Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters (2013)
TOMATOMETER
Critics Consensus: Alternately bloody and silly, Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters fails as both a fantasy adventure and as a parody of same.
Critics Consensus: Alternately bloody and silly, Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters fails as both a fantasy adventure and as a parody of same.
Trailer
Photos
ADVERTISEMENT
Movie Info
After getting a taste for blood as children, Hansel (Jeremy Renner) and Gretel (Gemma Arterton) have become the ultimate vigilantes, hell bent on retribution. Now, unbeknownst to them, Hansel and Gretel have become the hunted, and must face an evil far greater than witches...their past. -- (C) Paramount- Rating:
- R (for strong fantasy horror violence and gore, brief sexuality/nudity and language)
- Genre:
- Action & Adventure , Comedy
- Directed By:
- Tommy Wirkola
- Written By:
- D.W. Harper , Tommy Wirkola , Dante Harper
- In Theaters:
- Jan 25, 2013 Wide
- On DVD:
- Jun 11, 2013
- US Box Office:
- $55.7M
Cast
-
Gemma Arterton
as Gretel -
Jeremy Renner
as Hansel -
Famke Janssen
as Muriel -
Peter Stormare
as Berringer -
Ingrid Bolsø Berdal
as Horned Witch -
Derek Mears
as Edward
Related News & Features
-
Digital Multiplex: Jack the Giant Slayer and Hansel & Gretel
– Rotten Tomatoes
Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters Videos
Photos
Friend Ratings
No Friends? Inconceivable! Log in to see what your friends have to say.
Critic Reviews for Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters
All Critics (127) | Top Critics (22) | Fresh (19) | Rotten (108) | DVD (3)
If this long-delayed and blatantly pandering CGI malarkey is anything to go by, Hollywood's current craze for fairy tales isn't going to have a happy ending.
There isn't much to this beyond the poorly staged, rapidly edited violence; the witches, all but devoid of backstory, are basically canvasses for cartoon splatter.
The movie settles for showers of gore with intermittent moments of spoofiness.
The whole kidding trope, which you can bet was ordered by McKay and Ferrell, is pretty lame, and defeats the leads' attempts to bring shadings to cardboard cartoon characters.
At least it puts forth a sound message: Kids, avoid overdoing it on sweets -- especially candy that doubles as drywall.
It's a grim fairy tale, all right.
a disposable fairy tale ride
The best "Evil Dead" sequel we never got.
Very lean and speedy... Its primary goal seems to be to entertain as quickly as possible and get the audience back out the door before the story gets old.
Another similarity it shares with Van Helsing is that it's not very good.
a loud, obnoxious mess
I laughed quite often, at its brazen and unapologetic stupidity more than its intentional stabs at comedy.
[Director Tommy] Wirkola attempts to balance his over-the-top gore with gags, but the jokes often fall flat. The characters aren't very compelling either, and that's a problem in a film built around action.
There may be some wit afoot, particularly with director-writer Tommy Wirkola's good-for-a-chuckle rethinking of the missing child notices adorning milk bottles, but the film is still just a one-note, hired guns story-with groupies.
Imagine the elaborate plan: 'We use the sets left over from Red Riding Hood, add a candy house, throw in some aerial forest shots out of Twilight, keep it cheap. Steampunk it up, and have 'em wear leather, 'specially her. Lotsa cleavage.'
Nothing more than Dario Argento dialed down for fourteen-year-olds.
It's an amusingly cheeky notion: the siblings from the Brothers Grimm fairy tale as witch-slaying bounty hunters. A defter hand than Wirkola's might have succeeded ... but the film's anachronisms are clumsy and most of the jokes fall flat.
Dangerously ignorant and inaccurate on the subject of diabetes, Hansel and Gretel should be disregarded at all costs, and the filmmakers really ashamed they put something so irresponsible on the big screen.
...feels like a coven of people in offices visited the set, were shown the mocked-up candy house and then decided to gut the whole thing and make it safe for theatrical and television sales to other countries where there's lots of censorship.
Let's not mince words: Hansel and Gretel is not a good movie.
The gore is a bore and the sweary script just isn't funny.
One suspects that, seriously or tongue in cheek, it's really about the "war against terror" and that Hansel and Gretel are the CIA and the witches belong to al-Qaida.
What will Terra Firma's new overlords think of us if, by some freak set of circumstances, Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters is all that remains of our once proud hominid civilisation?
There's no reason in the world for Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters not to be good, clean, trashy fun. But it isn't.
Made in Germany, this raucous adventure merrily refuses to follow the usual Hollywood route of blanding-down a fairy tale for the lowest common denominator (see both Snow White movies last year).
[A] fast and furious all-action continuation of the classic fairy tale ...
Audience Reviews for Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters
Don't get excited. It's another entry into the fantasy/action genre (as per League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen and Van Helsing), with steampunk inspirations, alt soundtrack, and some little gore quotient. Add supposed to be catchy catchphrases whenere a baddie is dispatched and its pretty much predictable before the opening shots. Time passes quickly however and while not surprised you'll not be completely bored either.
MoreSuper Reviewer
Revenge is sweeter than candy.
Good Movie! Its not an intellectually stimulating movie. Its made to a hilariously entertaining popcorn flick with over-the-top action and unrealistic weapons that wouldn't have existed given the 'time period' this movie seems to be set in. So you folks out there giving it bad rap for not meeting your standards, calm down. Its clearly not trying to. The only complaint I have is that it wasn't long enough. It's run time is just short of 90 minutes so they had ample room to expand a few scenes or even add new ones to flesh out the character development a little. A definite recommend for any action junkie.
The siblings Hansel and Gretel are left alone in the woods by their father and captured by a dark witch in a candy house. However they kill the witch and escape from the spot. Years later, the orphans have become famous witch hunters. When eleven children go missing in a small village, the Mayor summons Hansel and Gretel to rescue them, and they save the red haired Mina from the local sheriff that wants to burn her accusing Mina of witchcraft. Soon they discover that the Blood Moon will approach in three days and the powerful dark witch Muriel is the responsible for the abduction of children. She intends to use the children together with a secret ingredient in a Sabbath to make the coven of witches protected against the fire. Meanwhile Hansel and Gretel disclose secrets about their parents.
Super Reviewer
Straying impossibly far away from it's source material, "Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunter's" is the type of film that you can have a blast watching, but in the end, you will admit that it is just a bad movie overall. It has a few nods here and there to the original Hansel and Gretel fairytale which was nice, but it got tiring when you finally got to the action scenes which kind of felt more repetitive than anything. I will not say it's a terrible film by any means, because the entertainment levels are sky high. The script is probably in the top 5 worst of 2013 and the delivery of the dialogue is just as terrible, but that made the film much more fun to watch. It's a big piece of Hollywood Schlock that I won't remember, but I will be fine with to turn my brain off and watch again.
MoreSuper Reviewer
It seems I'm in the minority yet again, as I found Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters to be a pretty good film. I thought it had a Sam Raimi/Buffy feel to it, am I alone? I thought Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton were great in the title roles, Famke Janssen was a great baddie and Peter Stormare was a nice addition but would have liked to have seen more from him. The Witches were awesome. Scary, classic but with a modern and fresh twist. I really don't understand the hate for this film, it was never going to be a bloody Oscar winning masterpiece. I ticks all the boxes it promised, it's gory, a bit scary and it kicks bottom in all the right places. I thought it was great fun! Personally I'd love to see more, especially with the team of four left in the end. Please?
MoreSuper Reviewer
Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters Quotes
- Muriel:
- Gretel. Famous witch hunter, finally we meet.
- Gretel:
- Who are you?
- Muriel:
- I see you got my invitation?
- Gretel:
- Say your name before my arrows rip out your throat!
- Muriel:
- I go by many names, none of which you're worthy of pronouncing.
- Hansel:
- I'm old fashioned but Gretel needs more convincing to clarify that someone is a witch.
- Ben:
- When I am a grown up, I wanna hunt witches like you too do.
- Gretel:
- We didn't ask for this Ben.
- Gretel:
- You collected all this?
- Hansel:
- The name's Hansel, and this here is my sister, Gretel.
- Gretel:
- What do you think your doing?
Discussion Forum
Discuss Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters on our Movie forum!
