The Witches: 1990 Vs 2020

From the Decider:

“‘The Witches’ Remake Embraces the Dark Ending Roald Dahl Wanted”

Warning: This article contains The Witches spoilers for the new movie, the old movie, and the book.

If you’ve finished watching The Witches (2020) on HBO Max, you might have noticed a pretty significant change from The Witches (1990): The ending is completely different. But as those who read the book know, this new ending is actually much closer to the ending that author Roald Dahl wrote in 1983. Dahl is known for giving not-so-happy endings to his books, and The Witches is no exception. (Dahl is also known for his dark side in real life, including making anti-Semitic comments about “the Jewish character,” but that’s another story.) In fact, The Witches was perhaps Dahl’s most disturbing tale. It follows a young boy (named Charlie in the 2020 film, Luke in the 1990 film, and given no name in the novel) who is sent to live with his grandmother after losing both parents in a car accident. The boy loves his grandmother’s stories about “real” witches, who, she says, look just like ordinary women. But look closely, and you’ll see that these women are wearing wigs to hide bald heads, gloves to disguise deformed fingers, and heels to cover clawed feet. When the boy and his grandmother stay at a luxury hotel, the boy stumbles into a conference of “real” witches. The witches catch him and transform him, and his friend Bruno, into a talking mouse.

The Witches  Any other children’s book would have the protagonist defeat the witches and transform back into a human. Indeed, that is exactly what happened in the 1990 film directed by Nicolas Roeg, produced by Jim Henson and written by Allan Scott. And Dahl was pissed about it. Because in the book, after the witches of England are defeated, the protagonist stays a mouse forever—and he’s happy about it. Near the end of the novel, the boy asks his grandmother how long mice live. When she responds that she suspects a “mouse-person” such as himself will live about nine years, he replies, “That’s great! It’s the best news I’ve ever had!” He’s thrilled to hear that he may not outlive his grandmother, who is 86, and hopes that the two of them can die together. (Then the two of them come up with the brilliant idea to turn the witches of the world into mice and then use cats to kill them. Henson, deeming that ending too dark, added a good witch character who transformed Luke back into a human instead. Dahl was reportedly furious with the change. He sent the producer and director an email so heated, that the filmmakers agreed to shoot an alternate ending where the boy stayed a mouse. When they ultimately went with the happier cut, Dahl threatened to remove his name from the credits and campaign against the film. Though he died a few months after the 1990 film’s release, Dahl would no doubt be happier with the 2020 version of The Witches, were he alive to see it. Directed by Robert Zemeckis, who also co-wrote the script with Kenya Barris and Guillermo del Toro, there are a few key changes that were made from the book and the 1990 movie—like making the lead protagonist (Jahzir Kadeem Bruno) and his grandmother (Octavia Spencer) African-American, changing the setting from England to Alabama, and adding a new character by turning’s Charlie’s pet mouse into human-mouse character (voiced by Kristin Chenoweth). But the not-so-happy happy ending was embraced. After mouse-Charlie and his two mouse-friends defeat the witches of England by turning them into rats, all three of them move back home with Charlie’s grandmother. In the book, it’s just Charlie who stays with his grandmother, but the film nonetheless retains the dark conversation about how long mice live—promptly followed by a CGI mouse dance party set to Sister Sledge’s “We Are Family.” So, while it’s not quite the ending Dahl wrote in 1983, it does retain the lesson of learning to roll with the punches life throws—even if that punch happens to be a magical transformation into a mouse.

^ I have liked the 1990 version since I first watched it as a kid. I saw the 2020 remake early this morning. It was good, but the 1990 version is better. ^

https://decider.com/2020/10/22/the-witches-ending-book-2020-movie/