The Witches Review: 4 Ups & 6 Downs

5. The AWFUL Visual Effects

Robert Zemeckis' clear desire to push the bounds of filmmaking technology has often been his unfortunate undoing, and while you can at least appreciate the forward-thinking ambition of CGI-heavy films like The Polar Express, Beowulf, and even 2018's disastrous Welcome to Marwen, the same can't be said for The Witches.

Despite its effects-heavy nature, there's little that impresses about this film's VFX presentation, particularly the overabundance of mediocre-looking digital animals.

The central mice and also the Grand High Witch's (Anne Hathaway) pet cat all look wildly unconvincing, the mice embarrassingly inferior to the incredible Jim Henson puppetry work on the 1990 film.

But that's not to forget the equally garish decision to give the witches flapping maws for mouths, ensuring that whenever Hathaway opens her gob too wide, it transforms into a revolting CGI monstrosity. It's nightmare fuel, but absolutely not in the way Zemeckis intended.

Though the film's budget hasn't been publicly disclosed to date, it's painfully clear that some extra cash needed to be poured into the VFX coffers.