Gretel and Hansel is, obviously, a film based on the age old fairytale. It has been the source of numerous adaptations, most of which fell short of impressive. As a result, I’m starting a petition to ban any future use of this tale as a basis for a movie plot, because enough is enough. No matter how many times producers undertake the challenge to put a new spin on the story, it will still be stale, predictable, and boring, Gretel and Hansel was no different. In this particular adaptation, the filmmakers attempted to create a strong female lead, as the title may suggest, as Gretel’s name precedes her brother Hansel’s. However, this failed to incite any attachment from the audience to this character, or any character for that matter, except perhaps the witch who was, for me, the most pleasant part of the film.

After being driven from their home because of their disturbed and deranged mother, Gretel and Hansel begin a journey through the woods, hoping to find a place where they may begin a new, better life. Gretel, being the older of the two, takes on the role of protector of her younger brother and leads him towards the prospect of an improved existence. However, when they stumble across a possible way to this “better life”, they find that it may in fact be just the opposite of that. After summarizing the movie, it doesn’t seem to deviate from the original fable much at all. Driven from home by a parent, Gretel and Hansel must venture into the woods and fend for themselves until they meet a hospitable, and quite odd, old lady who graciously takes them in and entices them with sweets, with the hopes of killing the children and eating them. Like I said before, the plot itself is stale and overdone, so any movie that is modeled after it will most likely be the same.

Granted, the filmmakers do attempt to make a few changes to the original story, which I can’t reveal as they are spoilers and I wouldn’t want to ruin the movie for you (if for some reason you decide to watch it), but the changes are still quite predictable and not particularly revolutionary. This is probably due to the fact that the original moral of the story Hansel and Gretel is quite simple, don’t trust strangers and don’t disobey your parents. However, in a modern day and age, this moral does not make for an interesting movie. The filmmakers tried to introduce other morals, and possibly “make this timeless” tale into a female empowerment film, it was not very comprehensible. The incorporation of Gretel as a leading character into the plot was weak, they failed, and made the movie seem as shallow and simplistic as a fairytale; which unfortunately, does not make for a mind-blowing movie.