The Brothers Grimm

2005 "Eliminating Evil Since 1812."
5.9| 1h58m| PG-13| en| More Info
Released: 26 August 2005 Released
Producted By: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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Synopsis

Folklore collectors and con artists, Jake and Will Grimm, travel from village to village pretending to protect townsfolk from enchanted creatures and performing exorcisms. However, they are put to the test when they encounter a real magical curse in a haunted forest with real magical beings, requiring genuine courage.

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emiliever There were some very weird scenes. The thing with the cat for example was simply gross, unnecessary and even a bit traumatising. The complete story was just vague and boring to watch.
Leofwine_draca THE BROTHERS GRIMM is an example of Terry Gilliam trying to recapture some of the magic of his '80s films like TIME BANDITS and THE ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHASEN. That it's a misfiring mess of a film is obvious from the outset, as this attempts quirky breakneck character comedy and fails throughout.The fantasy world and odd creatures that inhabit it, alongside the kooky/bumbling performances from the two leads, bring to mind the work of Tim Burton and Johnny Depp in the likes of CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY, SLEEPY HOLLOW, and ALICE IN WONDERLAND, although that's hardly a welcome comparison. In other words this is a typical, Hollywood-feel, over-stylised CGI adventure film with no character or wit to make it one to recommend.Matt Damon and Heath Ledger are both indescribably bland in the leading roles and neither of them are very funny either. There are better actors in the supporting roles, like Lena Headey, Mackenzie Crook, Jonathan Pryce, and Monica Bellucci, but they're all given very little to work with. For the most part THE BROTHERS GRIMM merely offers up endless sub-par CGI spectacle with the odd good scene, like the living clay figure. It's a mess, as are so many of Gilliam's films when you start looking too closely into his career.
Bill Slocum It's very difficult to replicate the magic of a Terry Gilliam film, getting right that elusive mixture of perversity, whimsy, jet-black humor, and spectacular visual design.It's even difficult if you happen to be Terry Gilliam.In the height of the Napoleonic Era, brothers Wilhelm (Matt Damon) and Jakob (Heath Ledger) Grimm make a shady living off the superstitions of their fellow Germans. Then French occupiers press them into service to discover who is stirring up spooky trouble in the dark forests around the town of Marbaden. The Grimms figure it must be a rival group of hoaxers, and, under duress, take on the job of exposing them. The job proves more than they expect."The Brothers Grimm" is clearly a callback for Gilliam, working in the same comedy-fantasy niche he created with "Time Bandits" and "The Adventures Of Baron Munchausen." But his inventiveness and humor are missing. Instead of inventiveness, there are a lot of over-the-top sequences barely connected to the central story involving bad CGI. Instead of humor, you have people falling down a lot and the Grimms being shown up as bunglers at every turn.Told the "strapping young lad" he has been complementing is in fact a girl, Wilhelm gulps and adds: "And a fine young wife he'll make some lucky man."Both Ledger and Peter Stormare as an Italian torture expert suffer from extreme overacting. Ledger plays his character with much eye- twitching and spectacles-adjusting, as well as a stammer reminiscent of Ratso Rizzo. Stormare seems to be channeling Timothy Carey with his constant eruptions and wild stares. After not very long they become extremely distracting.On another planet is Lena Headey as the love interest, who being the main female in this predictable film sees right through the Grimms and tries to make them appreciate the true gravity of their situation. She plays her role with a grim naturalism that keeps fantasy at bay whenever she's on screen.It's definitely a Gilliam film. You have the cynicism up front ("It's a short brutish struggle and then you die," Wilhelm says. "Life's little subterfuges make it all worthwhile.") Cute characters are introduced in order to die horribly. What can you say about a comedy where the funniest scene involves a kitten being disintegrated? Certainly that's got Gilliam all over it.But the kitten scene isn't all that funny, and neither is anything else. The script seems to treat comedy as an afterthought, while using the Grimm fairy tales the same way "Time Bandits" used history, as the basis for various set-pieces. Yet the connections this time are witless and convoluted.You see a girl walking through the forest with a bright red cape, and think "OK, it's Little Red Riding Hood." But before anything else happens, she gets abducted and that's the end of her story. Or another little girl named Gretel walks through the forest with her brother, and is abducted. The most ridiculous of these is when a girl suddenly loses her entire face and is then abducted by a monster from a well. "You can't catch me because I'm the gingerbread man!" is the last thing we hear, referencing another fairy tale, albeit not one from the Brothers Grimm.Basically, the story doesn't need the fairy-tale dressings at all, it's just a parade of child abductions leading to an overbaked and nonsensical conclusion. But Gilliam and his team apparently needed the excuse to show off their CGI. They aren't good effects at all; ten years later you can see how poorly they were processed.One thing Ledger said in a supplemental feature sticks with me: "None of us would be here if it wasn't for Terry." The only reason "Brothers Grimm" got made was to give Gilliam something to do; this time it wasn't reason enough.
dyanordakowski This movie creatively incorporates children's fairy tales into an intriguing story of two brothers trying to rescue the girls who were stolen from their homes. All the fairy tales have a darkness to them instead of them being represented as the happy children stories that you read to kids before they go to sleep. This is what makes the movie so interesting. Heath Ledger adds a wonderful touch to the movie because he is an attractive and talented actor. The action and adventure in this movie keeps the audience intrigued. There is not one boring part of this creative and imaginative story. The way it is set up in the older days makes the twisted fairy tales more realistic and creepy. This movie is both enjoyable and a little spooky. It even has a little comedy thrown in which makes the perfect balance.