The Witches Review: 4 Ups & 6 Downs

2. Octavia Spencer's Soulful Central Performance

Another smart change the movie makes is beefing up the grandmother role considerably, as while the equivalent character in the Roeg movie spends a decent portion of it in bed and out of commission, for the most part Agatha plays an active role in how the story plays out.

It's just as well, because Octavia Spencer is so perfectly cast as Charlie's kindly grandmother Agatha that it would've been a massive shame to sideline her for the latter-half of the film.

Instead, Spencer is on-hand throughout, delivering a charming and energetic performance quite different to that of Mai Zetterling's Helga from the previous film.

Spencer is such an effortlessly warm and likeable actress that she's near single-handedly responsible for the film's more sentimental moments landing as well as they do, no matter its many issues.

Like Hathaway, though, she deserved a better script and less workmanlike directorial approach to it.