Gretel & Hansel was sadly only the third new release I've seen this year for obvious reasons. This film was extremely boring but had one great redeeming quality. Seriously, this film doesn't deserve it.
The cinematography is my only true positive. It’s absolutely gorgeous. The 1.55/1 aspect ratio gives the film a claustrophobic feel. I have a weakness for odd aspect ratios; Gretel & Hansel definitely exploited that for me. Every frame of the film looks stunning. There were a bunch of frames that I would love to have framed in my room. My only negative is that the subjects of every shot are centered nearly 100% of the time. It gets slightly redundant. Outside of the great visuals, the film is lacking pretty much everything else.
I feel as if Alice Krige's witch could have been a fairly iconic horror antagonist. I really like the makeup effects used on her as the witch. Her presence was fairly intimidating throughout the runtime. She was definitely the best actor on set of this film.
Gretel & Hansel is ultimately just boring. The dialogue, in particular, is probably my least favorite part of the film. It comes off as pretentious and unnatural. Alice Krige's lines are just odd. This is due to the screenplay, not her performance. The whole plotline of the witch wanting Gretel to become her apprentice of some sort (maybe I'm honestly not sure. I began checking out of this film pretty early) didn't work for me.
The acting wasn't great either. I know Sophia Lillis can act; she's great in the IT films. She wasn't great in this at all. Again, I blame this mostly on the script. I can't blame the script for Samuel Leakey's, Hansel, performance. This was one of the worst child performances I've seen in a bit. I can't blame the kid, but he definitely didn't help this already lackluster film.
In conclusion, Gretel & Hansel comes off as being a poorly paced, A24 wannabe. The drop-dead gorgeous cinematography can't save all the other poor elements throughout the film.
5.5/10
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