The Brothers Grimm -70%

Ok .. this movie has garnered pretty bad reviews everywhere. I being a fan of Terry Gillian's previous works (Brazil, 12 Monkeys), was really looking forward to this, and thus was pretty surprised at all these negative reviews. So with an open heart, here I go for the show.

Story is about, how 2 brothers Jacob (Jack?) Grimm and Whilhem Grimm, (played by Heath Ledger and Matt Damon respectively) go around towns and villages, and pretending to exorcize the evils there ... for a fee. Well, we really only see them do 1 village, and then they were caught by the French occupiers who doesn't believe in such mambo jumbo. The fact is, the brothers themselves don't either, until they come face to face with the real thing.

What works in this film are the magnificent sets and the relatively good performances by the actors (except for a little quip I have with Matt Damon).

What I do find missing is what I loved in previous Terry Gillian's works - imagination and a sense of awe. The whole experience was rather grim, and not very inspiring. The moments that were inserted as references to the fairy tales were not very witty, and seems to have been placed there for the sake of being. I felt like I was watching a darker, live action version of "Shrek". The humor in the film, never amounted to more than a cackle. And the bone I had with Matt Damon was his rather lousy attempt at a British accent. I watched this film with a British friend, and she said his accent was not consistent, switching from a Northern to Southern accent, which goes to show that he was not a "local". The story was rather inconsistent as well, and certain parts were not properly explained (whatever happened to the beans? or didn't? How about why the father jumped off the tower window with that mirror?? And the link with the Ginger bread man there??)

Hmm ... actually before writing this review, I wanted to say this movie was reasonable, and rather entertaining. But halfway through writing this critic, I realised there seemed more flaws than good. Well, I guess this movie was more of a mixed bag - you will find both what you like, and what you don't in this film.