I’m getting into movie mode. For the 200 year anniversary of the publication of the Grimm’s Fairy Tales it was only fitting to watch “The Brothers Grimm” with Matt Damon and Heath Ledger. The description on the cover sounded very nice so I gave it a go. I shouldn’t have. To me this movie must be the disappointment of the century. What utter crap! Its only saving grace are the pictures that, I have to admit, are rather magnificent.
Other than that the Grimm brothers and the whole topic of German fairytales were slaughtered until you didn’t recognize them anymore. I wasn’t aware that the Grimms (often referred to as the “Grimmy” by a sidekick in the person of an Italian torture master – typical Italian accent included) were con-artists who travelled far and wide to “free” the country from enchantments that they had previously created themselves. Obviously the real Grimm characters were too boring and needed some embellishing. In fact, to me the film was a mixture of “Dirty, rotten scoundrels”, “Ghostbusters” and “Sleepy Hollow” that went awfully wrong.
The fairytale allusions all started kind of ok and then disappeared into nothing. Hans and Greta (totally rubbed me the wrong way, they are Hänsel and Gretel!) go into the forest and she gets lured away by a piece of cloth. Wow! Where is the witch, where the gingerbread house? And it went on and on like that. What on Earth does a gingerbread man have to do with German fairytales? Why is Hesse called Westphalia and what is the Thuringian queen doing there? And why has she been living in Rapunzel’s tower? The whole story is a very odd hodgepodge of half baked but never finished ideas about which horrific tales might appeal to an audience who has never read a Grimm fairytale before.
There was one sentence that I found quite amusing (and symptomatic for the movie). The Grimm brothers come to Marbaden where they have never been heard of and introduce themselves as the guys who have fought off “the cannibal chef of the Schwarzwald in the gingerbread house of terror”. There you have it. If you like murderous chefs in gingerbread houses and a bit of comic relief then the movie might be for you. If you like fairytales in their original form and a less horror-like approach, then stay away from it.
What to watch instead? My suggestion is “The company of wolves” by Neil Jordan, which I am going to re-watch tonight to get yesterday’s taste out of my mouth.
When I read the blog post title my heart grew heavy … with dread! There was me thinking “Oh God, please don’t let her like that awful flick!” and my prayer was heard *insert an angel’s choir singing hallelujah*.
But seriously, I watched this movie several years ago, and what a waste of time and money. As much as I feel that there is a reader for every book I’m sure there are movie aficionados who thrive on that kind of dramatization. I’m not one of them.
Your suggestion makes me curious now, especially seeing that it’s a Neil Jordan movie and you just can’t go wrong with any of his movies (at least not those I’ve watched, “The Crying Game” being one of my favorites directed by him).
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I also like Neil Jordan films. This one is his second film, from 1984, so the special effects are nothing compared to nowadays, but it is a great movie. I absolutely love it.
I know I watched it when it came out, I just can’t remember anything, only Monica Bellucci stading in a tower (or something the like).
I am not really into the Grimm brothers, no matter how dark their stories are (which doesn’t really make much sense taking into account the type of stories I like) and I never thought of giving them a try. I should though, they are referents in literature.
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Well, I don’t read their fairytales on a regular basis, but I grew up with them, of course. What they did in that movie is unforgivable, at least to a German,
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I watched because at first it seemed interesting and I wanted to watch it together with one of my classes, but I found it totally stupid… just like the latest Red Riding Hood.
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Haven’t see that one, but I agree with the “totally stupid” part of the first,
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