Brothers Grimm
Gwenda Bond calls Brothers Grimm a "terror of mediocrity." That's too bad, I disagree. I thought it was fun and exciting and filled with interesting turns on Grimm fairy tales. It also had the single creepiest scene having to do with the gingerbread man I've ever seen.
In her defense, the movie did have a near-Hollywood ending and was nowhere near the brilliance of Terry Gilliam's best films (Brazil, Twelve Monkeys), but that in no way means this was a bad film. I had a great time.
The movie gets a rotten rating of 38 percent at Rotten Tomatoes. So more than a few people agree with Ms. Bond. Although, I might note that most of the bad reviews still say nice things about the movie. For instance, here's Roger Ebert:
Terry Gilliam's "The Brothers Grimm" is a work of limitless invention, but it is invention without pattern, chasing itself around the screen without finding a plot. Watching it is a little exhausting. If the images in the movie had been put to the service of a story we could care about, he might have had something. But the movie seems like a style in search of a purpose.
My recommendation is go see it for yourself. But maybe read a few reviews first to decide if it's your type of film.
3 comments:
I was really disappointed by it. I thought the characterizations were weak across the board (and especially the brothers), which just made the beautiful set design more sad, and precluded any emotional investment in the film. With such rich material, it's a shame there was so little weight to it.
Mileage varies.
I suppose if you look at it as a waste of potential (great set design, wonderful cast, great director, great source material), I could definitely see it as a disappointment. But seeing it as a spectacle amid all the usual summer dreck, I thought it was great.
As for characterization, I disagree about the brothers, but overall there's probably something to that. Angelica certainly didn't come across that strong to me and I found it hard to jive Angelica's father with what happened to him.
Still, I thought it was fun, overall. While it may not be the deepest film around, you didn't have to "switch off your brain" as most people say about summer movies.
But what about that gingerbread man? Wasn't that creepy.
Oh, by the way, I do mostly agree with you on "The Life Aquatic." I didn't think it was up to "The Royal Tenenbaums", but that's one of my favorite films. Aquatic was quirky and the characters were fun and the animated fish were fascinating and I love the Buckaroo Banzai homage at the end.
Post a Comment