MartinHafer "Grimm" is a strange re-working of the old story of Hansel and Gretel. However, it's been changed so much that you can hardly call it "Hansel and Gretel"--particularly since the characters' names are Jacob and Marie.This bizarre story begins with a starving family in Holland during a cold winter. They have no food and the father and mother's plan is to abandon their two 'kids' in the woods and have them fend for themselves. However, they are NOT exactly young, as they both look to be about 30! And, you wonder how stupid they must be that they can't find their way out of the woods! Regardless, they trudge about for a while until they come upon a dying dog and eat it. Soon the dog's owner catches them and brings them home--and forces Jacob to have sex with his ugly wife. They manage to escape soon after and this is only in the first 15 minutes of the film! What follows is their trek to Spain with even more VERY child-unfriendly material including incest, robbery, prostitution, a closeup shot of a dead dog and incestuous jealousy. It's all pretty nasty and reminds me of an Almondovar film, such as "What Have I Done to Deserve This?"--where just about every social norm is violated, although it never is 100% apparent if this is meant as comedy or horror film. But frankly, other than shocking the viewer, is there any real point to all this? I sure didn't know and that is why I kept watching...hoping that the film would ultimately prove satisfying.Could this sick material have worked? Possibly, though I doubt it because it was just so sleazy and gross. However, making the two main characters so unlikable (as is EVERYONE in this film) didn't help matters any. It also didn't help that the plot seemed very meandering and often pointless. Overall, the film is just bizarre and yucky just to be bizarre and yucky. The only things I really found of interest was the escape from the ugly woman (this was rather funny) and seeing an old Spanish/Italian western movie set at the end.

Boba_Fett1138 Director Alex van Warmerdam is known for his own sort of surreal and absurd style of film-making, that however never feel too artistic or forced, which makes all of his movies also perfectly watchable for most large public groups. I'm not too sure if this entirely also goes for "Grimm". Yes, it's an entertaining movie if you just sit back and relax but unfortunately it also isn't a very well constructed movie.The movie would often change style as the movie progresses. The movie begins as a modern fairytale, with some of the generic elements in it. It however jumps too fast from scene to scene. It doesn't always feel like it's wrapping up things properly. Then the movie almost suddenly stops and slows down once the two characters get to Spain. The movie becomes an entirely different one again.The middle part and till some extend would had made a fairly good movie on its own but keeping in the mind the first part of the movie it makes you realize how utterly pointless that part was, since it doesn't really connect with the rest of the movie. That's why I simply can't regard this movie as a successful one. It's way too disjointed all.I can definitely understand van Warmerdam's intentions with this movie but it just doesn't all translate to the screen very well. He probably thought he was making his "El Topo".No matter how hard Halina Reijn tries, she and Jacob Derwig, who play brother and sister in this movie, just don't have much chemistry together. I blame Jacob Derwig for this, since his acting seems to be a bit below average at points. I just never have been a too big fan of his acting abilities. The movie is filled with some other well known Dutch and I suppose also fairly well known Spanish actors, in some small as well as some bigger roles. Some are well cast, others obviously aren't.The movie is good looking, with professional cinematography. Also very little wrong with the actual directing of it all, they just didn't had the best material to work with in the long run.Has some quality but it just isn't the best watchable movie.5/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

Andy (film-critic) As I continue to read more and more dedicated, intelligent graphic novels, I cannot help but think that perhaps director Alex van Warmerdam didn't read a couple prior to creating this film. From the opening sequences until the end of this film, you cannot help but feel a sense of whimsy, the fantastical, and enchantment. From our hopeless characters to the sporadic plot, Warmerdam has created a film in which the symbolic references and fairy tale connections isn't laid out in front of you, but instead deeply rooted within the chaos of Grimm for only those who are truly dedicated can find them. He buries them very deep within his work, but with some patience, a great eye, and a passion for the human genre element, you too will see the strength of Warmerdam's work. Grimm is not a masterpiece by far. In fact, it isn't one of the greatest films that I have seen, but it did burst from the seams with potential.Warmerdam has quite the ability to build a very surreal world, place unknowing (and sometimes unwilling) characters into the mix, and give us bleak references to pop-children's culture. He shows us this with Grimm. For those of you die hard fairy tale fanatics, you may not like this story. It is not one that the average film viewer will enjoy. Grimm takes some time getting used to. It takes some time developing the characters, and it takes quite a bit of time giving us its story. It is never rushed (though sometimes we wish it were quicker), and eventually completes with a message of family, strength, and sibling love. Warmerdam does a great job of giving us two great navigators through his story with Jacob and Maria. Two completely different characters by nature, but both still have one passion in their eyes, to keep their friendship and family dynamic together. These two are the quintessential "Hansel & Gretel" as they voyage through the world of Spain to discover, not only themselves, but also how cruel the real world can be. While their interweaving stories could/should have been developed deeper with stronger bonds between them and the other characters in this film, Warmerdam has done a superb job of giving us their sole stories and emotions. If you solely watch just Jacob and Maria throughout this film, you will see such a strong human element and the sporadic events that occur to them as they continue their perilous journey. I applaud Warmerdam for his work on these two characters because they lead us through the story. We feel for them, we grow with them, we rally behind them near the end, so in essence, we enjoy these characters. Alas, his lacking story structure is the only hurdle that is tough to cross.Warmerdam interweaves so many different fairy tale-esquire moments throughout the story that you begin to loose focus of the central themes. It reminded me of a third-grade story in which the young child forgot to do his homework and begins his report on "Hansel & Gretel" and inadvertently brings in moments from "Peter Pan", "Little Red Riding Hood", and "Jack & the Beanstalk" unknowingly. As the class laughs, you cannot help but think of how interesting a story like that would be. I think Warmerdam did his homework, brought several different childish stories together, but somehow never quite completed them. He would throw in segments of several different childhood genres that we, the audience, never had the opportunity to enjoy the one we were on. This is where Warmerdam lost me. I wanted to enjoy the different stories. I wanted to see how our not-so-young heroines would react to the different situations, but we never had that opportunity. He would begin a story, but never finish or at least create a strong enough segway to the next moment. Warmerdam had a great concept with this film, but never was able to pull his ideas together. Coupled with a horrible choice of music selection, Warmerdam never quite built the darkness surrounding Grimm. That is what ultimately hurt this picture.Overall, Warmerdam did a decent job with overall final product of this film. Grimm is not a film for everyone, but for those that enjoy moments of David Lynch coupled with themes of childhood fairy tales. It is a dark story that never quite makes you laugh but instead attempts to use shocking cinematography to bring you this surreal world that we never quite believe exists. Warmerdam has created this mythological world that could be right in your backyard, but spooky enough to believe it came from your imagination. His characters were strong, but his story lacked decent connection. I found myself, like Jacob and Maria, lost during several of the scenes only to reconnect later during the film. I guess I just needed more breadcrumbs to guide me back…Grade: **** out of *****

BigHardcoreRed As mentioned in the title, Grimm is, what I hear, based on the fairy tale of Hansel & Gretel. That sounded good but the movie I watched really had nothing to do with the story I knew. What we get is a decent, yet dark, movie that had some amusing moments.Maria (Halina Reijn) and Jacob (Jacob Derwig) are an adult brother and sister who appears to have a sexual relationship as well. Gotta love the Dutch movie makers. Anyhow, Maria and Jacob are abandoned in the woods early on in the movie by their parents because they could no longer afford to take care of them. After the realization of their abandonment, they calm down and find a note from their mother in Maria's pocket. The note tells them to go to Spain and find their uncle who would be able to take care of them.After a rough trip, they arrive at the address to find their uncle has died, which leaves them with nowhere to go. As you could probably guess, the siblings take to a life of vagrancy & crime to survive until Maria meets Diego (Carmelo Gómez), who kindly takes them in. At this point in the movie, you know that nothing good will ever happen to Maria & Jacob so Diego can't be good.That seems to be the theme of the movie. I do not think they find one person who actually helps them out in the movie. Possibly, this is the resemblance to the fairy tale but, in all honesty, it does not seem similar at all to me, with minor exceptions of being lost in a forest, running into evil people, etc.Overall, it was a decent movie that I felt could have done without the Hansel & Gretel connection. However, I surely would not have been as interested if they did not make that connection. It is what intrigued me to begin with, I suppose, but it is not what held my attention. The dark and sometimes humorous scenes are what kept me watching. This was not as good as I expected, however, I have spent my time in worse ways and on worse movies in the past. 6/10