When bringing a classic fairy tale to the big screen, the filmmakers are tasked with adding their own creative stamp and visual flare to the story. Each film adaptation or reimagining of a classic story is made unique because of the different approaches, that their respective filmmakers bring to the table. Some classic stories often find themselves being retold in a newer approach in an effort to reintroduce their stories to a modern audience. In the case of Gretel & Hansel, the classic story is based on the German folklore tale of the same title that's previously written by the Brothers Grimm. What the newest 2020 film adaptation aims to do is create a visual atmosphere, that's genuinely creepy while telling the story in a way that feels both fresh and exciting for a new generation of audiences. While the film succeeds in delivering an atmosphere that feels effective with strong visuals which enhance the creepiness of the story, the latter is where the film feels uneven and ultimately falls apart.
Based on the classic Brothers Grimm book, the story for Gretel & Hansel centers around a young teenage girl named Gretel (played by Sophia Lillis) and her young brother Hansel (played by Samuel Leakey) being left on their own with them wandering through an eerie forest until they stumble across a strange elderly lady, who offers them shelter with all the food they could ever need. While their host (Played brilliantly by Alice Krige), appears seemingly generous and eager to have guests, the young pair of siblings realize that the longer they stay, the more convinced they become that something evil lurks within their presence. Gretel & Hansel has the look of being an effective horror movie, as well as strong young actors in the main roles. The main problem that becomes its undoing, is the lack of strong storytelling with both its script and overall execution feeling bland rather than inspired. The film wants to be a pure horror and fantasy story, but often feels like it only puts half the effort into being genuinely effective rather than a full attempt. The films script is thin in terms of both character and plot elaboration with the story feeling as if it moves too far rapidly for its short 91-minute running time. Despite carrying a mood that's chilling and appropriately fits the tone of the film, Gretel & Hansel doesn't exercise the same level of effort and enthusiasm that went into creating it's visual atmosphere with its story. The end result serves as being an underwhelming attempt to reintroduce a classic story for modern audiences, while also serving as being a wasted opportunity for its talented young actors.
One of the few elements of the film that works effectively besides its visual look are the performances of its key stars. The acting by the main leads comes across as being both believable and convincing with them doing their best to make the most of their experience. Sophia Lillis delivers a strong performance as 16-year old Gretel. She manages to bring the right amounts of seriousness, maturity, and emotion to her role with Lillis continuing to impress with her skills as an actress from her breakout role in Stephen King's IT. She meets the demands that the role requires and delivers a believable performance, that makes her character both likable and sympathetic. The same can be said about Sam Leakey in his feature film debut as Gretel's 8-year old brother Hansel. Whereas the film ultimately collapses around them, both Lillis and Leakey do well with their performances along with showing natural chemistry as siblings. Their performances are not the greatest as they're both still relatively young performers, but they play their parts well enough with Leakey escaping the young Jake Lloyd curse from Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace in terms of being both lackluster and annoying. Whereas the child actors perform reasonably well, Alice Krige delivers a strong and utterly convincing performance as the evil and terrifying witch, who lives in the shadows of the dark woods with her ultimately kidnapping Gretel and Hansel. Other notable supporting roles are Charles Babalola as The Huntsmen, who helps Gretel and Hansel in the early portion of the film, and Jessica De Gouw in a minimal yet effective role as young Holda. As a whole, the cast for Gretel & Hansel is small but the main performances are strong enough to add both realism and believability to the story with the young actors managing to hold their own as the films main leads with Krige bringing both class and experience to her role. While the acting overall isn't groundbreaking by any means, it attempts to add both tension and suspense to a story, that often feels dry due to poor scriptwriting.
The directing by Oz Perkins, ultimately feels underwhelming despite creating a generally effective and creepy atmosphere. What Perkins does well is give the film a visual look, that serves as being absolutely striking to watch with it succeeding in transporting audiences into the story. The films production and costume design are both strong with the cinematography being extremely effective in regards to the film appearing to be brilliantly lit, while given a darkly mooded atmosphere that succeeds in adding chills to the story. The films visual elements are hands down the best thing about the movie and succeed in giving the audience a glimpse of a world. that feels both moody and stylistically well-handled. The films pacing keeps the story moving rapidly with it often feeling as if the story doesn't have enough time to be properly developed or fleshed out during its 91-minute running time. The films score works well in regards to adding tension to the story, while blending in with its strong atmospheric mood. On a directing front, Perkins does well with giving the film a look, that feels both stylistically handled and artistic. He also proves that he can work well with his cast in regards to generating solidly effective performances from them. His overall directing shows that he's capable of handling a story, that comes across as being this complex and creepy. It's a shame however, that he wasn't able to improve upon the films shortcomings regarding its script.
As far as the writing goes, the films screenplay by Rob Hayes, Sophia Lillis, and Sam Leakey is where the film ultimately falls apart with the script feeling both thin as well as halfway completed. The main characters come across as feeling underdeveloped with the plot not being thoroughly fleshed out enough to be genuinely engaging. The story is essentially designed to focus on Gretel's character coming into her own in regards to her supernatural abilities, but the audience never truly gets the sense of her characters struggle with her arc often feeling rushed. The horror aspect of the story is built up in certain scenes with the audience being left to think that something major is going to unfold with the main characters, but are ultimately left disappointed when nothing happens. The first act of the story starts off strong with the opening narration drawing the audience in along with the establishing of Gretel and Hansel's characters. That momentum ultimately begins to stall to a near halt in the films second act with moments, which could've further developed the story that was essentially being replaced with weird and pointless ones such as the young characters tripping out after eating mushrooms. The films third act is where the story somewhat begins to regain its life with the entering of Alice Krige's character, who unquestionably becomes one of the films main highlights despite being brought in near the end. The third act ultimately becomes frustrating for audiences not just because its climax feels rather underwhelming, but the whole subplot between Gretel and Hansel encountering the witch should've unfolded much sooner in the story to make up for both its unbalanced and dry second half. The dialogue is written in a play-writing style with key subplots either feeling mishandled or treated as afterthoughts such as Gretel and Hansel being cast aside by their mentally ill mother, whom the audience doesn't get to see much of prior, along with them getting a legitimate feeling that the witch is preying on the young pair of siblings in the woods prior to formally meeting them. The films overall plot comes across as feeling pedestrian rather than taking a life of its own with the character of Hansel often feeling overshadowed by Gretel (Whom the films overall story arc is undoubtedly aimed towards). It's not that the films storyline is a boring or lackluster one, the problem lies that the story doesn't carry with it the craftsmanship and attention to detail that went towards crafting the films effective atmosphere and visual structure. The film ultimately feels like it carries an uneven narrative that lacks enthusiasm in regards to telling its story despite the film carrying two key cards, that attempt to make up for those shortcomings such as its stellar production design and reasonably solid performances.
There's no other way to put it than blatantly stating the obvious that Gretel & Hansel is a wasted opportunity to tell what sounds like, and ultimately could've been a truly compelling fairy tale story. The films overall execution ultimately feels uninspired, and lacks heart behind bringing its story to life on the big screen. This is a film that could've and should've been so much more than what it ultimately ends up being had the filmmakers put more emphasis on strengthening both its script and overall story structure. The films end message feels underwhelming in regards to its overall presentation with the story ultimately saying that what seems too good to be true usually is, along with stating that no one can get what they wish for without sacrifice. The films additional message of one being brave and trusting themselves, unfortunately lacks enough power to be truly effective and hard-hitting as Gretel's story isn't as thoroughly fleshed out as it could've been. Besides the films impressive visual look and technical elements such as its electric Tron-like score, the film underwhelms and severely disappoints as unenthusiastic storytelling with the main actors feeling wasted in terms of showcasing their full potential here. The script feels effortless with the running time being too fast-paced for both the story and characters to be properly fleshed out. It's a shame that as capable and skillful of a filmmaker that Oz Perkins gives audiences glimpses of being, he couldn't fully transfer that creativity in regards to being a visual filmmaker into becoming a well-rounded one who can properly balance out the films technical elements with solid storytelling. Gretel & Hansel is a slick looking fantasy film, that desperately wants to be seen in both a style and form that's artistic but doesn't possess the convictions to be anything other than being a terribly mediocre effort, that should be avoided in exchange for other well-handled and intense horror films that carry young actors in the roles (Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark for example). Gretel & Hansel is a visually striking horror story, which aimed to be a different kind of horror tale while reaching for the stars in terms of its overall presentation. While the films visual style rises to the occasion, its narrative and story structure don't with it ultimately ending up being one of 2020's biggest cinematic misfires. Gretel & Hansel serves as being a film that's greatest strength lies with its visuals, but unfortunately falls apart in almost every other category.
Final Verdict: For fans of the classic story, Gretel & Hansel impresses visually but leaves much to be desired in regards to storytelling that's both compelling and engaging.
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