The Witches

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 11/4/06 at 9:11pm

Hwo else loves this movie? Everytime I watch it, I just get swept away in the adventure. I haven't read the book that it is based on, but I plan to correct that pretty soon.

[dancingthrulife04]

Posted: 11/4/06 at 9:18pm

I haven't watched this movie in a long long time. I love it, though.

[Holly Therese]

Posted: 11/4/06 at 10:08pm

I love this movie, I read the book in grade school too

[Allie]

Posted: 11/4/06 at 10:18pm

Yeeeeeesss! I remember reading this (and pretty much every other Roald Dahl book) in grade 3. We would all go into one classroom, and the teacher would read to us for awhile. The thing was, this teacher was absolutely terrifying. She was EXACTLY what we all pictured one of "the Witches" to look like. Absolutely perfect for this particular storytime.

I was so excited when I found out it was a movie! I enjoyed both immensely. READ THE BOOK, spidey!

[Plum]

Posted: 11/4/06 at 10:20pm

Ack! I loved Roald Dahl based on books like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Fantastic Mr. Fox. Then I read this and had nightmares for a week afterwards. I remember being really disappointed that the movie wimped out on the ending.

The kid stayed a mouse in the book! Either be sick and twisted like Dahl or don't bother. Or adapt one of his happy-ending books, like James and the Giant Peach or The BFG. The latter of which also gave me nightmares.

[Elphaba]

Posted: 11/4/06 at 11:00pm

I just love when she's talking to the other witches, and says...."the child" in that horrid way....GREAT movie!
The last film personally overseen by 'Jim Henson' .

It took Anjelica Huston eight hours of make up time to prepare her for her transformed role of "The Grand High Witch".


Cher was considered for the role of the Grand High Witch before Anjelica Huston was cast.


Most of the "Witches" in the meeting are not women at all but men in women's clothing.


Two of Kenner's "The Real Ghost Busters" (1986) toys, the Ghostbusters Firehouse and Bad To The Bone figure, are featured in the movie. The Firehouse playset is the toy that Luke lives in and explodes out of at the end.

[roquat]

Posted: 11/5/06 at 12:57am

Unbelievably good movie, which is true to the book without being slavishly faithful (in the manner of the first two "Harry Potter" adaptations.)

Anyone ever see "Matilda"? A wicked, almost flawless adaptation of another Roald Dahl masterpiece.

[dirty rotten guy]

Posted: 11/5/06 at 1:31am

I just watched this movie again for the first time in many years. As I child it was one of my favorite movies of all time and I must say, going back to it, it is just as brilliant as I remember. The movie is so sharp and witty, and the effects are just gorgeous. Rather than having the pasticy CGI of today, they went with those GORGEOUS Henson puppets, and uite frankly they are so charming and brilliant and a real highlight of the movie for me. Angelica is also absolutely perfect as the Grand High Witch, a performance that will always be placed among the very top few for me. When I was a kid I watched it over and over and knew it like word for word. I was suprised that after all of these years, I still remember alot of the dialouge. It was also a nice little surprise to see Jane Horrocks of Ab Fab fame in her brillant turn as the Grand High Witch sidekick, I had forgotten she was in it, she is also a brilliant actress...

Also anyone planning on watching this keep an eye out for how many of the witches are actually men. As a child I never really noticed that or maybe I had forgotten, but some of them are priceless! :)

[Renthead#1]

Posted: 11/5/06 at 1:48am

Oh my god that was my favorite movie when i was in 1st grade. I think I memorized that whole movie.

[GuyfromGermany]

Posted: 11/5/06 at 8:08am

A friend of mine will go on vacation to the UK next year and she'll stay at the hotel "The Witches" was shot at!

I envy her...

Updated On: 11/5/06 at 08:08 AM

[best12bars]

Posted: 11/5/06 at 9:23am

Great pic!

I love this movie! My only complaint is that it's only available in a cropped 4x3 (pan & scan) video format on DVD. Where's a widescreen release?!? Please?

Trivia: Angelica Huston won several major critics awards for Best Actress for her work in The Witches, an honor she shared with her work in The Grifters... including the Los Angeles, Boston and National Society for Film Critics awards. Pretty impressive!

[hannahshule]

Posted: 11/5/06 at 10:20am

This is the movie based on the Roald Dahl book right? I love his books, and this one was a favorite of mine in elementary school.

[StephenSondheimWHOO]

Posted: 11/5/06 at 10:43am

I had no idea there was a movie! I L-O-V-E the book, it is one of my favorite of Dahl's books. I gotta get this

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 11/5/06 at 11:20am

StephenSondheimWHOO--I was the complete opposite. I didn't know it was a book.

[mateo]

Posted: 11/5/06 at 1:06pm

my favorite line... "She Ca~n't He~ar you."

brilliant.

Updated On: 11/5/06 at 01:06 PM

[Rose_MacShane]

Posted: 11/5/06 at 1:18pm

I saw the trailer at another movie when I was five and it scared the living HELL out of me. As in, it gave me nightmares.

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 11/5/06 at 1:25pm

So, you've never seen it?

[ljay889]

Posted: 11/5/06 at 1:27pm

I watched this religiously as a child. I miss it.

I always feared when she would remove her face.

I need to watch this again.

[ljay889]

Posted: 11/5/06 at 1:30pm

I think they are doing a remake for 2008.

I know a lot of the fans of the book were VERY dissapointed in this movie.

But the movie is just pure adventure/fun.

[Rose_MacShane]

Posted: 11/5/06 at 2:22pm

Nope, never seen it. It freaked me out too much when I was a kid, and eventually I kind of forgot about it. I might see it now, though.

[Marlene]

Posted: 11/5/06 at 4:22pm

I loved the book.

[broadway86]

Posted: 11/6/06 at 1:10am

A childhood favorite. Huston is brilliant, and joins Closes's Cruella de Vil, Bates's Annie Wilkes, and Streep's Miranda as one of my favorite female villains of the past two decades.

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 11/6/06 at 9:40am

"Huston is brilliant, and joins Closes's Cruella de Vil, Bates's Annie Wilkes, and Streep's Miranda as one of my favorite female villains of the past two decades."

As fun as I think Glenn Close is to watch in 101 Dalmatians, I kind of wish Joanna Lumley had played that part. She seemed like the perfect person for the role to me.

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 11/6/06 at 11:36am

YAY!! I am watching the movie right now. HUZZAH!

[kelzama]

Posted: 11/6/06 at 12:16pm

Speaking of female villians in 20th century movies, I loved Lumley in "James and the Giant Peach."