The Witches: A Review from a Childhood Fan of the Original

Thursday, October 22nd, 2020 The Witches premiered on HBOMAX. Starring Anne Hathaway, Octavia Spencer, and narrated by Chris Rock, this was a remake of the original The Witches which premiered in 1990, starring Angelica Houston.

I grew up loving this movie, the way the witch's eyes glowed purple, their funky feet, and what they actually look like when the wigs came off! As a kid growing up as a pastors daughter I wasn't allowed to dress up as a witch for Halloween but loved the fact that these witches just hated children, I mean if every time one was near you smelled poo would you be happy?

The remake I felt, was even better than the original! It kept the basic plot points thru out the story, this whole thing is based on the Roald Dahl book, "The Witches" so creative license will only be going so far and I am so glad because really the only thing that drove me nuts in the original was how the little guy said, "Grandma!" Granted he has just been turned into a mouse but I can't count how many times he says it through the film and it's cringeworthy.

I loved Chris Rocks' narration, the flow I felt was smoother and kept you entertained the entire time with slight tweaks that made sense look but didn't steer too far off from what I was expecting. Different but not and it was SO flipping refreshing to watch a remake that gave so many props to the original. As much as I loved the accent from the original Grandma, Octavia Spenser has such a warmness about her and she wasn't going to be putting up with any foolishness. She was a great Grandma and so awesome helping her Grandson through such traumatic situations.

Angelica Houston is an incredible actress and played such a nasty witch, she was creepy and could care less about the disgusting little children. Anne Hathaway filled those long pointy shoes perfectly and gave her own spin to the grand high witch, honestly, I wasn't expecting her face to be so scary!

If you have only seen the original this is a must. If you have never seen any of them I feel like watching both is completely worth it! I for sure will be adding this to the collection of October movies from now on. Grab the popcorn the kids and blankets because this movie night will keep you entertained the whole time!

For the movie buffs out there someone has already put together the side by sides from each film and it's pretty awesome