Hänsel und Gretel (2006 TV Movie) User Reviews

Very disappointing in almost every department

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 16 February 2019]

Here we have one of the more recent film adaptations of the Brothers Grimm fairytale classic "Hänsel und Gretel". This one is from 2006, so also almost 15 years old now and it is the only writing effort (according to imdb) by Peter Schwindt who was in charge of the adaptation and one of many filmmaking effort by director Anne Wild. This is a small screen production and one of many fairy tales for television in the lastg 20 years here in Germany. Normally they run for pretty much exactly an hour, but this one here is slightly longer at 75 minutes. The cast is not too well-known. Maybe you have come across Peker in other projects as he has a pretty memorable face remining me a bit of Zack Michalowski. And the evil witch is played by Swiss actress Sibylle Canonica. But this is where the problems start already. The witch is certainly the baitiestg character, but the way she is written and what Canonica makes of her is an embarrassing caricature that has nothing to offer other than weird grimaces. What a disappointment. And there is more that sucks. A lot more. The male child actor playing a title character is really bad and I can see why he has never appeared in film before or after this movie again. The female is slightly better and no surprise she managed a careerf in film, at least for a while. What else? The first 20 minutes or so are about the kids and how their father struggles with making ends meet and there is just not enough money to feed everybody, so the wicked stepmom decides that the kids have to be left alone in the forest because they can't feed them. The second attempt is successful. The boy and girl arrive at a gingerbread house where they meet the evil witch who initially seems friendly in her own bizarre way. More problems here. Canonica is just too attractive for the part. I was also not buying for a second that she could not see they are showing her a bone and not a finger. And when the girl pushes her into the oven eventually, it feels wrong too. Like such a crucial moment and they messed this one up as well. The girl is really tiny I just cannot see her having the physical strength to do what she did. And at the same time even take the key from the evil witch. Just not realistic at all and the fact that it is a fantasy tale, does not explain it. There were many animal shots that felt random and out of place and I am saying this as somebody who totally adores animals. I guess these were meant to make it suitable for children and attract them especially. Aside from that, the film is also a disappointment visually in terms of costumes for example. The witch outfit looked like some female knight dress or so. The sets and makeup did not convince me at all either. This film had cheap written all over it. Instead they tried to make up for that by very wild (no pun intended for the director's name) camera work that is just really painful to watch at times. It felt like Blair Witch Project gone wrong with this indeed amateur(ish) footage element. Or slow motion inclusions out of nowhere that added nothing. The bird that leads them away at the end back home is the bestg example for that. Yeah well, there is really a whole lot wrong with this film to be honest. I normally like these German small screen adaptations quite a bit, but this one here not at all. I also felt the part before the middle when the kids are alone in the forest is way too long. They should have shortened this and kept the film at 60 minutes too. The only somewhat sweet thing there was how we see that the two title characters are very close. And what was going on atg the ending. Another botched slow motion scene with the gold falling down so slowly on the trio. And the song they picked was not good either. Or well lets say it wasn't a bad song, but it did not fit the ending at all honestly, not just the language it was in. So finally, it took a special amount of lack of talent to turn a Brothers Grimm classic, this is really one of their most known, into a mess like this movie. Embarrassing stuff. You don#t want to see that. You also don't want your kids to see that. Thumbs down. Not recommended.

A new movie made after the well-known tale by the Grimm brothers.

[wodil · 10/10 · 28 May 2006]

Decades ago, when as a child I received my first volume of Grimms' fairy tales while being ill for several weeks, I "travelled" through a whole new world of stories the Grimm brothers had collected about two centuries before. Reading these stories myself, I formed my own images of each in my mind. "Hänsel und Gretel"(German title) became one of my favorite tales which I re-read often. In Germany, these fairy tales were filmed in the fifties but are forgotten nowadays except for among movie collectors. Later on followed several cartoon versions from different countries which rather frightened children instead of entertaining them or even their families. In the eighties, feature film versions from other countries followed, but now at last a new German release grabbed my attention when I noticed it being advertised on the "Kinderkanal"(Childrens' Channel). I was positively surprised when seeing this movie! Filmed in nearly untouched forests in Thuringia in south eastern Germany, with excellent but up to now relatively unknown actors, this movie is a good example of modern German releases for children and the whole family. The two little actors playing Hänsel (Johann Storm) and Gretel (Nastassja Hahn)play exceptionally well, i.e. it is not an exaggerated theater production, but the children remain themselves and play very naturally. The witch (Sibylle Canonica) is not an ancient woman, a horror figure, but a friendly woman at first who turns evil the next day after luring the children into her house. Claudia Geisler and Henning Peker as Hänsel's and Gretel's stepmother and father also act well the poor people who seem to not be able any longer to support their children and therefore abandoning them in the forest. The whole movie follows closely the original and well-known story. This excellent cast together with the beautiful landscape in Thuringia truly brings back the magic which I discovered and experienced as a child while reading this tale.