The Brothers Grimm (DVD)

Directed by Terry Gilliam (12 Monkeys, Tidelands) and written by Ehren Kuguer (The Ring, The Skeleton Key) The Brothers Grimm is a comically sinister fantasy set in the Napoleonic era. The Brothers Grimm (Matt Damon, Heath Ledger) set out to find the big, bad wolf through the dark forest, and subdue the evil witch before she can cast her deadly spell on the whole village. Along the way, they run into a whole lot of trouble.

The Brothers Grimm is one of the best fairy tale movies to come out in years, despite its rather grim box office numbers — here’s hoping for a little mojo on the DVD sales and rentals. (To read our theatrical review, please click here)

The film’s theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1 is presented in anamorphic video, and the surround effects of the sound (The Dolby Digital 5.1) are stunning. It looks and sounds great. The DVD has a forest-full of additional release material, including a solo commentary from Gilliam

The director talks about shooting in Prague, using a mix of practical and set locations, and much more. It’s interesting to see which castles and hovels are the real deal, then surprising to learn that much of the forest — even in an excising horseback chase scene — was built on a massive soundstage, using live trees. He offers a few trivia tidbits, such as how he initially wanted Ledger and Damon to swap the roles they played; how Miramax fought him on letting the brothers have facial hair (but, he says later, “I sold out!” because he did let them have white, clean, modern teeth). He talks about the trained ravens (“The ravens became the messengers of the queen,” he says, which I found interesting since those same ravens were later exported to Canada to act in a horror movie called The Messengers), the horses, the mules, and so on. He talks a little bit about the real Grimm’s Fairytales, but not too much.

There are 12 deleted scenes included which may be played one-by-one, or back-to-back all at once. There optional commentary from Gilliam, and it’s interesting to hear his thoughts on why they were cut, and which ones were the most painful to lose. Most of the scenes supplement the storyline and flesh out the characters more — these are helpful and welcome, but as with most “action / adventure” movies, characters and story are the least of anyone’s concern.

Bringing the Fairytale to Life, running nearly 17 minutes, is the first of two featurettes.  It’s mainly a behind the scenes look at the filming of the movie, interspersed with cast and crew interviews. They talk about the spirit of the film, and how it’s not intended to be a biography of the real Brothers Grimm.

The Visual Magic of the Brothers Grimm is the second featurette, and it covers the CGI and practical effects. “I didn’t want to use CGI,” says Gilliam, but even he had to admit defeat when many of his practical and animatronic creations came out looking “terrible”. They talk about the wolf and his many incarnations, plus show before-and-after scenes with bluescreen and CGI. It’s informative, but for me — at least with this kind of movie — it spoils the magic.

Overall, it’s a great DVD. I was glad to see so much additional release material for a film that wasn’t a big box-office hit because personally, I thoroughly enjoyed The Brothers Grimm.

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Reviewed by Staci Layne Wilson

See Horror.com’s interviews with Terry and the gang by clicking here.