Film Review - Brothers Grimm

A Grim for Brothers Grimm
By: Rianne Hill Soriano
The only thing that makes the movie interesting is its fairytale theme. But overall, it is shallow, bland and disappointing. There has been a few sparks of promise watching the trailer. But after watching the film, the muddled plot has messed up its very intensity.

Utilizing the enchantment and whimsical tone for a fairytale movie makes a playground for picturesque cinematography and production design. Weaving throughout the film are a number of Grimm tales including: The Little Red Riding Hood, Hansel land Gretel, The Frog Prince, Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, The Gingerbread Man, among others. But unfortunately, the outcome is nothing more than a topsy-turvy showdown of a folklorish adventure lacking a good plot. At times, the camera work and cinematography may be stunning. The costumes and set design complements the historic details of 1804 Europe when Napoleon was at the peak of his powers and the continent was under French control. But most of the time, the CGIs are too transparent, some sceneries show much of the paintings and the overall treatment lacks vision and ingenuity.

The story revolves around a very loosely based story about the authors of those classic fairytales that enchanted us as children – the legendary German brothers Jacob (Heath Ledger) and Wilhelm Grimm (Matt Damon) – as they travel from village to village pretending to protect the people from enchanted creatures and pulling off exorcisms. Until one time, they encounter a real magical curse in a haunted forest that takes them into a series of mystical adventure. The magic that confronts them rattles their beliefs and convictions. Will is the lover and realist, while Jacob is the dreamer. They are sent by the French General Delatombe (Jonathan Pryce) to the countryside to rescue the young, pretty girls who are disappearing mysteriously.

The clash between the two Grimms paves way to the story’s progress. Will (the rationalist), believes that folk tales are nothing more than superstitions passed by the village elders from generation to generation. But Jake (the traditionalist), even as a small boy, has believed in fairy tales and mystical stories.

The very weakness of the film is the script and storyline. The plotpoints seem disjointed – trying hard to weave the various fairytales into one cohesive film. The tone keeps shifting unevenly because of raw characterization and moments of losing vision. It’s like inventing without any scientific method. The film is meant to be within the mainstream formula and yet it has no place even to the very basic equation. There is a daring vision challenging such a concept but the execution is rather disappointing. Characterization is unclear and many questions about the happenings in the story are left unanswered. The film does not pay much attention to the one vital thing – storytelling. Personally, it has never gotten me involved. The story has not created any form of empathy for the protagonists or for any character in particular because the characters have not really located their personalities that much. Damon even disappoints me further as he gets to lose hold of his accent at times. Ledger is quite okay as he radiates his geeky and dreamer character from his facial expressions. Angelika (Lena Headey) is considerably the most charismatic character. General Delatombe (Jonathan Pryce) is a too exaggerated character that still makes me question – what validates his characterization of being too gay as he has those effeminate movements surrounding his psychotic and military stance? Sad to say, it is rather ineffective and not enjoyable. Cavaldi (Peter Stormare) is half-cooked, sometimes funny, sometimes annoying and irritating (acting-wise and character-wise). Monica Bellucci justifies a true beauty as an the evil mirror queen trapped in a high tower.

Many established points in the story are left out like a disappearing Cinderella couch turned into a pumpkin. Some facts are not very intellectually nor artistically written. I just wondered why Angelika’s sisters are not very much established among the many maidens victimized by the mirror queen… I haven’t seen the relationship, no emotion has been well established. And whatever happened to Angelika’s father in the end? No much fuss about it in the end, only the happily ever after mood and kissing the two Grimms. What form of love is being shown to the kids watching the film? Things are pushed too hard just to put in the “mirror, mirror on the wall” thingy, among others, in the story. The film seems to be a sort of an unintelligible spoof of various fairytales (I suggest, between the original Grimm fairytales and this movie, better choose the classics…).

Director Terry Gilliam makes a not so good job for the brothers. What seems like the very curse of the film is the lousy special effects and the over-the-board and trying hard to put together the fairytales without contributing much to the story. It tries to chase its own plot out of nowhere. It is a fractured fairytale that can find itself a hard time to be a classic. It can rarely be a kid’s favorite, not even with teenagers nor adults. Only people who are not very keen with art, over-the-board CGIs, and a good story, and are only after a feel good ending, will say that it is enjoyable enough. Too bad, the concept could have won the hearts of fairytale and movie-lovers. It leaves an impression that only a small portion of what the audience has dreamed of becomes a reality.