While on vacation in Norway visiting grandmother Helga, she tells young Luke Eveshim about the existence of real witches who hate children. As a child, she lost a friend to a witch who put her into a painting. His parents are killed and Helga takes him to England where she owns a house. They vacation at seaside Hotel Excelsior. There is also a convention for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children with Chairwoman Eva Ernst (Anjelica Huston). Hotel manager Mr. Stringer (Rowan Atkinson) has it in for Luke and his pet mice. While hiding in the ballroom, Luke spies that the convention is actually for witches and she intends to transform every child into a mouse. Luke and another boy get caught and changed into mice.The first 30 minutes have a bit too much to cover. There's no real need to start in Norway. The parents dying would be a great place to go darker but the movie doesn't spend much time on it. The movie finally sets up in the hotel. Huston is delicious as the Grand High Witch. It has the dark ugliness and some edgy fun. There is a tacked on happy ending to the story which doesn't make much sense.

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.

A PG-rated family-horror tale about witches, unlike THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK (1987, 5/10), this film affords a crystal-clear definition of the hidden witches among folks (wig, purple eyes and flat toes), adapted from Roald Dahl's children book, UK director Nicolas Roeg certainly taps a darker and eerier approach to visualize the images of witches (thanks to a vivd make-up feat and a grisly puppetry), which might scare off most tykes but as for an adult viewer, it has an eye-opening relish. However, up until the last moment, the adventurous rapture has come to a self-contradictory compromise, procuring a spot in the children-friendly zone, the film opts a rather arbitrary happy ending (overtly against Dahl's willingness) in order not to further upset its potential audience's feeble nerves, which cast itself out of the spectre of being an eccentric cult, a lame move with the benefit of hindsight and judging by its tepid box-office that year.The stellar Anjelica Huston has an uncanny brio to demonstrate a genuine grand high witch of Britain, the role, which instantly eclipses the 3D trinity in the TWOE (Cher herself was the original picking for the role) and would later stereotype hers in the impassive, ruthless, and alienated aura where she has been arguably hovering until today, unlike her contemporaneous Oscar- nominated role in THE GRIFTERS (1990, 7/10), where she exaggerates all her alluring poignancy in a shockingly sympathetic role, here she is the impeccable one-note villain. Mai Zetterling is well-suited in her benevolent granny role, although most of the time she is too composed in the tumultuous pandemonium as well as the rest human cast (sorry to see Atkinson and Blethyn are barbarously underused, the latter's only duty is to scream out of her lung).

Rated "8" because the special effects are outstanding. Otherwise a solid "7" because it is a disturbingly scary film that should be rated PG-13. Also, the pacing is a bit off, as the last 30 minutes seems rushed. As an adult, I can appreciate the fantastic make-up on Angelica Huston as the Grand High Witch, but it is really too scary for little children. Jim Henson's Creature Shop's work is superb and Rowan Atkinson ("Mr. Bean") ineptly manages the hotel where the witches hold their convention. Luke and Bruno are turned into mice as a test for a magical formula meant to eradicate children around the entire world. The talking mice are amazing; animatronic puppets like the Doozers of Fraggle Rock. Please note that in Dahl's book, Luke does not become a real boy again. Luke remains a mouse and intends to do battle with the witches in America. In my Warner Bros. DVD release, the boy is returned to human form by the "good witch" at the very last moment which changes the film, making it more "kid-friendly". (I don't think that this is the original ending on the initial release of this film, after reading the critical reviews.) The make-up and special effects are outstanding for a movie made long before CGI. More fun to watch the second time around, as when the witches turn into mice it is truly startling but less disturbing! Angelica Huston's make-up and prosthetics are just deliciously scary!Especially recommended for all adult Jim Henson fans and children old enough to view "Harry Potter" movies. It was Henson's last film project before his untimely death. Great Halloween fun.