Shannon and I went to see The Brothers Grimm together on Saturday. Neither of us was very impressed.
I went into the movie, having only seen the canned trailer.
In a lot of ways, the movie reminds me of when I saw Van Helsing. Van Helsing was really a tribute movie in a way: it took all the best bits from all the best classic horror flicks, weaved them into a vaguely cohesive plotline and had fun with them.
The Brothers Grimm takes dozens of childrens fairy tales and … Well, just twists them. Freakishly, badly, oddly, and never in a good way. Rapunzel is actually an evil witch. The Gingerbread Man is actually a blob of goo that swallows a boy and then runs away. Jack and the Beanstalk is … Jake and a bunch of beans that never do anything, and his sister dies as a result.
There weren’t many laughs, the plot was totally disjointed, the acting was 10x over the top (which is to be expected). Overall, this isn’t a tribute film. It’s just a mockery and twisting of childrens fairy tales.
It was sad. It could have been fun and entertaining at least to the degree Van Helsing was. Instead, it was just a flop.
August 30th, 2005 at 7:26 am
To the best of my knowledge, the children’s fairy tales are based on the Brothers Grimm stories, not the other way around. And yes, the Brothers Grimm versions are very dark! Hence the modification to make them more palatable to children.
September 1st, 2005 at 1:24 am
Haven’t seen the movie, but did you know that in the original Little Red Riding Hood, the wolf *skins* granny and wears her skin as the disguise. And then he totally eats “Red.” Totally.
So… the movie’s probably “truer” than the Disney-fied versions we know.
September 4th, 2005 at 6:21 am
Yes, Rockster, not to mention that a man with an axe kills the wolf, and pulls the little girl out of its stomach–if memory serves.
And yes, I believe that the tales are based on the Brothers Grimm stories; however, I’ve heard that it just jumps between random fairy tales, without actually stringing them together.
I thought that it’d take all the stories, bring them together in a world, and then be thrown together through a well-written and thought out plot–but I guess I shouldn’t have expected quality from Hollywood.
September 6th, 2005 at 2:53 pm
Jeremy, the fairy tales aren’t really twisted… They are the theatrical version of their original context. They were meant to frighten children, not put them to bed.
September 6th, 2005 at 4:01 pm
Okay, okay, I stand corrected!