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Fairy Tales
- Common Knowledge: The Brothers Grimm did not create these fairy tales, they were among the first and most notable to collect them into writing. Even when some people point out that yes, the Brothers Grimm were actually collectors of folklore, they're often commonly recited as being the only ones - to the point in which some published "collections" include tales originally collected by Asbjørnsen and Moe (namely the Billy Goats Gruff), while omitting others that the Grimms did collect.
- Similarly, the tale of "Cinderella", referred to here as Aschenputtel, is not the original version - Charles Perrault published a version in the 17th century.
- "Rapunzel" does not appear to have any German origin with the earliest written story in the format of "The Maiden in The Tower" being Petrosinella
, written by an Italian author, Giambattista Basile. However, the version of the story that became the "Rapunzel" that most are familiar with was taken from "Persinette", written by French author, Mademoiselle de La Force, during her imprisonment in a convent.
- Complete Monster:
- "Hansel and Gretel" (KMH 015): The Wicked Witch is the archetype for the evil witch in the woods. Described as wicked and godless, she lays a trap with her edible house for children, whereupon she captures them, kills them, butchers and cooks them for her feasts. Upon capturing Hansel and Gretel, she attempts to fatten up Hansel, before growing tired of his seeming inability to gain weight. Intending on burning Gretel alive before eating her brother, the witch proves to be one of the most terrifying and evil monsters in any of the Grimm brothers' stories.
- "The Robber Bridegroom" (KMH 040): The Robber Bridegroom himself appears to be a charming suitor seeking the hand of the heroine in marriage. In truth, the Bridegroom is the head of a group of bandits and a cannibalistic Serial Killer who tricks the women into coming to his home whereupon they are murdered and carved up for food. When the heroine visits and hides, she witnesses a young captive dragged in and killed by her fiancé and his men, realizing the fate that would await her, with the Robber Bridegroom being a dark reminder that evil may hide beneath kind and trusted faces.
- "The Fitcher's Bird" (KMH 046): The unnamed sorcerer poses as a poor beggar going from house to house to kidnap young women to be his brides. When he captures one of three sisters, he promises her a happy life so long as she doesn't enter a chamber while he's away. He gives her an egg to take care of to see if she'll pass his test. When she looks into the chamber and discovers the dismembered corpses of his previous victims, he butchers her as punishment; he goes on to kidnap her sister, in which the process is repeated. Kidnapping the third sister, she proves clever enough to cheat his test and discover the truth, having her sisters magically re-assembled, whereupon they plan and carry out revenge by setting the sorcerer and his gang on fire at their wedding.
- "The Juniper Tree" (KMH 047): The evil stepmother, upon marrying the husband, grew to resent her stepson, knowing that he would inherit the family's wealth when he got older. Forming a plan, she convinces her stepson into looking into a chest for an apple, only to then decapitate him by slamming the lid onto his neck. The stepmother uses a bandage to reattach her stepson's head, and she manipulates her daughter, Marlinchen (or Marlene in some versions), into thinking that she killed her own brother. She then takes the body, cooks it into a stew, and she serves it to her unsuspecting husband. The story repeatedly makes it clear that the stepmother cared only for herself, and that she committed these actions out of greed, as well as a genuine hatred for her stepson.
- Karmic Overkill: In their version of Cinderella, the stepsisters have their ankles and toes cut by their mother in order to fit the shoe. At Cinderella's wedding with the prince, birds pecks out their eyes rendering them blind and crippled for the rest of their life. While the stepsisters routinely bullied Cinderella, many find this punishment overly harsh, since their behavior is very likely the result of bad parenting. Meanwhile, neither the Wicked Stepmother nor Cinderella's father face punishment.
- Values Dissonance: To modern readers, it can be pretty stupefying to consider that the antisemitic fairy tales such as "The Jew Among Thorns" were simply included alongside the rest as wholesome family entertainment.
- What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?: The level of Family-Unfriendly Violence in many of the Grimms' Children's and Household Tales is pretty shocking by contemporary standards — especially given, in a lot of cases, these are the versions the Grimms edited for children.note
Terry Gilliam Film
- Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: The Gingerbread Man. It climbs up out of a well, kidnaps a little girl, and jumps back down the well just as quickly as it appeared. If it didn't explicitly say that it was the Gingerbread Man, you'd probably never have known thanks to the utterly horrific and disturbing way it's presented, and unlike most of the other fairy tale-based elements and characters, it never appears again.
- Complete Monster: The Mirror Queen was once a beautiful and vain queen who left her people to die of the plague; prior to this, the queen tortured and murdered numerous people for Black Magic to grant her immortality. Failing to get eternal youth, she spent centuries rotting away from age and the plague before brainwashing an innocent huntsman into becoming her werewolf slave, and began kidnapping young girls via macabre versions of fairy tales, burying them alive to take their blood for her youth and kills the soldiers investigating these kidnappings. When one child is saved, the Mirror Queen takes the huntsman's daughter Angelika as a substitute. When the Grimm brothers confront the queen, she magically forces the brothers into a knife fight, brainwashes a mortally wounded Wil, and mocks Jakob about his failure to save his sister as a child.
- Fan-Preferred Cut Content:
- The exciting fight with a living tree, which was cut because the director thought it was too good and would make the climax seem more lackluster. People who've only been able to see the theatrical cut of the film are not happy with this.
- The scene where Angelika escapes from the French soldiers by being a Heroic Seductress, as her Big Damn Heroes moment is a Plot Hole without that.
- The scene where Sasha wakes up during her funeral and hugs her father after the sleeping curse is lifted. It's decently cute, and some fans are confused about her fate without the scene due to how she only has an easy to miss reappearance at the end in the theatrical final scene.
- Hilarious in Hindsight: You're telling me that Cersei Lannister is menaced by an Evil Queen who is jealous of other women's youth and beauty?
- Ho Yay:
- Bro Yay between the titular characters, who often argue like an old married couple. Even Lampshaded by Cavaldi.
- "Maybe another kiss?"
- Magnificent Bastard: Wilhelm "Will" and Jacob "Jake" Grimm themselves are charming storytellers and con men. After the tragic death of their sister, the brothers spend years tricking villagers across Germany into paying them for "slaying" fake monsters until being arrested for perjury by the occupying French military. Offered the chance to disprove the haunting of Marbaden, where a series of children have gone missing, in exchange for their lives, even after the brothers initially fail, Jake manages to quickly think up a lie to stop the French General from executing them. Returning to the legitimately haunted village, the brothers Grimm battle the villainous mirror queen, killing the wicked General, before Jake uses his knowledge of the queen's weakness to destroy her and free the children.
- Nausea Fuel: The scene with the spiderweb horse.
- Never Live It Down: In-verse, Jakob and magic beans.
- Retroactive Recognition: You see Lena Headey before she played in 300 and Game of Thrones.
- Special Effects Failure: Considering when the movie was made and the budget it had, some of the effects are unfortunately terrible.
- They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Hidlick and Bunst are introduced as comical sidekicks who have some acting and special effects talents. However, rather than join the main adventure, they're held hostage to ensure Jake and Will's cooperation. When they do get released to help the brothers, all they do is be Lovable Cowards for a few minutes before they end up being executed anyway just to make Delatombe more despicable.
- What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?: The original stories have always been Nightmare Fuel specifically designed to scare the bajeezus out of any kid who hears them; same thing here. Terry Gilliam, however, has stated that he intended the film for children.
- The Woobie:
- All the little girls (and Angelica), who are killed or put into a coma by the evil queen for their youth. And their parents and siblings.
- Also, the kitten that was sadistically kicked into a spinning blade.
