Click here to copy URL

The Witches

2020

Robert Zemeckis

Anne Hathaway, Octavia Spencer, Jahzir Bruno, Stanley Tucci ...

4.8

4,068

Fantasy. Comedy. Horror Based on Roald Dahl's 1973 classic book 'The Witches', the story tells the scary, funny and imaginative tale of a seven year old boy who has a run in with some real life witches!

	Media	Author	Review
		David Rooney The Hollywood Reporter	"The energy level could be more consistent and the climactic action and ending less rushed, but there's sufficient charm and invention to make it work."
		Peter Bradshaw The Guardian	"Roald Dahl reboot fails to cast the original's magic spell (...) A pretty conventional adaptation (...) Rating: ★★ (out of 5)"
		Alonso Duralde The Wrap	"Creepy but superfluous (...) This is no Tim-Burton-does-Willy-Wonka debacle, but neither does it improve on the 1990 version"
		David Ehrlich IndieWire	"If only "The Witches" were directed by the Robert Zemeckis who made "Roger Rabbit," and not the Robert Zemeckis who made "The Polar Express (...) Roeg’s version may have scarred a generation of kids for life, but at least they remembered it."
		Peter Travers ABC News	"With a diabolically funny Anne Hathaway (...) prepare for plenty of shivers and nervous laughs."
		Nick De Semlyen Empire	"Whenever Anne Hathaway’s on screen, the film comes to life (...) Which makes it a little disheartening that it’s merely good, rather than great (...) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"
		Tim Grierson Screendaily	"On the whole the film is surprisingly impersonal — a far cry from the enchanted, heartfelt entertainments that Zemeckis once delivered."
		Owen Gleiberman Variety	"It’s nothing more than a baroque cartoon horror film, but the best parts have a crackpot malevolence that’s hard to resist."
		Lindsey Bahr Chicago Tribune	"It’s not going to be as iconic as Roeg’s, but it should provide some nice family entertainment at home for Halloween"
		Rafael Motamayor IGN	"A colorful and entertaining enough film that completely fails to capture the heart of the story and leaves a sour aftertaste."
		A.A. Dowd AV Club	"Despite a screenplay cowritten by Guillermo del Toro, The Witches is basically Dahl by way of Gump (...) Nothing in this movie looks real"
		Matt Goldberg Collider	"Zemeckis misses every opportunity to be interesting with his story (...) Perhaps the biggest knock against The Witches is that it simply lacks the wonder of stories like James and the Giant Peach"
		Brian Tallerico rogerebert.com	"As great as it can be, 'The Witches' lacks the best world-building and depth of some other Dahl material, and Zemeckis can’t quite figure out how to make this story richer (…) Rating: ★★½ (out of 4)"
		Johnny Oleksinski New York Post	"Nobody asked for this wimpy Roald Dahl movie (...) The effects are anything but special (...) There are ups and downs in the script to be sure, but Zemeckis gives them no energy (…) Rating: ★ (out of 4)"

Return to movie

We encourage you to check the reviews' original sources. Intellectual property rights of these reviews belong to their authors and/or the correspondent media from which they have been extracted. If you'd like to help us to add more reviews to your favorite movies, just send us a message.