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Roald Dahl's The Witches

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.

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?

The 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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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Robert Zemeckis

Written by

Robert Zemeckis · Kenya Barris · Guillermo del Toro

Anne Hathaway

Anne Hathaway

Grand High Witch

Octavia Spencer

Octavia Spencer

Grandma

Stanley Tucci

Stanley Tucci

Mr. Stringer

Jahzir Bruno

Jahzir Bruno

Hero Boy

Chris Rock

Chris Rock

Older Hero (voice)

Codie-Lei Eastick

Codie-Lei Eastick

Bruno Jenkins

Kristin Chenoweth

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 defence The Sentimental Softie

“It owes the canon nothing.”

The movie pursues immediacy and audience pleasure without begging institutions to certify its worth.

The prosecution The Big-Idea Head

“Easy pleasure, short half-life.”

It moves efficiently through the moment but offers little reason to keep arguing once the credits end.