Question: After having so many disappointments over the way that Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory was filmed, Roald Dahl swore he would never be involved in any movie that was based on one of his books. How then was the rights to turn the novel "The Witches" into a movie acquired? Wouldn't the director have needed Roald's permission?
Question: When Miss Ernst says she wants Luke to be found, she screams that he must be eliminated, causing Miss Irvine to look shocked. Why would she react this way considering Miss Ernst's plan was to kill all the children in the world?
Answer: She probably didn't know about her master plan, just about turning kids into mice. Most likely she thought they'd be kept in locked cages and held prisoners.
During the meeting, Miss Ernst says that every child in England must be "Rubbed out. Destroyed." A clear indication that she was talking about killing the children after they get turned into mice but, Miss Irvine doesn't seem shocked or upset after hearing this.
Question: When Helga tells Luke about the Grand High Witch, Luke asks if she ever saw her. Helga responds that nobody has. Later in the film, Helga recognizes the Grand High Witch. How would Helga know what the Grand High Witch looks like if she never met her?
Answer: 1. Helga had met her before, she just didn't know at the time she had met the Grand High Witch. 2. Eva was not the Grand High Witch yet when Helga met her.
Question: When Luke drops formula 86 into the Cress soup, why did the cook witch not turn into a mouse immediately? The Grand High Witch said that more than five doses causes an instant transformation into a mouse and Luke dumped the whole bottle in the soup which contained five hundred doses so the witch should have turned into a mouse immediately.
Answer: The potion was made for little children, not adults. It would have taken longer to go through their entire system.
Answer: In a car crash.
Question: What's the ending in the UK version of the film? Is it different from the US version?
Answer: The boy/mouse goes back to England with his Grandmother and he tells her that he managed to get all the Grand High Witch's money and book of witches. Then a witch comes along and changes him back to a boy.
Answer: "The Witches" was made twenty years after "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory", and in that time television adaptations had been made of "The BFG" and "Danny the Champion of the World" of which Dahl approved, so presumably he had relaxed his view of adaptations of his books - however he did hate the ending of The Witches film.
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