Roald Dahl's The Witches

A young boy tussles with child-hating witches in this CGI-assisted take on Roald Dahl's classic tale, last filmed in 1990 by Nicolas Roeg. Setting the action in 1968, director Robert Zemeckis and co-screenwriter Guillermo Del Toro oversee the story of an African-American schoolboy and his kindly grandma (a marvellous Octavia Spencer), who visit a swanky seaside hotel, unaware that witches are in attendance and posing as a child welfare charity organisation. While Anne Hathaway struggles somewhat to match Anjelica Huston's iconic portrayal of the Grand High Witch in Roeg's film, the digital effects make her and her acolytes even more of a threat. That does mean the film is possibly too intense for younger viewers, but grown-ups should relish Stanley Tucci's witty turn as the hassled hotel manager and, while the ending stumbles slightly, this is overall a grandly entertaining affair.