The Witches

In 1960s Demopolis, Alabama, a young boy is sent to live with his grandmother (Octavia Spencer) after his parents are killed in a car crash. His grandmother warns him about real witches, evil demons in human shape who pose as human women in order to blend in with society. Witches have sharp claws instead of fingernails which they hide with gloves, have bald heads which they hide with wigs, and have toeless feet. Their mouths stretch to their ears when they grin, revealing their sharp teeth, and they have large nostrils for sniffing out children who they hate and kill because children smell horrible to them.

The witches are led by the evil Grand High Witch (Anne Hathaway), who once turned the grandmother's childhood friend Alice into a chicken. After the boy encounters a witch with a snake and a caramel in a store, his grandmother takes him to a resort hotel where the manager, Mr. Stringer (Stanley Tucci) is about to welcome the International Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children for their annual meeting. When the boy enters the meeting room to train his pet mouse Daisy, the Society group enters the room. The boy hides under the stage. After Stringer leaves the room, the doors are locked and the women are revealed to be evil witches. They remove their gloves, shoes and wigs, revealing their true demon forms.

The Grand High Witch is furious with her minions for not killing all the children in Alabama, and even kills one witch with eye lasers for questioning how they can kill all children. The Grand High Witch wants the witches to buy a candy store and lace all the candy with Formula 86 Delayed Mouse Maker potion, which will turn children into mice. The Grand High Witch levitates around the room while saying this. The snake around her dress magically comes to life. The Grand High Witch smells the boy and uses her super strength to throw the stage aside, but the boy has hidden himself in a vent. The Grand High Witch demonstrates the potion on a boy named Bruno, who had earlier been given a chocolate bar laced with the formula. Bruno turns into a mouse and runs into the boy's hiding place. The Grand High Witch discovers the boy and turns him into a mouse. She tries to capture all three kid-mice by extending her arms into the vent, but cuts her hands on a fan. The kids escape to the grandmother and plan to get a bottle of the potion from the Grand High Witch's room and put it into the witches' split-pea soup in order to stop them.

Continuity mistake: Look at the forehead of the hotel manager. Everytime he raises his eyebrows, you can see his prosthetic forehead piece.

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Trivia: The family of late author Roald Dahl who wrote the novel The Witches gave director Robert Zemeckis permission to do a remake on the condition that the ending of the movie follow the ending of the book, where the boy remains a mouse.

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Question: How come the end credits don't mention Robert Zemeckis as the director?

Answer: They do. I just loaded the movie up on HBO Max, and it's literally the first credit to pop up in the end credits.

TedStixon

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