The Brothers Grimm - a slow but interesting fairy tale

Jacob and Will Grimm are brothers who are the "ghostbusters" of their time. They will rid your town of a witch or ghost, for a fee, of course. As they make their living doing this, Jake (Heath Ledger) and Will (Matt Damon) they spend a night in a tavern and Jake gets drunk and spills their story. A French officer, Caveldi (played by Peter Stormare - but it took me a while to recognize him except his voice gave him away)captures them and takes them to his general who forces them to admit that they are frauds. He then allows them to save their own lives by helping him in a task: to quiet the cries of a town that has lost 10 young girls to a haunted forest by finding the cause or finding the lost girls. The brothers agree (hey.. wouldn't you if it meant you didn't die) and are off to fight a forest of trees that move on their own, a wolf and an impenetrable tower in the center. They enlist the help of the local trapper, Angelika - whose family is cursed somehow- and venture into the forest to find the source of the trouble.

That doesn't give anything away really. The story continues and drags a little, but quite often. I found the unnecessary grossness (kitten is torn to shreds) and torture (it is depicted how they get people to talk and it is mildly disturbing, but I HATE torture)to be in the way of the story rather than relavent or moving it along.

This is a slow adventure in which the director is fascinated with his special effects (we see these move-on-their-own tress a LOT) but tells a nice story.

There is not much character development, but I didn't miss it too much. We learn that Jacob is in love with writing and all the folk tales and keeps writing things down and in the end, this does serve him. Will is critical of Jake and as brothers they have a few issues which aren't explored much and aren't resolved fully.

The story resolves pretty well and it isn't all neat and pretty. There aren't too many unpredictable twists, many scenes are 10 seconds too long but I enjoyed my time in it.

I loved March of the Penguins, and it moved slower than this, but not much.

One thing I did find very cute/interesting was how they wove in many of the fairy tales into the story. You see hints of how they might have come to be(rapunzel, Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Hansel & Gretel, Jack & the Beanstalk).

Wait for the video, or go to the cheap theater, or if you really want to see a movie, just don't expect Indiana Jones type of wit or action. Just go for a little fun and a little action and one long fairy tale.