The defence The Sentimental Softie
“Sincerity is not manipulation.”
The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.
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Roald Dahl's The Witches
Comedy · Fantasy · Family · 2020
In late 1967, a young orphaned boy goes to live with his loving grandma in the rural Alabama town of Demopolis. As the boy and his grandmother encounter some deceptively glamorous but thoroughly diabolical witches, she wisely whisks him away to a seaside resort. Regrettably, they arrive at precisely the same time that the world's Grand High Witch has gathered.
Movie details
Roald Dahl's The Witches
“Witches are real!”
2020 Comedy · Fantasy · Family 1h 44m
Critical arithmetic
One number, for now.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
TMDB
6.3 / 10
Community rating
In late 1967, a young orphaned boy goes to live with his loving grandma in the rural Alabama town of Demopolis. As the boy and his grandmother encounter some deceptively glamorous but thoroughly diabolical witches, she wisely whisks him away to a seaside resort. Regrettably, they arrive at precisely the same time that the world's Grand High Witch has gathered.
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over Roald Dahl's The Witches?
For the defence
The Sentimental Softie
“You came to feel something, and you will.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Big-Idea Head
“You watch with your brain, not your gut.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Taste neighbourhood
Nearby on the taste map.
TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.
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Casper Meets Wendy
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Bogus
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Hotel Transylvania 2
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When the old-old-old-fashioned vampire Vlad arrives at the hotel for an impromptu family get-together, Hotel Transylvania is in for a collision of supernatural old-school and modern day cool.
Hotel Transylvania
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Welcome to Hotel Transylvania, Dracula's lavish five-stake resort, where monsters and their families can live it up and no humans are allowed. One special weekend, Dracula has invited all his best friends to celebrate his beloved daughter Mavis's 118th birthday. For Dracula catering to all of these legendary monsters is no problem but the party really starts when one ordinary guy stumbles into the hotel and changes everything!
Return to Halloweentown
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As Halloweentown prepares to celebrate its 1,000th anniversary, Marnie Piper and her brother Dylan return to Witch University, where trouble is in session from the Sinister Sisters and from someone who's plotting to use Marnie's powers for evil.
Godmothered
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A young and unskilled fairy godmother that ventures out on her own to prove her worth by tracking down a young girl whose request for help was ignored. What she discovers is that the girl has now become a grown woman in need of something very different than a "prince charming."
Pinocchio
Fantasy · 2022
A wooden puppet embarks on a thrilling adventure to become a real boy.
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Robert Zemeckis
Written by
Robert Zemeckis · Kenya Barris · Guillermo del Toro
Anne Hathaway
Grand High Witch
Octavia Spencer
Grandma
Stanley Tucci
Mr. Stringer
Jahzir Bruno
Hero Boy
Chris Rock
Older Hero (voice)
Codie-Lei Eastick
Bruno Jenkins
Kristin Chenoweth
Daisy / Mary (voice)
Court is in session
Put Roald Dahl's The Witches on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Big-Idea Head
“The strings are showing.”
Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.