Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters was much better than it had any right to be, given the premise. Over the top medieval gadgets. Creative witch makeup. Some gratuitous profanity and gory deaths and brief nudity thrown in to take advantage of the R rating. Lots of fun time period adjusted anachronisms. Cute fanboy sidekick. And lots of things flying at the screen for the 3D version. A fun ride that simultaneously goes for broke with its silly premise while not taking itself too seriously.
Yeah, I went in with low expectations, and they were exceeded. It didn’t take itself at all seriously, which is where Van Helsing failed with a similar concept. Plenty of fun.
I was interested when I started seeing the ads – it seemed like a clever enough conceit using clever enough execution. So far, I’ve only seen one ad for it at http://www.efilmcritic.com/ and it’s released in that time of year where movies get dumped.
I’m glad to hear it’s pretty good, I’ll have to make an effort to see this one.
Are the main characters still brother and sister? Do they make any effort to bring in love interests, or is all that hotness just going to waste?
They are siblings. Hansel has a love interest with whom he has a semi nude scene. Gretel has someone crushing on her but not much revealing.
Funny, watching the previews this totally reminded me of “Van Helsing”. Theres $12 and 90 minutes I’ll never get back!
I also read this has been “in the can” since 2011 and they were waiting to capitalize on Renner’s new star power.
I’ll take a pass…
MtM
I LOVED Van Helsing. It was TERRIBLE and I laughed ALL the way through. (the crossbow shot that launched the gravedigger like 30 yards through the air and into the grave was almost worth it all by itself.).
H&G: WH was a much better movie than Van Helsing, which unfortunately means that it sometimes it falls into the uncanny valley between “So bad it’s good” and “Actually good.”. I went in expecting hilarious over-the-top-ness and I was actually a little disappointed - most of the really over the top ridiculousity was shown in the trailer, with the probably undesirable effect of making the movie look a lot worse than it is. (My wife watched the trailer and promptly announced “That is the most terrible trailer I have ever seen.”).
On the plus side, the bits of the film that aren’t terrible also aren’t BAD, overall (Though I, for one, could have lived without the fanboy sidekick) and the plot (such as it was) was actually pretty solid. The biggest failing I felt the movie had is that it didn’t seem to know if wanted to be ridiculous over the top camp, or a sort of warmer, more heartfelt (but still kindof campy) film ala like… Labyrinth or something. And so it walks this kinda awkward line down the middle where you’re laughing AT it one moment and then apparently expected to be empathizing with it the next.
It’s a pretty decent bad movie, but could have been a much better bad movie. It’s… less good as a good movie, because the bad movie parts drag the good movie parts down more than the reverse, but it’s still not an unpleasant watch. (It’s no Elektra(2005), which had no redeeming qualities as either a good OR bad film.)
The SimFamily enjoyed it - enough that we are considering a second viewing.
:BUMP:
Saw two nights ago with Mrs. Mahaloth. Hey, we liked it too. It was, as others have said, a lot better than you might expect. It was better than Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, a movie with more press and another silly title.
I give it a very positive review. Rent it!