A Tale Dark & Grimm (2021) User Reviews

Captivating enough

[sinahaase-960-743497 · 8/10 · 9 October 2021]

It's got some twisted storytelling but I think the way that they tell the story in order to make it not so dark, works really well. It's got some good humor though. It's not super corny and each episode has some very captivating narration. I love the pace of the series. When you think it might drag, they speed it up instead and I really loved that. The animation is not the best, but the content is good enough to make up for it.

**OPINION: I love that the queen might be from a middle eastern region? (Her kingdom had desert, palm trees etc.) maybe? Maybe not? And I love that the twins are not identical. I mean, girl/boy twins cannot be identical regardless, but you know what I mean. My 2 daughters look as if they should have completely different dads based off of skin tone lol but they're not. One is super white with golden brown hair and one is brown with dark hair lol so I think this show isn't just trying to be "different" but more relatable to others and not just the majority or stereotypes. So yeah, I really liked that :)

Anyways, back to the story review: it's fun, it's exciting, it's plenty interesting and each episode ends making you want to hurry up and watch the next :) I hope it is as enjoyable to all as it was for me and my fam. Adults too. That other Hansel and Gretal animated film on Netflix was GARBAGE so don't mix up the 2 lol this series is completely different and much better. Thanks for reading :)

funny

[rdvljunk · 7/10 · 13 October 2021]

I never read the book but as a series it is amazingly funny with some (ofcourse) dark and sarcastic humor. It isn't mind blowing but interresting enough to keep facinated by it.

I just keep wondering what age it targets...I think it is a bit too horrible for most 6y old but also often a bit too simplistic for older childeren and adults.

Racially diverse and a little gorey

[yushiru · 7/10 · 10 October 2021]

It might be a little gorey for your 5-7 year old, think original grimms tales level of gore. We let ours watch it without issue. Super fun, and the really bad stuff isn't shown. It also includes some of the lesser known stories like the devils 3 golden hairs.

Contrary to what a prior review said. The queen is poc and the king isn't so the siblings are going to also be racially diverse. As diverse as the cast is, it's not a topic in the show. Anyone complaining about it needs to chill, kids don't care, and if you do, work on that.

loved it

[shirlone · 13 October 2021]

This is a show everybody could watch. It was creepy in some parts, sad in others and it had me laughing out loud. I am definitely glad i watched it. Well written and acted out.

This Would Have Gotten A Much Higher Rate If It Weren't For All Of The Storyline Contradictions!!!

[tesswysko · 6/10 · 29 November 2021]

I don't like to add spoilers, and I can't write much, because either IMDB or my Kindle keeps dumping my reviews before i can post them, and it's INFURIATING. So, I'll keep it short and sweet. I was rather taken with this story.. in the beginning, but it's as if another person began writing it, because so many plot points-and IMPORTANT ones especially just got glossed over, like they never happened/were said, or they just changed the "rules," and when someone alters a story THAT MUCH, it's no longer enjoyable for me. Just go in with your eyes open.

Outright awesome

[shivasrinidhi · 9/10 · 19 May 2022]

This really is dark and grimm and the lore ? It is just awesome the characters are great it has dark comedy with each episode just getting darker and darker I literally binge watched it one day. That's how good the show is.

Not bad, love the gores. Def not for kids

[sisubalan · 6/10 · 9 August 2022]

Definitely not for childrens. Unlike others, im actually enjoyed watching this since the story was wild and a bit different than the classic tales. Recommended to watch, just give it a try.

Just, wow. I loved it

[madeincanada-08745 · 10/10 · 8 October 2021]

My kid who's old enough to watch was like, I won't watch it. Then 10 minutes in, no daddy please let me watch one more. LOL. Hilarious and creepy, a 10 🌟

I did enjoy it...

[lordadentus · 7/10 · 8 October 2021]

I did enjoy it but...

The ravens were really ruining the vibe of the story for me.

I CAN NOT FIND THE ENDING SONG ANYWHERE! =)

7/10 for me. I didn't hate it but it had its bad parts.

Surprisingly entertaining!

[ashsmith-108-818828 · 9/10 · 10 October 2021]

It's a little dark, but still has plenty of humor to lighten things up. My kids love it and I found myself watching it with them and actually pretty entertained by it! Cute show!

I was entertained!

[scarlettwyrtzen · 7/10 · 9 November 2021]

The only thing I really didn't like was that Hansel and Gretel's relationship wasn't really sibling-like. And that was a little weird to me.

It's pretty entertaining though and I'm glad my 7 year old sister forced me to watch it with her.

A Really Fun Show for the Whole Family

[buttercupbuffy · 8/10 · 8 October 2021]

I was very surprised by the good quality of this show. Really captured me.

My favourite character would be Mrs Baker. The crows were hilarious too.

Yeah but children actually aren't smarter than their parents

[karenskrmail · 6/10 · 15 October 2021]

I was debating between a six and a seven star rating I gave it seven stars because it was funny for adults I guess it was gory but I don't think the subject matter or the gore was anything that I didn't grow up watching. I mean Disney animation can be pretty messed up and gory without being overtly gory and traumatizing at least this was all done tongue and cheek and whenever cartoons or shows show you with some sort of afterlife in this case hell death is never really that much of a traumatic subject in my opinion.

The reason I didn't give it a higher rating it was because I really disliked how the foolish, immature, helpless, inept...just basically all around lousy human beings the king and queen a.k.a. Hantzel and Gretel's parents were. I checked the book out through the library while watching this so I'd like to see what the actual story did but in my opinion kids these days seem to think that they know more than their parents thanks to the brainwashing they go through at school with their professors telling them what to tell their parents and how stupid their parents are if they don't tote the same line the public school system is brainwashing their kids into regurgitating. I mean don't get me wrong kids always think they know more than their parents but that usually happens later in life telling small children that they are as capable if not Way more capable then their parents is not the smartest idea unless their parents are truly awful human beings and these two characters were not awful human beings they were just parents trying to do the best they could do.

Now had the message been that it was important to trust your children rather than just dismissing them as dumb kids who don't need to know anything then maybe I could've gotten behind that but this was basically telling kids that they were smarter and more capable in life than their dim witted cowardly parents and I don't think that's a good message to put out. In most cases parents do know best and kids almost never do because they are freaking annoying kids who haven't been alive for more than a decade and only been speaking in coherent sentences for like five or six of those years, hell they can barely remember 5 of those years! Grimm fairytales Were told to basically scare kids straight. They wanted children to beware of evil and to always mind their parents the storytellers decided to do the opposite basically don't trust adults because they're all weird and kind of dumb.

Again unless we're talking about truly awful adult behavior there's no good reason to send a message to children that just because they don't understand the actions taken by a parent/adult that they have the right to rebel or run away. And no, they don't have a right to literally start acting like they are the grownup.

The writer here made the parents out to be foppish morons who literally handed over there crowns to their children I mean give me a break. Um, have these guys even met children? They do not know best, they don't know much of anything actually and most importantly, they are all very very annoying.

Still this was funny enough and engaging enough that I binge watched it in one sitting so I'll leave my rating at 7 stars.

Not appropriate for 7-year olds. At all.

[dshevock · 1/10 · 17 October 2021]

Seriously. No seven year old should watch this. Who in their right mind thinks, hey 2nd graders need to see decapitation and impalement, murder, cannibalism and death. This is for adults only.

Perfect for this spooky season

[jesusonasurfboard1 · 13 October 2021]

I read this book growing up, and always thought the book was twisted but I really enjoyed it. So naturally, when I saw this on Netflix, it's a must-watch.

The series stay loyal to the original storyline, it's just as gory and just as disturbing. For those of you who are displeased because of how creepy and twisted it is- that's the point! Gidwitz portrayed the Grimm brothers' tales in a different light is all.

I noticed a lot of remarks about Hansel's skin color. Personally, I didn't mind the fact that Hansel is darker than Gretel; genetics are a weird thing. Also, why would it matter? As a colored folk, I would have loved to see more colored folks like myself on the TV growing up.

Overall, this series is perfect for a Halloween night with the kids. It's not that gory, I promise!

Like the dark but not the story

[julialipfert · 7/10 · 10 October 2021]

Like the dark parts like the old tales, I would have liked it better if each episode was its own grim story without the Hansel & gretel narrative.

Fantastic!

[aspatterson · 10/10 · 16 October 2021]

I wish we could reply to reviews on here. There's one referencing their discomfort over Hansel being a POC (eyeroll) their mother is clearly not white. And biracial twins can have different skin tones and features. Not to mention...IT'S A CARTOON!

The animation is wonderful and the story, while a little twisted for younger kids, is still amazing. If you go into every show expecting it to be a replica of the book, you'll be disappointed.

I LOVED it!

[ejamc · 10/10 · 11 October 2021]

This show was amazing! I mean, it really got into the more obscure Grimm's fairy tales, like "Faithful John", "The Seven Ravens" and "The Three Golden Hairs", which I really appreciated! Another part I like is that the writers didn't shy away from some of the more unpleasant aspects of the stories, like having to cut off your kids's heads to bring a friend back to life!

Amazing!

[LightHeartedLove · 10/10 · 11 October 2021]

I watch new shows with my younger brother quite often but this show definitely stood out; so much so I had to make an account to leave a review! I loved the crows and that they observe as they tell the story instead of it being an offscreen narrator. The slight gore so it's safe enough for older kids, but exciting enough for adults is a nice touch and I feel like that also adds a bit of realness to it. Lots of witty lines and a good amount of episodes. And as a lot of people were pointing out, I liked that the kings woman of interest(queen) was a poc. As well as them showing that she is a poc by making Hansel and Gretel not look exactly the same. All around a good show!

Captivating story, told in a great way

[martletmoonlight · 8/10 · 21 October 2021]

I really enjoyed the mini-series. The stories were told in a very interesting way that keeps you in anticipation to see what will happen with the characters. I really liked the type of humour they've used. Dotty( the raven) became my favourite character as she is super hilarious and the actress Erica Rhodes has really nailed the part. I was super impressed with her performance! The other actors were also great. The animations were very nice and I really liked the way the tale was told so that it becomes interesting for an adult as well, not only for children. I definitely recommend it .

not for young children,violence,twisted

[tinkuhn · 1/10 · 17 October 2021]

Why would I want my young children to watch this? A witch getting impaled on a candy cane. There's all ready so much violent shows, it's unnecessary for young kids to be watching this and seeing scenes like that. Seems like a messed up kid friendly way to show violent and gruesome scenes to kids.

I was looking forward to watching this with my kids, but nope.

A Proper Fairy Tale

[robertcasey-84793 · 10/10 · 17 October 2021]

Well I'm not one for review s,but had to on this..kids started watching few days ago, while I sat there with them,I found myself eagerly awaiting each episode...it's good old fashioned Story telling with wit and excellent voice actor s... Loved it,and wish that Netflix would make more.. beginning to end it's exciting/excellent..funny and addictive... loved especially the 3 Raven's...one not to be missed...Best I have seen... especially when modern animation is stero typical of Disney,this was just so good...Well done to Netflix and cast/company who made it...

Dark, funny and woth witty dialogue!

[swiftnimblefoot · 9/10 · 10 October 2021]

I went into this show without any knowledge of the book, or any expectations, and found myself enjoying it a lot. Was hooked after one episode, and I found myself both laughing at the extremely funny jokes and being touched by the very emotional story. Looking up the cast, I found that Doug Langdale wrote some episode, who was also a writer on a favourite show of mine, The Adventures of Puss in Boots, and I was like WOW this explains so much!

The show has much of the same, quotable, extremely funny dialogue, and generally, clever writing that does not dumb things down for kids, and drops clues about important events to come later. The story is loosely based around several original Grimm's fairy tales, and I do mean THE original german ones - not the watered down modern versions by Disney. Those tails were dark and full of hard lessons, and not every story or character had a happy ending. While this show can be dark at times, the humor never goes away, and that is mostly thanks to our really funny narrator ravens, the serious William, the down-to-earth Jacob and the absolutely bonkers Dotty, who for me was the standout character of the show with her gallows humor and almost Dory-like forgetfulness.

The animation is nice, and the storybook style background transitions make the whole thing work like a book. There are a lot of surprise twists and memorably weird and likeable characters. In both writing and art style, actually, you could easily see this show being set in the same Shrek-verse as The Adventures of Puss in Boots was.

Greatly recommended, and I hope much like how Dotty said at the end, we get a spinoff or next season. While the story of Hansel and Gretel is told, our three narrators could still cover other stories.

Really entertaining

[Theresecah · 10/10 · 14 October 2021]

I highly enjoyed the series. I thought the writing was extremely witty - I found myself literally laughing out loud in quite a few parts...don't really find it common with a lot of kids movies/shows, but maybe that's just me. Loved the animation, dark, spooky, not too extreme (although might be a little scary for younger kids). Good for adults too who are watching along with their kids. Good find on Netflix.

A Bit Strange and Half-Baked (No Pun Intended) But Still Entertaining and Thought Provoking

[BabelAlexandria · 8/10 · 25 October 2021]

This playful if sometimes gory remake of Hansel and Gretel and other Brothers Grimm stories (based on a book, apparently), teases the implied parental audience about what is and what is not "appropriate." In an era which sees frequent accusations of censorship baked into the development of YA and other literature, this is a potentially explosive topic. But discussion of what is "appropriate" focuses almost exclusively on the level of violence and gore, which is indeed higher than most Netflix animated children's series, though it is fairly infrequent. The plot could be seen as a fairly subversive critique of helicopter parenting: Hansel and Gretel, though doted over by their royal parents, are somewhat shockingly killed by them at the beginning of the first episode, and, though magically resurrected when their heads are stitched back on with gold thread, spend the rest of the series blaming themselves. And one form of truly inappropriate material is the harm Gretel does to herself, cutting off her finger to enter a magical mountain, which is arguably presented as a commendable act.

Despite the lackluster attempt at metacommentary, the series is highly entertaining, especially for children. We watched this during Halloween season and both my kiddos (a 6-year old boy and a 9-year old girl) very much enjoyed it. And they did like the explicit metacommentary, that is, the comic-relief and narration of the ravens.