The Witches: 1990 VS 2020

Hello everybody! It's October and you know what that means... It's the witch month! So grab your brooms, prepare your potions and get ready to cast spells all over the world.

Today, we're going to compare The Witches of 1990 to the ones of 2020. If you still haven't watched one or any of these amazing films, then I suggest you watch them right now and I want to clarify that there are SPOILERS ahead!

Once I saw the trailer of the reboot a couple of weeks ago, I knew that I had to watch both of these movies and see for myself what Warner Bros. Pictures were brewing in their cauldron. The Grand High Witch gave us the pleasure of revisiting us after 30 long years and charmed us with her magnificent and malicious presence.

(I want to begin with the fact that the boy in the original movie was called Luke whereas in this movie we never heard his name as long as the grandmother was called Helga and in the reboot she's just called grandma)

So, let's take this comparison from the beginning. I have to say that I loved the car accident scene we had in the reboot that was missing from the original. Though, in the original film the boy was not in the car when it happened. We simply saw the parents drive away and the police informing the grandmother. Though I really liked the scene in the original film where the grandmother was crying and she hugged the boy.

What I really loved about the original movie was the witch story told by the grandma to the boy. I liked the way she described witches and the story of how Erica (The grandma's best friend) was trapped in the painting and she grew older in there until one day she died and dissapeared. We got to see more methods of witches getting rid of children whereas in the reboot we only saw witches transform children into animals.

The fact that in the original film had more methods matches well with the scene where we are intoduced to the elixir and the Grand High WItch says "...my very latest and very greatest magic formula." meaning that she had just created that transforming potion.

The Grand High Witch

Firstly, I want to say that I loved both Anjelica Huston and Anne Hathaway for the role of the Grand High Witch. Both interpretations had their pros and cons and the acting was amazing by both of them.

Let's begin with the real form of the witches. In both movies we got to see the basic features of a witch: They don't have toes and they are bold so they were wigs and their head itches. But we had major differencies in the way the Grand High Witch is prortrayed. I loved more the 90s version, not only because it looked more monstrous and evil but also because she has more differences with the rest of the witches. Which makes sense since she is the most powerful one. Whereas in the reboot, all witches, even the GHW, are the same. An enormous scary mouth and claws instead of hands. The only difference between the GHW and the rest of the witches in the reboot was the fact that she had one toe in each foot.

I also believe that the Grand High Witch is pictured more evil and merciless in the original film especially in the scene of the witch meeting. In the original film, the GHW kills one witch because she dared question her plan and another one because she had an idiotic idea. In the reboot, the GHW only killed one witch for interrupting her.

Another major difference in both movies was the backstory between the grandma and the Grand High Witch. In the original film, the grandma had travelled the world in search of the GHW but she never got to meet her. I believe that gave the movie a mysterious vibe. In the reboot, the grandma and the witch knew each other because the GHW was the one that transformed her friend into a chicken when she was little. I think I liked this backstory more because it also gave us two extra scenes which I loved. The one in the restaurant where the GHW recognized the grandma from years before and the scene in the bedroom where they all fight and kill the GHW. I especially loved that scene because it was different from the original one where the GHW eats the soup like all the other witches and is transformed into a mouse and in the reboot she doesn't get to eat the soup because she saw the grandma and they think of a plan to make her drink the potion.

Another thing that I liked about the reboot was that the pet mouse the boy had, Daisy, turned out to be a former child named Mary that was tranformed months back by a witch whereas in the original one the boy's mice were just plain mice. I believe that the fact that the mice were three, instead of two, and one of them being a girl gave the story something more.

The reaction of Bruno's parents in the original film was far better than the one in the reboot. After realizing that their son was turned into a mouse, the parents were shocked and scared (especially his mother since she feared mice) but then they accepted him for who he was and took him home with them whereas in the reboot the parents do not accept Bruno so he stays with the boy and his grandma. I was shocked to see that the parents didn't accept him in the reboot because a huge point of the movie was the fact that even though the boy was now a mouse, his grandma loved him for who he was. That's why we had the touching scene where she says "It doesn't matter who you are or what you look like as long as somebody loves you". So it made no sense to me that they didn't accept Bruno for who he was.

I also want to say that enjoyed this particular scene where Mr Stringer (the hotel manager) asks the grandma "You wouldn't happen to be carrying around a mouse on your purse?" and the grandma responds "A mouse? Why on earth would I be carrying around a mouse?". The sarcasm in Octavia Spencer's voice was absolutely hilarious.

Another thing I really enjoyed about the original movie was the fact that the boy and Bruno were turned back into humans in the end. And I also enjoyed the way they did it. In the original film, the Grand High Witch had an assistant witch who was treated terribly by her and once the GHW died, the assistant went to the grandma's house and transformed the boy back into a human. In the reboot, neither the boy, Bruno or Mary are turned back into humnas. Even though, the book's ending was actually the reboot's one and I enjoyed the twist that the grandma knew about magic potions, spices and herbs and tried to created an antidote for the GHW's formula, I would prefer them turning back into humans.

Now let's get to the ending of the reboot. I have to say that I loved the fact that the grandma and her mice travelled the world to destroy witches. Although it was mentioned in the original film too, we never got to see them travel whereas in the reboot we were shown funny and awesome postcards and photographs of them travelling the world. Plus, we had the extra scene in between the credits where they recruited and trained children about witches and how to vanquish them which was something missing from the original film.

Overall, I have to say that I was pleased by both of these amazing adaptions of Roald Dahl's book "The Witches". They were both equally intersting, funny and nice to watch. The actors in both movies were amazingly selected and I loved the way the story was evolving in both of them. I truly recommend watching them both and I'm sure that I'll be rewatching them someday.

Written by: Angelo