DVD Review: The Brothers Grimm

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DVD Review: The Brothers Grimm
By HammerFanatic
Jan 19, 2006, 10:26

With an estimated budget of $80,000,000.00, Gilliam pulled out all the stops for this big screen extravaganza. Gilliam is best known for his work with 'Monty Python' and it was Gilliam who came up with the very odd animation sequences for that series using photo cutouts. Gilliam has been in the director's chair for several well accepted films, including; Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Twelve Monkeys, Brazil, Monty Python and the Holy Grail as well as several other titles. The film was written by Ehren Kruger, who's writing credits and screenplays include; The Skeleton Key, The Ring and The Ring Two. For the casting of, The Brothers Grimm, Heath Ledger is cast as Jacob Grimm and Matt Damon is Wilhelm Grimm. Some interesting trivia for this film includes, Johnny Depp was at one time set to star as Will Grimm, Robin Williams was actually cast for this project, but pulled out of the film and many references are made to the original Grimm fairy tales, but differ from the tales as we know them.

Wilhelm (Ledger) and Jacob (Damon) Grimm are brothers traveling the countryside of Germany, basically swindling the good people of the villages out of their money by performing staged magic tricks and telling the good people the tricks are the real deal. Unfortunately for the brothers Grimm, an officer in Napoleon's army, Delatombe (Jonathan Pryce), exposes the brothers for the frauds they are. Rather than imprison the duo, he sets them out on a mission to a neighboring village, deep in the forest, where strange disappearances have occurred that involve children. Sent off to the forest, they are accompanied by their guide, Angelika (Lena Headey), who is quite familiar with the forest and tries to warn the brothers that they should heed her warnings of the strange things that take place in the forest. Once in the forest, it's quite obvious that this forest is indeed haunted by ghosts and spirits and Angelika feels it's all the work of the evil, Mirror Queen (Monica Belluci) who lives in a tower nearby. The Grimm brothers realize that they have no choice but to investigate the strange forest and it's inhabitants a little more closely.

The Brothers Grimm is presented in 1:85.1 anamorphic widescreen and overall, the disc isn't bad looking. At times, the colors seem a bit dark and soft, but nothing that makes viewing the film, difficult. The disc also boasts some very nice bonus features:

DVD Features:

Available Subtitles: English and Spanish

Available Audio Tracks: English (Dolby Digital 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 5.1)

Commentary By: Director Terry Gilliam

Deleted Scenes with Optional Commentary

Bringing the Fairy Tale to Life (Featurette)

The Visual Magic of The Brothers Grimm (Featurette)

The commentary track by director Gilliam is definitely filled with plenty of info surrounding the making of this film and Gilliam does a nice job of holding your interest and making for an enjoyable track. The two featurettes, Bringing the Fairy Tale to Life and The Visual Magic of The Brothers Grimm and interesting to watch, after viewing the film. Deleted scenes are often hit or miss, but one scene in particular was very good and it's a shame it wasn't included in the film, but all is explained in the end.

I haven't quite made up my mind on how I feel about this film. I was hoping for more horror, fantasy and a sense of tension for some of the scenes, but an occasional bit of comedy would pop up and it didn't always work for me. Given the man sitting in the director's chair, I suppose I should have expected a bit more comedy, but I'd have enjoyed seeing this film made for a straight horror/fantasy angle. Perhaps additional viewings will help me to decide how I feel about this film, but overall, I wasn't totally disappointed with the effort and it does have some very good moments, so I'd recommend at least giving this film a chance with a rent, perhaps additional viewings will convince me to add it to my own collection.

Buy the The Brothers Grimm on DVD at Amazon.com