Jim Henson produces The Witches, the live action adaptation of Roald Dahl’s famous, morbid children’s story, full of animatronics, puppets and outlandish makeup. Although not especially scary, the signature creepiness and dark humor works its way into this fun film, perfectly aligning itself with “just silly enough for kids” and “just mature enough for adults”. The premise is clever, the casting is superb, and the visuals are impressive, so even if the dialogue is occasionally drab and the acting is over-the-top, the ideas succeed more often than they fizzle.

In Norway, Grandmother Eveshim (Mai Zetterling) tells young Luke (Jasen Fisher) about the existence of real witches, whose activities are not to be taken lightly. They are ordinary people, living ordinary lives at ordinary jobs, making them incredibly difficult to distinguish from regular folk. But they hate children, wear wigs, have a considerable sense of smell, have square-shaped feet with plain shoes, cast malicious spells and never, ever get caught.

When tragedy strikes Luke’s parents, he is forced to journey to a hotel in England with his grandmother. It is there that he stumbles upon a secretive witch convention, disguised by the front “The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children” masterminded by the notoriously evil leader, the Grand High Witch (Angelica Huston). Her plot is to use the newly brewed Formula 86 to transform every child in England into a mouse. Although Luke is eventually transmogrified into a rodent himself, it’s up to the Eveshim’s to foil the witches plot, prevent them from further wickedness, and convince the hotel’s other patrons to watch out. “Are you crackers? You need a funny farm, you do.”

Like The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth, Henson’s various puppet creations are delightfully macabre and deviously inventive. Sometimes ghastly but always awe-inspiring, the visuals are easily the high point, most notably in Huston’s abominable, rat-like, monstrous witch getup. The talking mice alternated with real animals are rarely convincing, but the other makeup and effects are quite suitable, as is the complex kitchen mishaps and humorous missions for Luke when he’s in mouse form. The attention to the visuals allows the film to entertain even when the hokier characters eat up screen time or the ideas cater too much to juvenile fascinations. Look for a witty bit part by Mr. Bean’s Rowan Atkinson.

- Mike Massie

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