 |
| The Witches - 2020 |
Coming up next we have 2020's film "The Witches", the story of a young boy who is caught up in some odd happenings when a coven of witches visits the hotel that he and his grandmother are staying at.
The film's cast includes Octavia Spencer, Jazhir Bruno, Anne Hathaway, Stanley Tucci, Codie-Lei Eastwick, Kristin Chenoweth, Charles Edwards, Morgana Robinson, Josette Simon, and Chris Rock.
Here's a little note about witches. They're real and they're here! We begin the film with a short introduction to the witching world.
"Witches are as real as a rock in your shoe," a narrator tells us. They can be anywhere and be anybody. Your teacher, the lady who drives the bus, or even a nurse! All witches hate children. So beware!
A young boy (we don't know his name, the movie doesn't tell us. He is credited as "Hero Boy") loses his parents in a car accident and has to move in with his grandmother.
Living in Alabama is hard for our young Hero Boy. His grandma does everything she can to help him through his sadness. She gets him a pet mouse, whom the Hero Boy names "Daisy".
One day, a strange woman approaches the Hero Boy and offers him a sweet. Hero Boy moves away from her and the woman disappears without a trace.
Hero Boy tells his grandma about the lady later that night. She is convinced the woman is a witch and tells her grandson about her run-ins with a witch when she was a young girl.
Wanting to save her grandson from the clutches of the witch, she takes him (along with mouse Daisy) to a hotel on the Gulf of Mexico. She hopes that the witch will forget about him.
Also checking into the hotel is a large group of women purporting to be members of the International Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. They are odd and make the hotel manager a bit uncomfortable.
We later come to find out that these ladies are in fact witches. They're leader, the Grand High Witch, has brought them all to Alabama.
The next day, Hero Boy is mouse-training Daisy in an empty room in the hotel, when suddenly the ladies burst in and seal the doors. Hero Boy is forced to hide under the stage.
As the Grand High Witch stands before the assemblage, a revolting smell reaches her nostrils. Apparently, children smell like poop to witches.
The witches take off some of the things that make them appear normal and Hero Boy is shocked to find out the truth about them.
The Grand High Witch tells the assembled witches how much she hates children. She's got a plan to rid the world of children once and for all.
Using a potion she's formulated, the Grand High Witch plans to turn all children into mice, hiding the potion in candy.
To demonstrate this, she tests the potion out on a portly young chocolate enthusiast named Bruno. Sadly, he takes the bait and turns into a mouse.
Hero Boy is discovered in the room by the Grand High Witch and is also turned into a mouse.
Once they escape the room, Hero Boy finds out that his pet mouse Daisy is actually a girl who was turned into a rodent by one of the witches. Her real name is Mary.
They alert Hero Boy's grandma and decide to do something about all these witches.
They decide to steal some mouse-maker potion from the Grand High Witch. There's a moment when it looks like they might be caught. Fortunately, the Grand High Witch is called away at the last moment.
Hero Boy races to the kitchens with the potion. The witches are having a big dinner that night. So he slips the potion into the pea soup that they will be served.
Grandma, Hero Boy, Mary, and Bruno get a seat in the dining room to watch the action unfold. The plan seems to be working. The witches are devouring the soup quickly.
Before she takes a spoonful of soup, the Grand High Witch sees Grandma and hurries over to her. She recognizes her from years ago when Grandma was a little girl. The Grand High Witch knows that Grandma was a little girl who escaped her clutches.
However, before things can go further, the witches start turning into monstrous looking rats. These hateful creatures run amok in the dining room and send the hotel guests screaming in all directions.
Of course, the Grand High Witch gets her comeuppance too. Through an elaborate plan, she is also turned into a rat. She becomes the most vile and hateful rat of them all.
Grandma rifles through the Grand High Witch's trunk and finds a ton of money, a bunch of mouse-maker potion, and the addresses of all the witches in the world. She, Hero Boy, Mary, and Bruno decide to work together to get rid of all witches.
Before they can do that, there is one witch who is high on their disposal list. They set her cat, Hades, on her to do the dirty work. Afterwards, Grandma and all three mice leave the hotel and begin what will be their life's work.
Cast rundown:
Octavia Spencer...........................Grandma
Jahzir Bruno................................Hero Boy
Anne Hathaway............................Grand High Witch
Stanley Tucci...............................Mr. Stringer
Codie-Lei Eastwick........................Bruno Jenkins
Kristin Chenoweth........................Daisy/Mary
Charles Edwards...........................Mr. Jenkins
Morgana Robinson........................Mrs. Jenkins
Chris Rock...................................Older Hero Mouse
And that's it for The Witches. The novel on which the film is based was set in England. This film was set in Alabama, USA, though it was almost entirely filmed in England. The movie is a remake of a 1990 film of the same name. That film starred Anjelica Huston as the Grand High Witch. This film is described as more faithful to the original novel.
A mid-credits scene shows an older Hero Mouse (Boy) and his grandma educating children about the dangers of witches. They give the children assignments: to mail mouse-maker potion to the address of a witch.
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
