"The Witches" How did the master craftsman Zemeckis reinvent Roald Dahl's fantastical world?

I was surprised by the bold adaptation of Zemeckis' version.

2020 has been a year in which the number of opportunities to see new Hollywood movies has drastically decreased, but I'm glad that Dahl's masterpiece ``The Witches'' is now available on screen as a new movie. Moreover, the man behind the megaphone is the master craftsman Robert Zemeckis.

If you've ever read the original story, you'll probably be a little surprised when you see this movie version. This is because, while the original story was a story that took place between England and Norway, this work has changed into a story that takes place in Alabama in the United States in the late 1960s.

Along with this, the main character also becomes a black boy (Jazier Bruno). A boy who loses his beloved parents in a car accident is turned into a mouse by a great witch (Anne Hathaway) who hates children. However, he does not give up and, with the help of his grandmother (Octavia Spencer), struggles to stop the witches' plan to turn all the children of the world into mice.

   “The Witches” (c)2020 Warner Bros. Ent. All Rights Reserved.

As you know, Zemeckis has continued to depict the ``image of America'' throughout his career, as exemplified by the ` `Back to the Future '' series. In that respect, this work is no exception. The music, culture, colors, and hairstyles are all American in the 1960s. I'm so impressed that they were able to keep the original story line intact and transfer other elements so cleanly and refreshingly.

Furthermore, he also talks about the themes of the original work ``The Witches'', which he drew on, as ``accepting who you are'' and ``a journey to find and accept your true self'' (from the theater pamphlet). The moment I heard these words, the image of Forrest Gump, running aimlessly through the same state of Alabama in the 1960s, suddenly came to mind for me, overlapping with the boy protagonist. I could feel it.

The film maintains an innocent, free-spirited sense of fun, but at times it evokes the nostalgic touch that Zemeckis' films had in the 80s and 90s. Even though it is an original work by Dahl, there is still a ``Zemeckis-ness'' within the main character.

The spirit of living fully in the present runs through Dahl's works.