The Corner Penthouse

Gretel & Hansel (2020) is the latest adaptation of Hansel & Gretel, the German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm and published in 1812 in Grimm's Fairy Tales (read online). This film is not to be confused with Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, a 2013 film starring Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton. Read on to find out more about Gretel & Hansel...


Gretel & Hansel is a long ago fairy tale of sixteen-year-old Gretel (Sophia Lillis) and her eight-year-old brother Hansel (Samuel Leakey), who are banished to the dark woods by their destitute and mentally-ill mother (Fiona O'Shaughnessy). Desperately searching for food and work, they stumble upon a nexus of terrifying evil (Alice Krige and Jessica De Gouw) in a small cottage.


One of the nice things about being on various studio's press mailing lists is that I get to find out about lesser-known movies like this one. When I first read the inverted title, I thought it was gonna be one of those misguided female-empowerment movies where all of the male characters are made to look bad in a vain attempt to make the female characters look good. I'm pleased to report that that is not the case. In fact, aside from the two titular children and a huntsman who appears briefly, ALL of the characters are nasty and unlikable. No one gender is made to look better than the other.


Yes, the story has been changed a little to put a bit more focus on Gretel, but it doesn't feel forced for the sake of "girl power". Director/co-writer Osgood "Oz" Perkins (son of Psycho star Anthony Perkins, and one of the study group members in Legally Blonde) decided to make it more of a coming-of-age story, so he made Gretel to be somewhat older than Hansel, so it didn't feel like two twelve-year-olds. Although she loves Hansel, the movie shows him to be more of a burden on Gretel, with her having to take him around everywhere she goes, much to the impediment of her own growth.


I actually enjoyed that change to the story, as well as the fantastic cinematography that gives the film an eerie, creepy, Gothic feel to it. This is a beautiful-looking film. It sounds just as nice, thanks to the score by Robin Coudert, which knows when to accentuate the action and when to be quiet or subtle. Really, there are only two things that bring this film down. The biggest one is the pacing. While the movie is rather short - about 80 minutes pre-credits - it drags quite a bit in the middle, while the kids are in the house. I think a good 10 to 15 minutes could have been easily shaved off. The other issue is the acting of lead Sophia Lillis. While she's not entirely bad, most of the time she just comes across as uninterested, with an accent that comes and goes throughout. Had Gretel not been the main character, these issues wouldn't have been as noticeable.


Gretel & Hansel is presented in the 2.65:1 (prologue) and 1.55:1 aspect ratios with a runtime of 1:27:20. Audio languages include English, English Descriptive, and Spanish. The film includes English SDH and Spanish subtitles. The first print run includes a beautiful slipsleeve.


Here's a list of all of the bonus features that can be found on the Blu-ray disc.

• Storybook (5:21) - An incomplete retelling of the movie's plot through fast-moving illustrations with un-narrated text accompanied by music from the film. It ends on a "To Be Continued" card, which indicates to me that this was originally released to promote the movie.

Sadly, all of the short promotional featurettes that were released on the official Orion Pictures YouTube channel back in January 2020 are not included. I've embedded them at the end of this review.

A digital copy code voucher is also included in the standard one-disc Blu-ray case.


Gretel & Hansel is available on individual Blu-ray and DVD.










All images were taken from the IMDB gallery of the film. Videos were found on the official Orion Pictures YouTube channel. This item has been provided by Warner Brothers for review on this site.