''Hansel and Gretel'' is a 2002 American

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and d ...

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

based on the fairy tale of the same name by

Brothers Grimm The Brothers Grimm ( or ), Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm (1786–1859), were a brother duo of German academics, philologists, cultural researchers, lexicographers, and authors who together collected and published folklore. They are among the ...

. The film is directed by Gary J. Tunnicliffe and produced by

Steve Austin Steve Austin (born Steven James Anderson; December 18, 1964), better known by his ring name "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, is an American media personality, actor, and retired professional wrestler. Widely regarded as one of the greatest and most ...

and Jonathan Bogner. Jacob Smith and

Taylor Momsen Taylor Michel Momsen (born July 26, 1993) is an American musician, singer, model, and former actress. Prior to her retirement from acting, she portrayed the character of Cindy Lou Who in the film '' How the Grinch Stole Christmas'' (2000) and Je ...

portray the eponymous characters, alongside Howie Mandel,

Alana Austin Alana Austin is an American retired film and television actress. She played the role of Abby Logan in the sitcom '' Ink'' and starred in the Disney Channel Original film ''Motocrossed''. Career Austin was born in Palm Springs, California. She ...

Delta Burke Delta Ramona Leah Burke (born July 30, 1956) is an American actress, producer, and author. From 1986 to 1991, she starred as Suzanne Sugarbaker in the CBS sitcom ''Designing Women'', for which she was nominated for two Emmy Awards for Outstan ...

Lynn Redgrave Lynn Rachel Redgrave (8 March 1943 – 2 May 2010) was an English actress. She won two Golden Globe Awards throughout her career. A member of the Redgrave family of actors, Lynn trained in London before making her theatrical debut in 1962. B ...

Bobcat Goldthwait Robert Francis "Bobcat" Goldthwait (born May 26, 1962) is an American actor, comedian, director and screenwriter, known for his black comedy stand-up act, delivered through an energetic stage persona with an unusual raspy and high-pitched voice. ...

, and Sinbad. The film follows siblings Hansel and Gretel as they try to escape from the Magic Forest and a

witch Witchcraft traditionally means the use of magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually women who were believed to have us ...

gingerbread house Gingerbread refers to a broad category of baked goods, typically flavored with ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon and sweetened with honey, sugar, or molasses. Gingerbread foods vary, ranging from a moist loaf cake to forms nearly as crisp as ...

with the help of the

Sandman The Sandman is a mythical character in European folklore who puts people to sleep and encourages and inspires beautiful dreams by sprinkling magical sand onto their eyes. Representation in traditional folklore The Sandman is a traditional charact ...

and the Wood Fairy.

Plot

In a modern home, two children named Andrew and Katie, about to go to bed during a

thunderstorm A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm or a lightning storm, is a storm characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere, known as thunder. Relatively weak thunderstorms are some ...

. They ask their father to read them a story to help them sleep. The father finds the fairy tale of ''

Hansel and Gretel "Hansel and Gretel" (; german: Hänsel und Gretel ) is a German fairy tale collected by the German Brothers Grimm and published in 1812 in ''Grimm's Fairy Tales'' (KHM 15). It is also known as Little Step Brother and Little Step Sister. Hansel ...

'' and begins to read it. Hansel and Gretel are living with their father and their

wicked stepmother A stepmother, stepmum or stepmom is a non-biological female parent married to one's preexisting parent. A stepmother-in-law is a stepmother of one's spouse. Children from her spouse's previous unions are known as her stepchildren. Culture Step ...

in a very tiny shack near a forest. Since they are very poor, the father decides to sell Hansel and Gretel's late biological mother's necklace, but the Stepmother steals it intending on selling it herself so she can become wealthy. The next day, the stepmother abandons the children in the Magic Forest. Afterward, Hansel and Gretel go looking for food and get tricked into going to a troll's cave. They are then saved by the

, whom they befriend. They also let Wood Fairy free, whom they also befriend. Throughout the story the Sandman and the fairy are always bickering, which causes problems at times. One night when the Sandman and Wood Fairy went out to get some food for the kids, Hansel and Gretel wander off and find a

after a

windstorm A storm is any disturbed state of the natural environment or the atmosphere of an astronomical body. It may be marked by significant disruptions to normal conditions such as strong wind, tornadoes, hail, thunder and lightning (a thunderst ...

. The elderly woman that lives there invites them in, feeds them, and puts them to bed. When they wake up the next morning, a raven comes to the window to tell them that the woman is actually a

who eats children. The Witch walks into the room, locks Hansel in a box, and makes Gretel cook and Hansel eat regularly to fatten him up. Later on, Gretel breaks a mirror and the Witch becomes a

green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a combi ...

-skinned

crone In folklore, a crone is an old woman who may be characterized as disagreeable, malicious, or sinister in manner, often with magical or supernatural associations that can make her either helpful or obstructive. The Crone is also an archetypal fig ...

. The Sandman and Wood Fairy break into the gingerbread house and put the Witch in the oven, killing her. The father finds them and they do not worry about the Stepmother, who had gone to the Troll's house, where the Troll then abandoned her after she made him cook and clean for her. The scene returns to the bedroom of the two kids and their father who says goodnight and leaves the room. The Sandman, the

Boogeyman The Bogeyman (; also spelled boogeyman, bogyman, bogieman, boogie monster, boogieman, or boogie woogie) is a type of mythic creature used by adults to frighten children into good behavior. Bogeymen have no specific appearance and conceptions var ...

, and the Troll drop by, say hello to the children, and take the Hansel and Gretel book. They explain to the children that they are real, which is how the

were inspired to write the story. The Sandman sprinkles the children with his sleep dust and it is shown that the Stepmother found the gingerbread house and moved in.

Cast

Reception

The film has a 0% "Rotten" score on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

. ()

IMDb IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

gave it a 4.2 out of a possible 10. () It performed poorly at the box office.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hansel And Gretel (2002 Film) 2002 films 2000s adventure comedy films 2000s fantasy comedy films 2002 independent films American adventure comedy films American fantasy comedy films American independent films Films based on Hansel and Gretel Films about poverty Films about fairies and sprites Films about trolls Films about witchcraft Films about kidnapping Films directed by Gary J. Tunnicliffe 2002 comedy films 2000s English-language films 2000s American films Films about birds Films about children Films about widowhood