Brothers Grimm Review

I’m not going to say much about Brothers Grimm, because, I don’t really want to think about it anymore. At first, I had to check to make sure I was watching the right movie, because this does not feel like it was directed by Terry Gilliam. Down to just about everything. Even though I have criticized how all of Gilliam’s early films were Python-esque, they all had this wonderful sense of humor. And his later films held the grasp on the serious tones well while everything whimsical happened around the main character. Brothers Grimm doesn’t work like this. When the movie tries to be serious, it is way too over the top and the characters mean nothing. Heck, nothing meant anything here. I was rooting for the pack of wolves to kill Matt Damon in the movie… I was rooting for the opposition of Matt Damon, that’s a problem. When it tried to be funny, we had no reason to laugh. The main characters were incredibly over the top, and the only reason to laugh would be “oh, look, he did a Pratt fall for the eighth time in the past half an hour…” There’s a lot of falling in this movie, and that wasn’t fun to watch. It was just bland and forgettable, which is nothing like Terry Gilliam. My only guess would be that the studio was holding Gilliam back. Often studios can ruin a movie by holding the director back. However, then there are cases like the Extended English Cut of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly where there was a lot that should have been cut. I believe there is a fine line between studio involvement and full creative control by the director. The Brothers Grimm doesn’t even come close to this line. I feel that, although I can blame this fault on the studio, that this could be the start of a third phase of Terry Gilliam, and it’s one I don’t want to see. If I had to give it any redeeming quality, I’d say that the premise is kind of cool. There are also one to two scenes that were entertaining to watch. But, really, it’s not on any streaming service, so don’t waste your money. It’s bland and forgettable, but has a couple of fun moments. 4.8/10