Fairy tales are usually filled with magic and happy endings. The Ugly Duckling turned into a beautiful swan, Snow White woke up from the Prince’s kiss, and Shrek married Fiona. While Hansel & Gretel was never really the most uplifting tale (ya know, with the witch burning in the oven at the end), director Oz Perkins’ adaptation makes the tale a little bit stranger, a lot more artsy, and adds a feminist angle.
In this version renamed Gretel & Hansel, Gretel, played by Sophia Lillis of It fame, is the big sister who looks over her little brother, Hansel, played by Sammy Leakey. When their single mother can no longer afford to feed her kids, she kicks them out to find a better life. After days of walking in the woods and tripping on some shrooms (like I said, it’s stranger), they eventually stumble upon a witch’s house filled with delicious food. You remember the rest from when you were five.
For something that clocks in at under 90 minutes, the film feels like its lost in the woods. Normally these movies are fast paced, but when it comes to stretching out a story that can be told in 12 minutes, you can take an axe to this movie and still chop off a half hour of wasted time.
However, Perkins’ effort isn’t wasted. Usually these fairy tale movies can be quite dumb (2011’s Red Riding Hood, 2013’s Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, the list unfortuntely goes on), but Perkins puts in great care. He has an excellent cinematographer in Galo Olivares who provides gorgeous shots of the vast and creepy woods. This proves that no matter how small a budget, you can make your film look like a million bucks with the right crew.
Perkins even tried to tell the story through a feminist lens. Normally, Gretel is the little sister who is guarded by her brother, but in this retelling, Gretel is the stronger one. Gretel has an interesting arch and is played well by Lillis, yet Perkins gives her bizzare powers.
Although it’s better than chopping wood, it’s sadly just not powerful enough to go out and see.
IMAGE TAKEN from reddit.com
