Movie Review:

The Brothers Grimm

Who ya gonna call? Well, if you are in Napoleonic-era Germany and you have a spook or demon in your attic, it’s not the Ghostbusters, it’s The Brothers Grimm!

In 19th century, French-occupied Germany, the Grimm brothers Jake (Matt Damon) and Will (Heath Ledger) are running around the countryside as a kind of Napoleonic ghostbuster duo, advertising that there is “No curse we can’t reverse, no spell we can’t break and no demon we can’t exterminate”. Using a couple of side kicks, the guys rig up elaborate hoaxes worthy of modern-day effects wizards to scam the ignorant villagers into believing that they can rid them of any demon/witch, etc. They do an exorcism in a barn, get paid and truck on only to be recruited by French soldier/aristocrat Delatombe (Jonathan Pryce) and his eager henchman Cavaldi (Peter Stormare) to solve the real mystery of a village’s disappearing young women.

The guys enter a really spooky forest with cursed trees, a werewolf wandering around and a witch/queen in a tower (Monica Bellucci). Following the Grimms and with a nose for rumored riches, Cavaldi is hot on their trail. The guys team up with local huntress and believer in old folk tales Angelika (Lena Headey) to track the missing girls, deal with the “wolf” and confront the witch in the tower. Will they rescue the young women? Will they fall for Angelika and the hot witch? Will they bust their last “ghost”?

This film looks fantastic. It’s spooky/atmospheric as heck. The forest of haunted walking trees that reach out to grab ya brings back not-so-pleasant childhood memories of the creepy forest in Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. In fact, Terry Gilliam and cast remind us that a lot of fairy tales, especially the “Grimm” ones, were really dark and downright scary!

Is Terry’s “Bros Grimm” just a terrorfest? Not at all. As the brothers, Matt Damon and Heath Ledger have some very cute funny moments as they bumble around the countryside trying to earn a living as olden day exorcists; the boys who bounce into town selling themselves as spellbusters rather than hawking snake oil. There is a definitely Old West feeling about the film as well.

One of the major problems is tone. So, who is this film for? It’s not “Monty Python” wacky enough for those fans, not truly frightening throughout for horror movie buffs, too scary for little kids and not funny enough to be a total send-up. There aren’t enough real, personal moments to invest us in what happens to the brothers so we have a lot of amazing visuals without much emotional involvement. There is a little attempt at romance between one of the bros and a hot-looking femme Robin Hood type Angelika and a moment of attraction to witchy Monica Bellucci but these don’t go anywhere. I also got really tired of over-the-top Cavaldi ranting and raving about after the guys.

What is cool is the way the film weaves some of the classic fairy tales into the fabric of the story so that we see Gilliam’s version of how the tales may have gotten started. You get a bit of “Cinderella,” “Little Red Riding Hood,” and “Hansel & Gretel,” and “Rapunzel”.

What could have been a masterpiece turns out to be off-center entertaining and a production design eye-popper. If you want to see Heath and Matt (whose accent comes and goes) in a whole other light and you like fairy tales, you’ll still enjoy the film.

 

This movie is rated PG-13

Official Movie Web Site - http://miramax.com/thebrothersgrimm/

Pictures courtesy of and copyright Dimension Films, 2005