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Techtite's Movie Reviews! |
"Perhaps the biggest flaw with this "Grimm" tale is how many ways it could've been much better." --from the review ------------- Sidebar :: ------------- No sidebar comments for this review. Yet... ...
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The Brothers Grimm
A Review by TechtiteIf there's one title overused in movie reviews, it's Young Guns. That was a movie that was supposedly about the villains of the American old west, yet they watered down the story to appeal to a younger audience. That gripe cannot be made about The Brothers Grimm. Much like Young Guns it stars two younger actors in modern cinema, and yet it is by far one of the most macabre, dark, foreboding retellings of classic fairy tale lore that I've ever seen. However; does this make it a better telling of a tale than all those Young Guns movies? Hmm... The story here is of the two brothers Grimm. They may not be the same people who told the classic Grimm fairy tales...or are they? Wilhelm (Matt Damon) and Jacob (Heath Ledger) are charlatans, who come into spooky little towns acting as if all their woe is because of a ghost, witch, or some other sort of spookiness, which they have the skill to remove. They then put on a show in front of one of the town's inhabitants, that makes it look as if they actually rid the town of a witch. This fakery has made them rich...but what happens when they come across a town that is really haunted? The core of the story centers on said town, which is portrayed to be the hub of every fairy tale you ever encountered. Children are disappearing in the town, each with a strikingly familiar appearance. A little girl chased by a wolf is in a red riding hood; a brother and sister are named "Hans" and "Greta." Another little girl is cursed to become a gingerbread man. Could this be the town that inspired the actual Grimm's fairy tales of lore? That's where the film gets its finest moments...but sadly enough, it doesn't pay off very well. Not that the leads don't help the story along. Either Damon and Ledger had a blast shooting this film, or they're simply superb actors. I'd say the truth is somewhere in the middle. Their comedic timing is perfect, like when told that a "boy" they met is really a girl, only to quip "...and a find wife he'll make some lucky man!" It's also important to note that the majority of the visuals in this movie are modern computer-generated FX; a fact some may forget with how well the two stars react to the "haunted" forest around them. If I were to list a problem with Grimm, it's not with the casting. In fact; Ledger and Damon are so into their roles at times, they look more like the characters than themselves, if you catch my meaning. The real problem I had with Grimm was how it never decided which audience to appeal to. This could've been a romp for the younger kids or a thriller for the older teens and young adults. It could not be both...but it vainly tries to be. The imagery is too graphic at times for young fairy tale fans (a little girl loses her eyes and mouth to a tar monster, which could frighten little kids). You could've alternately appealed to an older crowd, but that would've meant a less watered down story. Most surprisingly is how director Terry Gilliam didn't choose a path similar to his cult favorites like Time Bandits, nor did he provide as much dark humor as the still- best Monty Python film, Monty Python and the Holy Grail. There were so many paths this movie could've taken to be a hit. The movie decides to stroll in the woods between these paths, as it were. That was a mistake. It's not like the film doesn't have its moments, however. In fact, there are quite a few...enough to coax me to give this film a very, very marginal thumbs-up, if just in a "give it a look when it's on cable TV" sort of way. The effects are amusing, as are the many cameos of classic fairy tale characters, from a little girl in a red riding hood, to a young brother and sister named "Hans" and "Greta." Simply put; I'm not sorry to have seen it, even if it could've been many leagues better. Will you feel the same if you pay to see it? Maybe not...but when it's on HBO, you probably will.
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