- Oct 30, 1999
- 11,815
- 104
- 106
When this movie first came out, the big complaint here was that it was choppy and seemed to have a lot of holes in the story.
As much as I loved the movie, I'd have to agree.
So this X-mas, I get my mom the DVD of Brothers Grimm and we sat and watched it that night.
Low and behold... Most of what gives the movie continuity was sitting on the cutting room floor.
Examples:
1. They rescue Sasha, but her body is lifeless once it's been brought back to the village. So when the spell is broken... what happened to Sasha?
When the brothers finally break the spell and release all 12 girls from the crypts, the villagers are actually having Sasha's funeral. This explains why all of the villagers are out and about. Prior to the scene where the 12 girls run out of the forest after the spell is broken, there's a knock from inside Sasha's coffin. Low and behold, Sasha is alive.
2. After the queen witch blows out the fire started by the French, we see the brothers in the forest and then Delatome, his garcon and Cavaldi show up and confront them. They just "appear" in the forest?
The scene that's deleted is right after Delatome and Cavaldi recoup after all of the rest of the French soldiers run off. They ride up to the ladders that the brothers had previously been tied to. They discuss how it's "impossible" that the brothers escaped and discuss entering the forest to find them. This is also when Cavaldi finds the book Jacob dropped. In one of the final scenes Cavaldi gives the book back to Jacob. Of course, you don't want to see Cavaldi actually bending over and picking the book up because then you don't go, "Oh look! Cavaldi has Jacob's book! Jacob's book is safe!" but it's at least nice to see how Cavaldi might have ended up with the book.
3. When Delatome shows up at the village, Jacob has the enchanted axe. He's asked to drop the axe. Angelica goes for the axe but is stopped by a French soldier. She's held captive and the axe is taken away.
When the brothers are tied up by the French and are set to burn with the forest, Angelica, dressed in a wolf's fur and armed with the enchanted axe, cuts the brothers free.
How the HELL did that happen? A deleted scene shows Angelica seducing the French soldier that is holding her, and the axe, prisoner. Lastly we see, she's holding the axe to the back of the soldiers neck. I'm guessing he's dead and she took the axe back to the forest to rescue the brothers.
There's more. It's crazy. Some scenes aren't necessary, but still help the story.
For example: There's a lot of fairy tale references in the movie. Little Red Riding Hood is one of the kidnapped girls. The queen witch is like Repunzel. Jacob is Jack from Jack and the Beanstalk, etc.
There's the scene where the brothers are scrubbing a floor, right? The scene that's cut out from that is one where Letorc and Dax read Cinderella from Jacob's book while Cavaldi plays the saw. Classic.
There's a scene after Will and Jacob get released from the torture chamber that shows Bunst and Hidlick getting released from the prison so they can help the brothers defeat the queen witch. The show the gang riding horses past the guillatine. The chef is having his head cut off because Delatome is sick of eating German food. They pan in on the reaction Bunst and Hidlick have to the guillatine. Of course, Bunst and Hidlick lose their heads only a few scenes later.
And there's an entire scene that was deleted that had Will and Angelica being attacked by a tree. They're getting flung around and are climbing up and down branches trying to get to one another. It's really cool. Completely gone from the finished product.
Now I'm going to have to DEMAND Terry Gilliam releases a "director's cut" of this movie so I can watch all of the scenes in proper sequence with the rest of the film. It's just a shame that so much ended up on the cutting room floor.
As much as I loved the movie, I'd have to agree.
So this X-mas, I get my mom the DVD of Brothers Grimm and we sat and watched it that night.
Low and behold... Most of what gives the movie continuity was sitting on the cutting room floor.
Examples:
1. They rescue Sasha, but her body is lifeless once it's been brought back to the village. So when the spell is broken... what happened to Sasha?
When the brothers finally break the spell and release all 12 girls from the crypts, the villagers are actually having Sasha's funeral. This explains why all of the villagers are out and about. Prior to the scene where the 12 girls run out of the forest after the spell is broken, there's a knock from inside Sasha's coffin. Low and behold, Sasha is alive.
2. After the queen witch blows out the fire started by the French, we see the brothers in the forest and then Delatome, his garcon and Cavaldi show up and confront them. They just "appear" in the forest?
The scene that's deleted is right after Delatome and Cavaldi recoup after all of the rest of the French soldiers run off. They ride up to the ladders that the brothers had previously been tied to. They discuss how it's "impossible" that the brothers escaped and discuss entering the forest to find them. This is also when Cavaldi finds the book Jacob dropped. In one of the final scenes Cavaldi gives the book back to Jacob. Of course, you don't want to see Cavaldi actually bending over and picking the book up because then you don't go, "Oh look! Cavaldi has Jacob's book! Jacob's book is safe!" but it's at least nice to see how Cavaldi might have ended up with the book.
3. When Delatome shows up at the village, Jacob has the enchanted axe. He's asked to drop the axe. Angelica goes for the axe but is stopped by a French soldier. She's held captive and the axe is taken away.
When the brothers are tied up by the French and are set to burn with the forest, Angelica, dressed in a wolf's fur and armed with the enchanted axe, cuts the brothers free.
How the HELL did that happen? A deleted scene shows Angelica seducing the French soldier that is holding her, and the axe, prisoner. Lastly we see, she's holding the axe to the back of the soldiers neck. I'm guessing he's dead and she took the axe back to the forest to rescue the brothers.
There's more. It's crazy. Some scenes aren't necessary, but still help the story.
For example: There's a lot of fairy tale references in the movie. Little Red Riding Hood is one of the kidnapped girls. The queen witch is like Repunzel. Jacob is Jack from Jack and the Beanstalk, etc.
There's the scene where the brothers are scrubbing a floor, right? The scene that's cut out from that is one where Letorc and Dax read Cinderella from Jacob's book while Cavaldi plays the saw. Classic.
There's a scene after Will and Jacob get released from the torture chamber that shows Bunst and Hidlick getting released from the prison so they can help the brothers defeat the queen witch. The show the gang riding horses past the guillatine. The chef is having his head cut off because Delatome is sick of eating German food. They pan in on the reaction Bunst and Hidlick have to the guillatine. Of course, Bunst and Hidlick lose their heads only a few scenes later.
And there's an entire scene that was deleted that had Will and Angelica being attacked by a tree. They're getting flung around and are climbing up and down branches trying to get to one another. It's really cool. Completely gone from the finished product.
Now I'm going to have to DEMAND Terry Gilliam releases a "director's cut" of this movie so I can watch all of the scenes in proper sequence with the rest of the film. It's just a shame that so much ended up on the cutting room floor.
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