YMMV / Gretel and Hansel (2020)

• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment:
  • The attack by the one-eyed... zombie? We never learn whether it was an insane man or a supernatural creature, and it is never mentioned again.
  • Gretel and Hansel tripping on the mushrooms they find.
• Complete Monster:
  • Holda takes in Gretel and Hansel after their mother abandoned them. Revealed to be an evil witch, Holda was the mother of the girl in the pink cap who, after banishing her to the wilderness, was promised great power if she gave into the darkness. Sacrificing and cannibalizing her children, Holda took the appearance of an elderly woman to lure children into her house with enchanted food before killing and eating them to enrich her powers. When she sensed the same powers in Gretel, Holda takes her as an apprentice and entices Hansel into climbing a ladder into a fire pit so Gretel would be forced to eat her own brother.
  • The "Beautiful Child" in the pink hat was the daughter of Holda and the reason for her mother's turn to evil. After being saved by her father's bargain with an enchantress, the child began to delight in reading the fortunes of villagers ending in horrific death. She would then ensure those deaths came to pass, horribly murdering even her own father. Upon Holda attempting to send her to her fate in the woods, the child beckoned her mother to accept the darkness in her and devour Holda's other children. Alone in the woods, the child continued to lure other children to their deaths.
• Critical Dissonance: The film got middling reviews from critics, earning it a mild 65% "Fresh" rating, but a truly miserable 23% "Rotten" rating from audiences.
• Genius Bonus:
  • Holda can be seen stealing Hansel’s hair a few strands at a time. It was believed that if a witch got a hold of a person's hair or teeth, they could use it to control them. Sure enough. Hansel is under Holda’s control.
  • There's a song with the lyrics "My mother, she killed me, my father, he ate me, what a pretty bird am I!" This is a nod to The Juniper Tree, another story by the Brothers Grimm that shares similar themes with Hansel and Gretel.
  • Holda has Gretel rub a salve into her hands when they start to tap into magic. It was believed by the early Europeans that witches used ointments to aid in their magic and let them fly, among other things.
  • Holda keeps a stang, a two pronged wooden staff. Stangs have been used by witches to direct energy or spirit journey.
• Narm: The oinking the characters do to make light of their appetites and poverty.
• WTH, Costuming Department?: Invoked. The costuming, like the set design, is deliberately anachronistic for any particular time period. Many elements are strikingly and deliberately out of place.
  • Unglamoured Holda. Her bangs, black dress, and tattoos look entirely modern.
  • The hats that Gretel and Hansel wear evoke the early 20th century. Hansel's looks like a short-brimmed cap, while Gretel wears a fedora at a rakish angle.

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