A surprisingly controversial family film rebounds on streaming

Not to sound too harsh, but has such a vast array of top-tier talent ever been wasted on something so utterly forgettable as last year’s remake of The Witches?

If the fact the family film even existed had slipped your memory, that’s okay, because a lot of people are probably in the same boat. The 1990 original terrified an entire generation of children, but the updated big budget redux completely fails to justify its own existence.

That’s all the more remarkable when you’ve got Academy Award-winning director Robert Zemeckis helming the project, which was co-written and produced by two-time Oscar winner Guillermo del Toro, with four-time victor Alfonso Cuaron also listed among the producorial team.

In front of the camera you’ve got Oscar winners Anne Hathaway and Octavia Spencer, two-time Golden Globe winner Stanley Tucci and four-time Emmy winner Chris Rock, which is nuts for a tedious exercise in formula that scored a 49% Rotten Tomatoes score, not to mention an even lower 32% user rating.

In the end, The Witches found itself caught up in controversy, with Anne Hathaway and Warner Bros. ultimately apologizing to the limb difference community for the fantasy’s depiction of the titular coven.

As sad as it sounds, that’s comfortably the most memorable thing about the entire endeavor, which admittedly hasn’t stopped it from reaching the upper echelons of HBO Max’s most-watched list once again, as per FlixPatrol.