The Brothers Grimm
Movie Reviews | Sep 3rd, 2005
Starring Matt Damon, Heath Ledger, Peter Stormare, Lena Headey, Mackenzie Crook, Jonathan Pryce, Monica Bellucci
Written By: Ehren Kruger
Directed By: Terry Gilliam
I heard about this movie from reading about it on all the movie sites and then when the trailer came out, it looked like the film was going to be a fun adventure movie. Well I think that’s what Terry Gilliam originally intended but the final film certainly isn’t that!
Brothers Grimm is loosely based off the fairy tales stories of them same name (I think?) and is about Will and Jake Grimm. Brothers who collect folklore and con villagers into thinking that their villages are haunted. They pretend to rid the towns/villages of the evil and collect their payment and move on to the next town. Until the French government gets a hold of them and demand they help them in this old town, or they will be killed. So with no choice, they go to a town where a bunch of young girls are being taken, kidnapped or believed to be killed. At first, they think it’s a hoax and just one of their competitors, until they start to witness stuff that no one can fake. In the town, they meet a sexy hunter girl who lost her 2 sisters and her father to the mysterious enchanted forest. They use her help to fight the forest and the evil queen that lives there and all that jazz.
I went into the movie, thinking I was going to like it a lot, even though it was getting awful reviews. I was hoping the film would be something similar to the Mummy or Brotherhood of the Wolf but nope, it turned out more like Van Helsing. The movie felt all over the place. The story could have been really good & fun but it just was really boring the first half hour. Certainly no character development, or a decent enough backstory. There was a lot of aspects that Terry Gilliam could have focused on and made the film fun but a lot of the stuff was just weird. But what do you expect from Terry Gilliam. You can definitely tell when watching the movie that there was too many cooks in the kitchen, and the film was all over the place. Plus you can see why it didn’t get released until the Weinsteins are putting out all their leftovers. The only thing good about this movie was the look of the movie and I liked some of the fairy tale homages or cameos in the movie.
I think Matt Damon was okay, except for his different accents in each scene and Heath Ledger was kind of annoying. The way he talked, he just seemed like a guy on heroine. Talked all jittery but I think that’s how Ledger approached the character. Peter Stormare was way over the top and annoying in the film. They were trying to make his character the comic relief, which he was, but he just got too annoying. And I mean Jar Jar Binks annoying! Jonathan Pryce had to put on a dumb French accent as well. Monica Bellucci was in the movie as the evil forest queen but she wasn’t in the movie that much. Bummer too because she’s beautiful. Originally Johnny Depp was suppose to play one of the characters which might have made the movie better but still think the movie would have been unsuccessful.
So should you go see Brothers Grimm? Certainly not in the theater and spend that over-priced ticket fee for a mediocre film. Wait for DVD, where maybe there will be some hope and there will be a director’s cut of the film. Perhaps that cut will be better than what I saw. The film was just a mess and not really enjoyable. The only time I laughed out loud (whereas no one else did) was when the little cat got chopped up into little pieces. Yes I’m sick sometimes. But for right now, the only saving grace to this movie is Monica Bellucci’s breasts.
Favorite Scenes: The kitty cat getting kicked into the spinning death vice!
Rating: PG-13
Running Time: 118 minutes
Overall Rating:
