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The Brother's Grimm cast includes Matt Damon, Heath Ledger and Jonathon Pryce, all directed by Terry Gilliam --- and I wish it were rare that this much talent was wasted this badly.
From the previews, it looks quite good --- a comedy with the Brother's Grimm being con artists pretending to rid the world supernatural evil, until they run across the real thing and have to deal with it.
It does have its moments, though mainly dramatic ones. For the most part, however, it just doesn't come together. For one, the entire element of France vs Germany, especially including Jonathan Pryce's character and underlings would improve the movie by not being in it. It's a ludicrous bit of farce apparently included to give the characters motivation to go into the forest, but just made me want to leave the theater every time that thread of the story was onscreen. If you want the evil king and minions to drive the plot, go back and watch the Princess Bride again to see how to do it.
The special effects are as good as one would expect these days...mostly. The wolf jerkily bounds about like something out of the 50's, and there was one early forest scene where they forgot to remove some of the wires. The trees are the high point here --- when they move, they really look alive. One more thing to thank the Lord of the Rings for, I suspect.
As expected, they throw in elements of many of the popular fairy tales, but more as throw away gags than key elements of the story.
Finally, at the end there is a scene that at first glance is stupidly homophobic. The action itself isn't so much so when you think about what the characters are doing and who they are, but when you think about why it's even in the movie in the first place (to shock the mostly straight audience), you realize that your first impression was right. Not that such situations can't be funny, it's just that in this case, it's sole purpose is to play up and reinforce the "ick factor" that two guys might actually kiss, however unromantically or justified in the situation. It is simply inexcusable today.
I confess, I'm not that big a fan of Terry Gilliam's farces, and his fans will probably be happier with this movie than I was, but I am a big fan of Matt, Heath and Jonathon, and it's really sad to see them in a movie this disappointing.
Posted by abatie at August 27, 2005 05:53 PM