Osmosis Iron Terry Gilliam and Grimm fairy tales mix incredibly well! Which is not surprising knowing the original versions of those tales were much darker before Disney made them kid friendly. This is a very interesting take on the Brothers Grimm and the tales they wrote. It blends dark fantasy with comedy and adventure really well. This is not based on one particular story, but rather includes elements and characters from many stories, and even more references and winks to other stories that are seemingly happening/happened in the same universe! The atmosphere is very good, dark and gothic, the characters are likable and the main story gripping. Overall it's a very enjoyable fantasy movie that is too often overlooked and underrated!

Filipe Neto This film is based on the tales of the Grimm Brothers, but also makes a completely fictional portrayal of the brothers who, in real life, were German poets, scholars and linguists, who dedicated themselves to collecting traditional fables from the center of Europe. So the first step in understanding the film is to realize, from the outset, that its pure fiction, based on the mere existence of these two brothers. Here, they're two gamblers, who make money cheating the villagers, casting out witches and demons that don't exist. So their first reaction, when they're called upon to investigate a truly magical phenomenon in which several girls have disappeared, is of disbelief, thinking that they're dealing with an elaborate scold.The screenplay is clever, in the way it approaches Grimm's fairy tales and rebuilds them, but it lost from the middle, with some ideas and options looking absurd. Equally positive was the performance of Matt Damon and Heath Ledger in the lead roles. The two actors are versatile, strong and worked well together. However, the same cannot be said of Lena Headey, who seemed to me a bit artificial and cliché. Peter Stormare is the most humorous actor and the most remarkable moments of humor are made by his character, an Italian torturer at the service of Napoleonic officials. Jonathan Pryce is the French general and was perfectly capable of becoming contemptible. Good costumes and sets, clever cinematography, good use of colors and light and shadow games make the film visually appealing and beautiful.So, this movie is good and has several quality values. But the flaws in the story, the several moments when the plot is lost and becomes idiotic, overturn the attempts of this film to become truly iconic.

Bill Slocum It's very difficult to replicate the magic of a Terry Gilliam film, getting right that elusive mixture of perversity, whimsy, jet-black humor, and spectacular visual design.It's even difficult if you happen to be Terry Gilliam.In the height of the Napoleonic Era, brothers Wilhelm (Matt Damon) and Jakob (Heath Ledger) Grimm make a shady living off the superstitions of their fellow Germans. Then French occupiers press them into service to discover who is stirring up spooky trouble in the dark forests around the town of Marbaden. The Grimms figure it must be a rival group of hoaxers, and, under duress, take on the job of exposing them. The job proves more than they expect."The Brothers Grimm" is clearly a callback for Gilliam, working in the same comedy-fantasy niche he created with "Time Bandits" and "The Adventures Of Baron Munchausen." But his inventiveness and humor are missing. Instead of inventiveness, there are a lot of over-the-top sequences barely connected to the central story involving bad CGI. Instead of humor, you have people falling down a lot and the Grimms being shown up as bunglers at every turn.Told the "strapping young lad" he has been complementing is in fact a girl, Wilhelm gulps and adds: "And a fine young wife he'll make some lucky man."Both Ledger and Peter Stormare as an Italian torture expert suffer from extreme overacting. Ledger plays his character with much eye- twitching and spectacles-adjusting, as well as a stammer reminiscent of Ratso Rizzo. Stormare seems to be channeling Timothy Carey with his constant eruptions and wild stares. After not very long they become extremely distracting.On another planet is Lena Headey as the love interest, who being the main female in this predictable film sees right through the Grimms and tries to make them appreciate the true gravity of their situation. She plays her role with a grim naturalism that keeps fantasy at bay whenever she's on screen.It's definitely a Gilliam film. You have the cynicism up front ("It's a short brutish struggle and then you die," Wilhelm says. "Life's little subterfuges make it all worthwhile.") Cute characters are introduced in order to die horribly. What can you say about a comedy where the funniest scene involves a kitten being disintegrated? Certainly that's got Gilliam all over it.But the kitten scene isn't all that funny, and neither is anything else. The script seems to treat comedy as an afterthought, while using the Grimm fairy tales the same way "Time Bandits" used history, as the basis for various set-pieces. Yet the connections this time are witless and convoluted.You see a girl walking through the forest with a bright red cape, and think "OK, it's Little Red Riding Hood." But before anything else happens, she gets abducted and that's the end of her story. Or another little girl named Gretel walks through the forest with her brother, and is abducted. The most ridiculous of these is when a girl suddenly loses her entire face and is then abducted by a monster from a well. "You can't catch me because I'm the gingerbread man!" is the last thing we hear, referencing another fairy tale, albeit not one from the Brothers Grimm.Basically, the story doesn't need the fairy-tale dressings at all, it's just a parade of child abductions leading to an overbaked and nonsensical conclusion. But Gilliam and his team apparently needed the excuse to show off their CGI. They aren't good effects at all; ten years later you can see how poorly they were processed.One thing Ledger said in a supplemental feature sticks with me: "None of us would be here if it wasn't for Terry." The only reason "Brothers Grimm" got made was to give Gilliam something to do; this time it wasn't reason enough.

Jonathan Russell This movie was a mistake ... a mistake by the studio to give Gilliam a free hand and to have Ehren Kruger (whose normal specialties are Transformers sequels and shlock horror), and by the actors for agreeing to take part. It is dreadfully unwatchable and tasteless. It's like one of Monty Python's medieval sketches, drawn out to what seems like three hours and with zero humour. The actors mumble through their lines with accents more in place in 'Allo 'Allo. What passes for humour includes, (person A:) "I've soiled myself", (person B:) "Oh, I thought that was me", and a cat killed by being kicked into a revolving fan, then Jonathan Pryce licking the bloody remains that have been splattered on he face.It is an ugly, messy, tasteless piece of work, which I'm sorry I had the misfortune to sit through.