The Witches Review: 4 Ups & 6 Downs

4. Stanley Tucci Is Completely Wasted

Stanley Tucci plays the supporting part of Mr. Stringer, the hotel's obnoxious manager, as was played with such wonderfully deadpan relish by Rowan Atkinson in the original film.

Sadly Tucci is barely in the movie until the third act, and even then, he gets depressingly little do.

Beyond one admittedly funny scene opposite Hathaway's Grand High Witch - where he attempts to parse her unique pronunciation of the word "garlic" - and another where he's bitten on the crotch by a rat, this is a film offering him precious little but a paycheck.

But really this speaks to a wider problem with the film, that it so thoroughly wastes most of its ensemble cast, preferring instead to prioritise gaudy CGI spectacle.

Unlike the Roeg movie, the supporting witches here have virtually no character whatsoever, nor do the parents of chocolate-loving young boy Bruno (Codie-Lei Eastick), barely figuring in this version of the story at all.