Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters

Title: Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters
Year: 2013
Director: Tommy Wirkola
Starring: Jeremy Renner, Gemma Arterton, Famke Janssen
Red Rating: RRRRR (5/5)
High Point: Opening
Low Point: Fist fight with the police

So we all know the story of Hansel and Gretel from when we were kids. A little girl and her brother get taken to the woods and left there when they come across a house made of sweets. Hansel gets fattened up by the witch who lives inside and eventually the children fight off the witch and burn her instead of getting burnt themselves. But what happens to them after that? You'd think they'd be living happily ever after, just like any other fairy story, right? Wrong. There were plenty more witches for Hansel and Gretel to be defeating, otherwise there'd be no film. And it would be pointless for me to be writing this.

The opening was awesome, to say the least. Showing us the classic story we all cherish from our childhood, but the gothic twist was amazing. The Tim Burton- esque candy house which was meant to look appealing actually looked pretty creepy and makes you wonder why they went towards it, why would you go towards a creepy sweet house in the middle of a forest, I don't know, kids back then. All the opening credits were backed by the one and only Hans Zimmer's original score for the film and drawn out newspaper clippings of various witch slayings carried out by the new witch hunting duo. As the credits go on, the clippings show the pair getting older and older which in my opinion is an amazing way to show an aging process in a film quickly. No cheese, no cliches, just perfection and a really effective way to show the brother and sister team growing up together.

The realism of the film was also a highlight for me. The now older Hansel injects himself throughout the film and we are left wondering what the huge steampunk style injection is for. This is until he explains to their new friend Mina that as he was force fed so much candy as a child, he developed diabetes, having to now inject himself with insulin otherwise he'd die. He explained how he was one of the first people to develop the illness and that he didn't really understand it, but by this little realistic twist to the film, it made the story a little more believable if you can look past the fairytale creatures.

The team not only deal with witches in this film, but they also meet a giant troll Edward, who is one of the witch's helpers. A bad guy? No. Edwards helps the team from the inside when the witches come to attack. Not only new fairytale characters but new friends of the witch hunters are introduced throughout the film. The fanboy Ben instantly captures the audience's hearts when he introduces himself asking so many questions about witch hunting to his idols. Mina was saved my the pair when accused of being a witch and it's safe to say she has a thing for Hansel.  Then there's the group of witches, who reminded me a lot of the three witches from Shakespeare's Macbeth. As it is set in the time Shakespeare would have been around it would really surprise me if they weren't based on the infamous characters. One leader, two followers who could potentially be as powerful as the notorious leader. A perfect recipe for a triple threat of supernatural bad guys.

Now I really had to search for my low point this time as the majority of the film was completely flawless. There was one action scene around the middle of the film. It involved the police force of the town and Gretel. This is very picky of me I know but I had to put at least one negative in this. You could tell very clearly that the punches weren't real. Each one thrown was around 15cm in front of Gretel's face and the angle the scene was shot at made this clearer. There, negativity over. No more bad points.

This film has now taken one of the prime spots of my amazing films of the past few years, and possibly the title of one of my favourite films. The time period is represented perfectly, Hans Zimmer worked his musical magic over the whole film making it even more dramatic and epic and the costume really setting the witch hunting duo aside from the ordinary town folk in their black leather corsets and jackets and the steampunk style weapons making them different to any supernatural fighting team I've ever seen in a film. This is one I will be rushing out to buy on DVD.

Despicable Me 2

Title: Despicable Me 2
Year: 2013
Directors: Pierre Coffin & Chris Renaud
Starring (voices): Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig, Russell Brand, Miranda Cosgrove
Red Rating: RRRR (4/5)
High Point: Agnes' birthday party
Low Point: Big action scene

You would not believe how excited I was to hear our little yellow square friends would be returning to our screens this year after the first instalment back in 2010. This time the story follows Gru (Carel) and his girls Margo (Cosgrove), Edith and Agnes with their ploy to find Gru and partner. This being said, Gru wants to focus his time on other things now that he is not a super villain and changes from producing jams and jellies to helping the Anti-Villain League, finding his new friend Lucy (Wiig). We spend the whole film wondering who the new super villain was who stole the secret lab in the Arctic circle while watching Gru and Lucy's relationship blossom as well as observing Gru become more like a father figure compared to his awkward carer role in the first film. With both new and old characters, it sure wasn't a disappointment.

Firstly, the film was great for a family audience, much like the first film. Adult references to Isaac from the 1980's classic 'Love Boat' and jokes that younger children may not understand, 'I know what makes you a boy' being my favourite line addressed to Gru from the youngest girl Agnes, worked incredibly alongside the classic jokes that even the smallest of children would understand such as fart jokes and slapstick humour. This family approach means that unlike some children's films, adults will also get a few laughs whilst treating their little angels to a cinema trip. Parents, if you're unsure if this is for you, it is, trust me. 

The new characters explored in the film, such as Gru's new sidekick Lucy and Salsa restaurant owner Eduardo, give the film the additional boost it needed rather than keeping the same characters from the first film. No reference was made to Gru's previous enemy Vector, so he was probably still stuck on the moon where he was last seen at the very end of the first film. This helped the storyline progress though and it was probably the reason that no repetitive jokes or comments were made, all the material used was fresh and funny. The doesn't go to say that some favoured elements of the first film were forgotten, fear not DM lovers, the fart gun made a well received return alongside Kyle the dog and Kevin, Bob, Stuart and Dave the minions. 

I was very disappointed, however, that one of my favourite characters from the first film failed to make an appearance apart from a 10 second dancing slot at the end, and this character is Gru's beloved mother. The evil mum who doesn't exactly care about her son, his future or his wishes. One of the funniest characters in the first film. I was actually quite shocked that she didn't have a speaking role this time around as there were plenty of opportunities for her to have slid in. But as the running time was already quite long, maybe she got cut, I don't know. 

I was pleased that there is probably room for another Despicable Me instalment after the quite predictable ending (well, it is a kid's film and I am 17, so this probably wasn't a bad thing) so I'd keep your eyes peeled well back after this film hits the shelves for an announcement from the almighty Universal Studios. A new villain maybe, more focus on Gru's family life? We didn't get to see Agnes' mother's day recital so that would be a nice little short, just a hint there Universal. Even possibly a return of Gru's evil side? An older version of the girls taking over from their father? I wish I could write scripts instead of blogs because I would be right on this, I have too many ideas. 

A big question on most people's lips is: is this film as good as or better than the first? My answer, no. But it was going to be very hard to make a film better than one of my all time favourites from any genre made for any age. However, it is still incredible with its fair share of both funny and sincere moments. I would recommend the film to anyone, of any age, just go and see it, right now, go on, book your ticket. You won't regret it, I promise, and let me know if you agree with me! Until next time.