Terry Gilliam’s The Brothers Grimm wants to be a dark, twisted fairy tale, and it mostly succeeds — until it starts talking to itself. The 2005 fantasy adventure follows Jake and Will Grimm, con artists who sell fake exorcisms to credulous villagers, until they stumble into a real magical curse in a haunted forest. Matt Damon plays Jake, Heath Ledger plays Will, and Lena Headey rounds out the trio as Angelika, the fur trapper whose sisters vanished first.
Trailer, via Miramax.
Jake and Will as Grifters
Jake and Will are not the noble collectors of folktales you might expect. They are grifters, scamming townsfolk with staged rituals and fake spells. That cynicism is the film’s best hook. When a real curse shows up — a horse that swallows children whole and a gingerbread-man monster — the brothers have to abandon their act and actually fight.
Ledger’s Performance
Heath Ledger brings a manic energy to Will Grimm, the younger brother whose desperation drives the plot. Matt Damon plays Jake as the cooler head, though the film leans on his physical comedy more than his intellect. Lena Headey grounds the story as Angelika, whose grief pushes her into the hunt.
The Curse and the Creatures
The forest’s curse comes from a Thuringian Queen who built a tower centuries ago to escape the plague. Inside the tower, Jake faces a magic mirror that traps him in a youthful illusion of the Queen. Outside, a mud monster absorbs a girl named Sasha and turns into a gingerbread man that disappears into the well.
These monsters are the film’s strongest assets. The gingerbread man in particular is a genuinely unsettling image, a sweet treat that devours children.
A Long Road to Release
The film’s production history is almost as strange as its plot. Johnny Depp was Gilliam’s first choice for Will Grimm, but he dropped out. Matt Damon stepped in, and the two actors swapped roles entirely on their own request. Robin Williams was cast as Cavaldi before Peter Stormare took the part. Nicole Kidman declined the role of the Mirror Queen due to scheduling conflicts.
Gilliam and Tony Grisoni rewrote the script together, but the Writers Guild refused to credit them. MGM dropped out as distributor, and Dimension Films and Summit Entertainment picked up financing and distribution. The original release date was delayed nearly ten months because of feuds with Bob and Harvey Weinstein.
The Monsters That Work
The film’s creature design is its standout element. Here is what stands out:
- The gingerbread man that devours Sasha
- The mud monster that absorbs its victims
- The magic mirror that traps Jake in a youthful illusion
- The horse that swallows children whole
Where the Film Falls Short
The problem is pacing. The film runs 118 minutes, and it feels far longer. Gilliam’s visual style is busy and inventive, but the constant motion can overwhelm the story. The film also struggles to balance its tone. It wants to be a grim fairy tale, but it keeps leaning on broad comedy — a tone shift that doesn’t always land.
The supporting cast is strong. Peter Stormare is unhinged as Cavaldi, Monica Bellucci is commanding as the Mirror Queen, and Jonathan Pryce is perfectly sinister as General Delatombe. But their scenes often feel like set pieces rather than narrative momentum.
The Final Word
The Brothers Grimm is a flawed but ambitious film. Its monsters are genuinely disturbing, its premise is clever, and its cast is excellent. But the pacing drags, the tone shifts uncomfortably, and the story loses focus in its middle stretch.
It is a film that knows what it wants to be, but it takes too long to get there.
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