with the original here too. The chemistry between him and the main kid is a lot of fun and we find out the main kid's pet mouse is actually a human who was turned into a mouse some time in the past. I don't think that is in the 1990 movie, but I could be wrong. I like that inclusion. The 3 of them doing mouse stuff if some of the more fun parts in the movie, but it still pales to the parts with the mice in the 1990 version. One thing that really bothered me in this version is that Bruno's parents want nothing to do with him after he becomes a mouse, which is just awful. His parents were annoying in the original, but they weren't monsters. This leads to an overdone message about family being about who accepts you as what and who you are and not what you look like, which had me rolling my eyes a bit. It also leaves the movie with all 3 people who were changed into mice as staying mice, which is a WTF ending. It also raises one big question, wouldn't they still have the short lifespan of a mouse? I don't know, maybe because they aren't real mice and were artificially transformed that they still have the same lifespan as a human. I am almost positive that isn't how biology works though. There is also another big question I have regarding why a character who was turned into a chicken can't talk, but the character's who are turned into mice can.
This movie has atmosphere, but not the right atmosphere. The atmosphere is much more bright, it is never creepy and the visual style has a somewhat artificial feeling to it. It uses way too much cgi (the witches mouths are just awful) and some of the background outdoor shots are obvious greenscreen. This movie lacks the edginess of the original in the visual style. It is probably Robert Zemeckis's most Zemeckis-y movie in a long time, but not necessarily in a good way. There is a reminiscence of stuff like Death Becomes Her, but it is diluted here.
Next is the main issue I have with the movie. Anne Hathaway's performance. It will be inevitable for comparisons to be made to Angelica Huston. Anne Hathaway comes nowhere near and is more funny than scary. Her performance is inconsistent and sometimes quite distracting. She rarely breaks from the foreign accent, but it is sometimes more exaggerated than others. She foes from fun to cringe-y in the same scene. The scene where this is the most prevalent is the what I consider an iconic scene from the 1990 movie, the witches meeting where they all reveal their true look. Anne Hathaway is the best thing about this scene, but she goes from slightly hammy to extreme camp sometimes within the same sentence. It also adds this stuff with her floating, which I am okay with. The scene lacks any suspense though. The original scene has is suspenseful and frightening, whereas the scene here is just campy. That is easily the best witch scene in the movie. Another thing that stands out between this and the original in a bad way, is that none of the other witches are memorable besides the grand high witch. The original has other witches that are memorable and this version has very little interest in that, leaving out the witch that has a change of heart in the original.
Stanley Tucci is just forgettable as Mr. Stringer, whereas the character in the 1990 movie (played memorably by Rowan Atkinson) is one of the best aspects about the movie.
Overall the movie is certainly watchable, but it is a cookie-cutter version of the 1990 adaptation. It is a middle of the road remake/re-adaptation, that has many good things about it and many bad things about it.
5.5/10