That was an excellent one.

People are voting emotionally.

Best movie ever!

A Masterpiece!

This film was made on the year I was born; ironically, Roald Dahl (one of my favourite writers) happened to die on that year too. The Witches was a brilliant film, and one of the best Roald Dahl films out there; in fact, most of his films were actually pretty good anyway. Personally, The Witches was my third favourite Roald Dahl film (the other two being Matilda and James and the Giant Peach), but The Witches is probably the most darkest of all the Roald Dahl films. The film was very scary to watch as a child. It's a wonderful film to watch for the Halloween season. The characters were really good: really liked Luke. The icing on the cake would have to be that Rowan Atkinson was part of this film. He added that "flavour" if you know what I mean – you first have to see it. The only regret was that a sequel wasn't made given how the ending planned out though it wasn't necessary. After watching this film, my fear for witches has increased further...A LOT...further...MWAHAHAHA!!!!!

As far as children's horror's go...whereas, this isn't the scariest...it's one of the most alluring, in a fantasy sense.It tells the story of a young boy, whose grandmother is a witch hunter. She tells him tall tales of witches...that don't turn out to be so tall after all.For, when they head off on vacation...they stumble upon a witch's conference...featuring the grand witch and all.He sneaks in to see what they are up to, only to discover that they are plotting to change all the children of England...into mice! And, he gets caught and changed into a mouse before he can escape.Now, he and another boy (who was also turned into a mouse) who are on the lam. They must find his grandmother, so that they can foil the witches' dastardly plot...before it's too late! And they plan to do so...by giving the witches some of their own medicine.This film is light-hearted fun, but I can see it being scary for a very young child.It is most notable for it's incredible special effects- coming from the late great Jim Henson.The witches themselves, are disgustingly cool...while the animatronic mice puppets are totally badass.They shift between using the mice puppets and real mice, making the film even more fun to watch.I don't remember ever seeing this as a kid...but it's on the same level as something like Labyrinth...just not as epic.Kind of surprised I never even heard of it until now...because I'm a huge Roeg fan! Hopefully you didn't miss it like I did.6.5 out of 10.

I really tried to give this movie a chance after reading other people's reviews. I haven't seen it as a kid, so I have no fond memories clouding my judgement so to speak. I coudn't even sit through it, though I generally love 80's and 90's family fantasy films. This one is an unwatchable mess, especially if compared to the quality of acting and directing seen in other films of the same genre in that era. Better acting could aid the film maybe somewhat; the actress who portrays Grandma is so awful, it breaks the disbelief dramatically. The narrative is very uneven and contradicting: some parts are overly dragged out or simply nonsensical (the runaway stroller scene does not advance the plot none), other parts which are supposed to be mysterious and magical (Grandma telling Luke the story about the little girl spirited away or the famous witch convention scene) are not scary in a good fun spooky sort of way, but more in a high fever delirium way, which is needless to say not appropriate for children and quite honestly unsettling for an adult. It seems as if the writers couldn't not decide on the genre of the film. It watches like a horror mystery at times akin to The Shining or Omen, for example when Grandma says to the parents of the "fat" kid turned into a mouse: "I got your son in my purse here, he was altered a bit", or when witches catch Luke and feed him "the formula", the mood of the scene is just unnecessarily surreal and creepy in the general framework of the story. At other times you are sitting there just annoyed at non funny repetitive jokes about the "fat" kid eating all the time because that is the only character definition he gets, people being constantly driven to the heights of panic over pet mice or the hotel manager rolling out of the towel closet with the maid (really?). Anjelica Houston is great for the role, but unfortunately the part does not give her acting ability justice. Overall it seems to be a very weak effort overall, do not waste your time on this one, watch The Addams Family (with aforementioned glorious Anjelica Houston) or Hocus Pocus (with really cool witches and great children actors) instead.

I really like THE WITCHES. It was a childhood favourite of mine back at the time - I was born in 1981, so was roughly the same age as the kid in it. In addition, I think it's the film that most authentically captures the spirit of Roald Dahl's book, more so than either of the CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY adaptations. The combination of Nic Roeg's outstanding direction (who thought of using an art-house director for a kid's film? It was a gamble that really paid off) and Jim Henson's great puppet work makes for a truly superlative movie.The storyline is deliciously dark and, although it's kept simple throughout, the film achieves a remarkable level of world-building in a short space of time. Then there's the cast: Anjelica Huston, completely sinister in THAT role (forget THE ADDAMS FAMILY, that's nothing compared to this), a deliciously deadpan Bill Paterson, a hilariously pompous Rowan Atkinson, and a sweet Mai Zetterling holding it all together as the kindly granny.I still love the mouse puppets they use in this film, and the effects really hold up even today. I consider the big reveal with Huston to be one of the best, and most shocking, ever put on film. Yes, the sugar-sweet ending may be off-putting to some - and a departure from the original - but it doesn't spoil what is, in many ways, a perfect little movie.