No
Avg. Critic Score: 21 out of 100 Generally unfavorable reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
16 Iffy for 16+
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 75
    Boston Globe | Tom Russo

    Wirkola tears through Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters with such giddy abandon, it ends up being splattery fanboy fun. Preposterous, clearly, but fun. Read full review

  • 42
    Entertainment Weekly | Keith Staskiewicz

    An intermittently fun, but overexcited and predictable mish-mash. Read full review

  • 40
    The Hollywood Reporter | Stephen Farber

    The film is smart enough not to wear out its welcome. But that's the only sign of true intelligence in this juvenile caper. Read full review

  • 40
    New York Daily News | Elizabeth Weitzman

    Even if he's slumming, Renner gets it best: his dry delivery fully acknowledges the movie's ridiculousness. If you're planning on entering this fractured fairy tale, you'll want to follow his lead. Read full review

  • 38
    Washington Post |

    A rarely funny spoof that's heavy on bone-crushing and blood-gushing. Read full review

  • 38
    Movie Nation | Roger Moore

    Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters is more Gatling guns and grenades than The Brothers Grimm. Read full review

  • 25
    New York Observer | Rex Reed

    In an age of zombies, werewolves and oversexed vampires, teens won't be shaking in their Uggs over ugly women with bad teeth flying around on brooms, and with its graphic depictions of tortures, mutilations, gang rapes and myriad examples of child abuse, it's no longer a fairy tale suitable for children. Read full review

  • 25
    The Globe and Mail (Toronto) | Liam Lacey

    The film can't be accused of taking itself seriously. Shot in 3-D, with lots of choppy action, a rudimentary plot, and plenty of CGI-shape-shifting, it comes in at a brisk, disposable 88 minutes. Read full review

  • 25
    USA Today | Claudia Puig

    This genre stew throws in so many ingredients - including sundry body parts that are cut off and go flying, and heads that explode - that the result is a tasteless mash-up that's hard to stomach. Read full review

  • 0
    Rolling Stone | Peter Travers

    What to say about this lame-brained, limp dick attempt to update a classic Brothers Grimm tale into an f-bomb throwing vomit-inducing 3D franchise? I say, screw the damn thing and run the other way. Read full review

View more reviews for Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says Iffy for 16+ Brisk, outrageous action movie has tons of witchy violence.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters is a very violent, bloody, action/horror/fantasy movie about what might have happened if the children from the famous fairy tale continued to kill witches and grew up to make a living at it. Despite its origins, this definitely isn't a fairy tale for children. It's full of outrageous violence, with women beaten up in battle, children in peril, lots of blood, minor characters killed in various ways, weapons, and more. There's some brief female nudity (a naked bottom and breast) and some minor, playful innuendo. Language includes a handful of uses of "f--k" and "s--t." And there's a scene in which the hero drinks too much and is shown suffering the consequences.
  • Families can talk about Hansel and Gretel's outrageous violence. Does it seem necessary to the story? What effect does it have?
  • When Hansel says "the only good witch is a dead witch," what doesn't he know about? What does he learn over the course of the movie that changes his view? How does his statement apply to other situations or stories you may have heard?
  • How does this movie differ from the Grimm Brothers fairy tale? Is it any more or less violent? Why would violence be used in a children's story?
  • Are Hansel and Gretel role models in this movie? Why or why not?
  •   Ben, a supporting character, collects newspaper clippings of Hansel and Gretel's killings and hopes to be a witch hunter himself someday. Why does he idolize them? What attracts him to this violence?
The good stuff
  • message true0 Positive messages: Mixed messages about discrimination: The main characters believe that "the only good witch is a dead witch," but they eventually learn that there are good witches in the world as well and that such blanket statements are useless. At the same time, however, there's a closing message about how revenge "feels good."
  • rolemodels true1 Positive role models: Hansel and Gretel are siblings who seem to work well together, and they're impressively skilled and courageous. But they also live a violent, sad, and guarded existence and often aren't very trusting of others.
What to watch for
  • violence false4 Violence: Constant outrageous, bloody fantasy violence and almost wall-to-wall fighting and chasing. Very powerful guns and other weapons are used. Bad guys are shot, stabbed, and beheaded. Heads are smashed. A man's stomach explodes. A witch is burned at the stake, and a man is hanged. Gretel is violently beaten up in a fight, and many female witches are viciously battered. Children are in peril. There's some scary, horrific witch-related imagery. Many minor characters are killed, in addition to one major supporting character.
  • sex false3 Sexy stuff: A pretty witch coaxes a wounded, shirtless Hansel into a pond by taking off her clothes. Her bottom is shown, as well as one naked breast. While in the water, they kiss. Meanwhile, a helpful young man mops the brow of an unconscious Gretel and succumbs to the urge to mop her cleavage a little bit. (She wakes and slaps his hand away.) Some kissing in a flashback.
  • language false4 Language: "F--k" and "s--t" are each used a few times. Other words include "hell," "damn," "ass," and "oh my God."
  • consumerism false0 Consumerism: Not an issue
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false2 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Hansel drinks too much at a pub and is later shown passed out and groaning on the floor. A character is shown smoking a pipe. Hansel is shown to have "sugar sickness" (diabetes) and takes his insulin shot during two instances.
An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

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Exclusive Features

Cast Interviews Exclusive Cast Interviews Gemma Arterton on playing an "action babe," Famke Janssen on portraying a wicked witch and Jeremy Renner questions why you would read this fairy tale to children.