Luke (Jasen Fisher) is taking a holiday with his grandmother (Mai Zetterling) in England when he discovers a plot by evil witches to turn all children into mice.
This is based on the Roald Dahl book of the same name, recently centered in a controversy as Dahl's racist, sexist past was altered in re-prints of his most famous works. That's an on-going debate about censorship and what we owe to preserve the past, warts and all, that I'm not going to get into here. But it reminded me this movie exists and that Anjelica Huston is fabulous in it.
It should surprise no one that I loved the villain way more than the hero. Brunette with a bitchy attitude, tons of money, cheekbones for days, and great style? Yes, please. Right up there with Maleficent and Catra in my childhood rankings. The Nazi parallels were less apparent to me at 8. Watching it now, as an adult, that's all I see. The German accent, the fawning sycophants/co-conspirators hiding in plain sight, the "magic potion" that transformed people via green gas into vermin, even the Norwegian resistance.
Huston is still incredible (and so is her costuming) but it is a lot harder to watch now. The prosthetics hold up pretty well, but the blue-screen effects look very dated. I was surprised how good the mouse puppets were but it's Jim Henson Studios so I shouldn't have been. I did feel kind of bad for the number of live mice that get chased, thrown, suspended over boiling water, and have things tied to their tails. The RSPCA was clearly not involved here.
I haven't seen the 2020 remake but if you're looking for a soft intro to horror for the elementary school kid in your life, this isn't bad. It's currently streaming on HBO Max.
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