Hoodwinked Too! Hood Vs Evil Trailer

Okay, I am amused with this one. I enjoyed the first Hoodwinked well enough, even if some of it is a blur now. I had fun with this new trailer, especially with picking out all of the fairy tales referenced in its two short minutes. There's Three Little Pigs, Hansel and Gretel, Little Red Riding Hood, Three Billy Goats Gruff to name the most visible ones. I do want to see this one.



From ‘Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil’ Trailer by Angie Han:

After months of bitter legal dispute with production company Kanbar Entertainment, The Weinstein Co. has finally released the first trailer for Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil– only a year and change after the film’s original release date of January 15, 2010. The upcoming film is a sequel to 2006′s moderate hit Hoodwinked, a modern CGI fairy tale along the lines of Shrek and Happily N’Ever After. The original Hoodwinked was a retelling of Red Riding Hood, and this time around they’re taking a stab at reinterpreting Hansel and Gretel. Check out the trailer after the jump.

CGI remains one corner of cinema that’s tough for smaller or indie productions to crack — those tens (or was it hundreds?) of thousands of individual hairs on Linguini’s head in Ratatouille don’t come cheap. The first Hoodwinked was a solid entry into the ever-expanding “sassy modern fairy tale” genre, with a surprisingly clever script, but was undermined by its subpar animation. Based on the jerky, cheap-looking animation in this trailer, I’m guessing Hoodwinked Too! isn’t going to be the one to break that trend, either. The fact that it’s being released in 3D isn’t making me feel any more confident about it.

On the other hand, the premise sounds enjoyable enough for a kids’ film, especially if you liked the first one. Much of the cast has returned for this installment, including Glenn Close, Andy Dick, Patrick Warburton and Cory Edwards. Anne Hathaway, who voiced Red last time, has been replaced by Heroes star Hayden Panettiere. And SNL favorites Bill Hader and Amy Poehler round out the cast as children in distress Hansel and Gretel. If that sounds promising to you, go ahead and mark April 29, 2011 on your calendar.

So does this look like fun to you? I agree that the animation doesn't come close to Pixar, Disney or Dreamworks, but the story is fun and the animation is good enough for me. I'd rather be amused by the story than wowed by appearance with no viable content.

Ballet: Cinderella Goes to War

Now this is one I would love to see. But I don't live anywhere near this performance. If you are in the UK, however, you should look this one up if it interests you since it is potentially touring to several locations.  This is a new production of Cinderella from choreographer and director Matthew Bourne.

From Cinderella goes to war by Diane Parkes:

Set during the London Blitz, poor old Cinderella is as busy dodging the German Luftwaffe as she is dealing with the ugly sisters.

But Matthew hopes the essence of the children’s classic comes through his dance.

“I started with the basic story of Cinderella that people already know. I want them to follow the train of events of the fairy tale but also give it a certain complexity. It is fantasy and fairy tale.

“The essential elements are there. The missing shoe, the idea of being lost and then found. I worked in the step mother and the ugly sisters although I went for a larger family to ensure there were enough roles for my dancers.

“There is the element of a kind of prince and of a fairy godmother although mine is a guardian angel. All the elements which give this story its character are there but in a different way.”

In this story Cinderella’s prince is a handsome RAF pilot and, although the two become separated at midnight, the heroine does not disappear in a pumpkin – but in an explosion from a German bomb.

Matthew was very keen that the Second World War be more than just a backdrop to the story, it also generates much of the tale.

“I really love the Prokofiev music to Cinderella because it has such an edge to it and, when I was doing my research into the music, I realised that he wrote it during the Second World War. That made me wonder if that was what gave it its darkness.”

The more Matthew delved into the idea of setting the piece during that conflict, the more it seemed to fit.

“That was a period when there was a real urgency and a need to escape,” he says. “Ideas of time being limited and the risk of losing someone were very much war time themes.

Also, from the Birmingham Hippodrome site where the ballet is being performed.

New Adventures' new production of CINDERELLA is a thrilling and evocative journey through London during the Second World War. Matthew Bourne's interpretation of Prokofiev's haunting score has, at its heart, a true wartime romance. A chance meeting results in a magical night for Cinderella and her dashing young RAF pilot, together just long enough to fall in love before being parted by the horrors of the Blitz.

First seen in the West End in 1997, but now completely revised in this brand new production created to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Blitz. It features design by Lez Brotherston who won an Olivier award for his original designs, and new lighting designs by Neil Austin. The production will also feature sensational sound design by Paul Groothius which will take the audience into the heart of Prokofiev's magnificent score and the sound world of war-torn London.

CINDERELLA is both a tribute and a testament to the spirit of London during a time when every second counted and lives were changed forever. Bourne's vivid storytelling has never been more heart-stopping and touching, creating a unique and unforgettable depiction of a familiar and beloved fable.

Nicholas Hoult As Jack the Giant Killer

Most of the news sources consider this a done deal although the final contracts haven't been signed yet. I like the idea of a lesser known actor starring in the film. From Hoult eyes lead for 'Jack the Giant Killer' by Dave McNary:

Brit thesp Nicholas Hoult is in talks to topline New Line/Legendary's "Jack the Giant Killer," their twist on the "Jack and the Beanstalk" story with Bryan Singer directing.

Script by Darren Lemke centers on a the kidnapping of a princess, which threatens the long-standing peace between men and giants, and a young farmer who's given an opportunity to lead a dangerous expedition to the giant kingdom to rescue her.

Stanley Tucci recently signed on to play the villain and Bill Nighy and John Kassir have been cast as a two-headed giant.

Hoult broke into showbiz in 2002's "About a Boy," in which he played the nervous 12-year-old who complicates Hugh Grant's life, then appeared in teen drama "Skins." Recent feature credits include Tom Ford's "A Single Man," "Clash of the Titans."

Hoult will be seen this summer as a young Hank McCoy, aka Beast, in Matthew Vaughn's "X-Men: First Class."

Hansika Latest Gallery

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Sarah Shahi - Exercising

Sarah Shahi - Exercising in a Beverley Hills Park - 2-4-11, 15 more images after the break...

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Top 10 Tallest Dams in the World

10. Mica Dam,  Canada – 234m

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Girl Is Addicted to Eating Soap

Tempestt Henderson, a 19-year-old girl from Florida, has a rather peculiar addiction – she can’t help eating soap bars and washing powder. There are worst things to be addicted to, but this has to be one of the strangest.05 More images after the break...

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Slum Dog Millionnaire

Slum Dog Millionnaire, One more image after the break...

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New Art Exhibit: La Llorona Unfabled

La Llorona Unfabled is an exhibit opening this weekend at  Galería de la Raza in San Francisco, CA.

From the gallery website:

Galeria de la Raza is pleased to spring forward into 2011 with a multi-media installation "La Llorona Unfabled: Stores to (Re)tell To Little Girls." Comprising of media from paintings and drawings to videos, a public art project, and a digital mural, the exhibition showcases the Mexican folktale of La Llorona, known as “the wailing/weeping woman” as a focal subject.

Lead artist Ana Teresa Fernandez uses La Llorona as a launching point to reconfigure the metaphorical imagery of this colonial-era legend in which a poor Mexican woman, abandoned by her noble husband, drowns her children and herself out of grief. As punishment, her spirit is condemned to wander eternally, haunting riverbanks at night searching for her lost children. Fernandez’s reinterpretation of the folktale, which depicts its central female figure as weak and destructive, comments on restrictive identities imposed on women and oppressive views of immigrants present in our society.

In turn, artists Monica Enriquez-Enriquez, Geraldine Lozano, Rosario Sotelo, and Tanya Vlach respond to these issues of gender, class, and cultural identity through their own perspectives in video-based works and through the collective lens of unique experiences as Latina immigrants, creating new narratives from a modern feminist perspective. The works invite the visitor to view the immigrant experience and the crossing of borders through this unusual viewpoint that blends cultural narratives, sexual identity, and personal transformatio

The symbol of water as a signifier for the weak and weeping Llorona is the central vein running through Fernandez’s work in which she explores the often-constrictive stereotypes imposed on women. In one installation, we see the artist swimming laps in a cocktail dress and stilettos, as these conventions of feminine identity take on a literal weight and drag her down. In another work, Fernandez re-enacts the familiar fairytale of the princess with the glass slipper waiting for her prince as the glass stilettos she stands on literally melt away, commenting on how these myths serve to paralyze young women from being protagonists in their own stories. Fernandez also transforms the derogatory term “wetback” in another piece, as we see a figure bent over in the polluted waters of the San Diego Tijuana border absorbing the filth with her hair, offering us an alternate Llorona - one not associated with victimization and death, but with restoration and resilience.

The response to La Llorona in the form of commentary, identity, and challenge is reflected in the supporting artists’ work. In her installation, with a bag full of desire, Colombian artist Enriquez-Enriquez features conversations with queer migrants. She blends these narratives with images of bondage, to explore the themes of “marginal desire” and queer difference. In GeraLupe, artist Lozano, a resident of Ciudad Juarez, comments on the violence committed against women. She revisits the legacy of Chicana artists Yolanda Lopez and Ester Hernandez and depicts an everyday woman as La Virgen, contrasting this sacred archetype of love, life and the divine with the everyday violence and fear women on the U.S./Mexico border endure. Related, Sotelo’s participation is informed by research she developed for Sanctuary City/Ciudad Santuario, 1989-2009, a multimedia exhibition and documentation project led by Sergio de la Torre on the increase in federal immigration raids after 9/11 in the Bay Area . Sotelo has been able to identify three women in process of deportation who have agreed to participate in her project and tell their stories. Lastly, in El Ojo Supernatural, artist Vlach draws from a personal near-death experience to explore the concept of humanity and ideas of reinvention and transformation through emerging technologie

Together, all featured in "Unfabled" revisit the La Llorona legend with “dry eyes” and create a visual language that examines how Latina immigrants view themselves and that speaks to the feelings of nostalgia, loss, transformation and renewal associated with the migrant experience.

"La Llorona Unfabled: Stores to (Re)tell To Little Girls" is made possible thanks to the support of the Creative Work Fund and the Zellerbach Family Fund.

From Deconstructing Cinderella, deconstructing La Llorona by Emily Appelbaum, this is just an excerpt:

They say you shouldn't judge a person until you’ve walked a mile in their shoes. Ana Teresa Fernandez, the featured artist in Galería de la Raza’s upcoming video exhibition “La Llarona Unfabled,” (opening Sat/12) has obliged in regards to that feminist foil, Cinderella. For her video installation, Fernandez spent hours standing wearing a melting pair of “glass slippers” made of ice on a dirty West Oakland street. The experience, she feels, left her more than qualified to criticize the social constructs embodied by fairy tale's scullery maid-cum-princess.

Originally conceived by Galería’s executive director Carolina Ponce de León, “La Llorona Unfabled” will include work from four other artists: Monica Enriquez-Enriquez, Geraldine Lozano, Rosario Sotelo, and Tanya Vlach. The five will respond to issues of gender, class, identity, and migration in an effort to re-craft cultural narratives into feminist and Latina perspectives.

New on DVD: Year of the Fish (Chinese Cinderella Story)

Year of the Fish was released this week on DVD. See the trailer at the bottom of this post. First, here's more about it.

From Rotoscope technique gives 'Year of the Fish' a distinctive look by Bruce Dancis:

"Year of the Fish" is a fairy tale of a movie, a modern take on the ancient Chinese version of "Cinderella" set in New York's Chinatown. With its use of digital rotoscope technology, the film uses bright colors and a kind of painterly animation to tell a story filled with witches, seers and an enchanted goldfish.

Yet "Year of the Fish" is definitely not for kids. Its protagonist, Ye Xian (An Nguyen), has arrived in America to find she has effectively been sold into forced labor to pay for her journey from China. She has to work off her debt by becoming a masseuse in a massage parlor. When she balks at performing sexual acts, her sponsor, Mrs. Su (Tsai Chin), the madam in charge of the establishment, makes her clean floors, scrub toilets and cook meals instead. (Tsai Chin, so memorable as the fiercest of the mothers in "The Joy Luck Club," here plays a variation on the wicked stepmother with barely controlled rage and bitterness.) Some of the other masseuses take on the roles of evil stepsisters. But her "prince" may also be living in Chinatown as well, in the form of a handsome young jazz musician named Johnny (Ken Leung, who played Miles Straume in "Lost").

Written, directed and animated by David Kaplan, "Year of the Fish" gets a belated DVD release this week (Gigantic Pictures, $24.98, not rated) following a limited theatrical run in 2008 and screenings at more than a dozen film festivals around the world.

Official product description:

From the producer of THE JOY LUCK CLUB comes YEAR OF THE FISH, a Cinderella story set in a Chinatown massage parlor.

The film stars Ken Leung (LOST), Tsai Chin (THE JOY LUCK CLUB), Randall Duk Kim (THE MATRIX RELOADED) and introduces An Nguyen. YEAR OF THE FISH had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival and was named Best Film at the Avignon Film Festival, Best Film at the Asheville Film Festival, and won several other international awards. It was released theatrically nationwide and was a nominee for a 2009 Independent Spirit Award.

The film is rotoscoped - a digital process of tracing over live-action footage to create an animated look; in this case a flowing, watercolor effect that pops from the screen like a painting brought to life.

Extras on this Collector's Edition include:

Director's and Actors' Commentary
Early Rotoscoping Test
Before/After Rotoscoping Shots
Trailer

Definitely looks like it is for limited audiences, with the subject and content rating as well as the interesting film technique. Which I would either adjust to or end the movie with a headache, I think. It makes me feel like I need to renew my contacts prescription despite how effective it is in parts in adding a fantasy overtone. So here's the trailer if you are interested in previewing. The Cinderella influence is very obvious in the trailer.

Stanley Tucci Set for Villain in 'Jack the Giant Killer'

Okay, this one has me a little excited even if the movie itself still has me a little wary. (That's not saying much, my status with all of Hollywood's offerings is 'wary.') I've been a Stanley Tucci fan since Undercover Blues actually. Yes, I have my own personal campy favorites among which this is numbered. And it was inspired by The Thin Man which is a favorite, but not campy. And he's been impressing me in countless roles ever since that unusual introduction.

From Stanley Tucci Set for Villain in 'Jack the Giant Killer' by Borys Kit:

Jack the Giant Killer may still be searching for its lead actor, but New Line and Legendary’s Bryan Singer action fantasy is stomping ahead, casting key roles including the villain.

The script -- the most recent one is by Christopher McQuarrie -- is set in motion when a princess is kidnapped, threatening the long-standing peace between humans and giants. A young farmer is then forced to lead a rescue mission to the giants' kingdom.

Stanley Tucci is playing the villain, an advisor to the king with designs on usurping power.

Bill Nighy and John Kassir will play Fallon, the two-headed leader of the giants; Nighy gets to play the big head while Kassir the small.

On the lead side, Singer has been testing actors since December and sources say Nicholas Hoult is one of the front-runners of the part.

Red Riding Hood / Caperucita Roja Movie Poster

And while we're here, here is the Spanish poster for Red Riding Hood, aka Caperucita Roja. Rather disturbing, very bloody, but I think that is the point...

Red Riding Hood TV Spots

So the television marketing blitz is beginning for Red Riding Hood's release next month. I have three of the spots embedded below. Supposedly there are four, but I only found three of them online so far.

Here goes:







Remember that this movie's success will reflect on future fairy tale projects in Hollywood, too. Yes, we are getting Snow Whites and some others but we may get more that are in talks if this movie does well at the box office.

Christian Lacroix and the Tale of the Sleeping Beauty

Christian Lacroix and the Tale of Sleeping Beauty: A Fashion Fairy Tale Memoir (and ebook version) was released last week.

Book description from the publisher:

About the Fashion Fairy Tale Memoir Series

Each book in this inspired series from fashion writer Camilla Morton inventively reimagines one of our favorite "Once Upon a Time" stories, blending with it the real-life story of a famed fashion designer. Lushly illustrated by the designers themselves, these tales illuminate each iconic individual's creative magic while celebrating his unique life and career. The result is an intriguing combination of whimsy and memoir.

In this contemporary twist on the tale of Sleeping Beauty, Monsieur Lacroix exercises a stunningly diverse array of artistic styles, revealing many more mesmerizing sides to his fertile imagination than those we have already seen in his magnificent fashions.

 

From Fairytales and furniture for Christian Lacroix by Hilary Alexander:

Christian Lacroix, the flamboyant 'dream-weaver' of fashion, may have shown his last haute couture collection in Paris in July, 2008. But Lacroix has been sprinkling his creative magic throughout a host of other endeavours, from designing costumes for 'Roméo et Juliet' for the Opéra-Comique in Paris, and for the American soprano Renée Fleming in 'Thais' at the New York Met, to designing interiors for hotels, curating photographic exhibitions in his native Arles, and supervising exhibitions of his work in Singapore.

Now, Lacroix is pouring his colourful exuberance into two new areas: fairytales and furniture.

Firstly, he has collaborated with the young, British author, Camilla Morton ('How to Walk in High Heels', 'A Year in High Heels'), by illustrating a fashion fantasy/fairytale, 'Christian Lacroix and the Tale of the Sleeping Beauty', which interweaves elements of his own life with the famous story, originally attributed to Charles Perrault.

The book, in which 'Beauty' ends up appearing in a Lacroix haute couture fashion show, features illustrations every bit as lavish and flamboyant as his own designs.

The next book in this series, Manolo Blahnik's The Elves and the Shoemaker: A Fashion Fairytale by Camilla Morton, is due out in May. Yes, that seems like a perfect fit for a shoe designer, but I admit to a slight disappointment it's not The Red Shoes, but perhaps that would be a better fairy tale for Christian Louboutin to design.

Fairytale Reflections (19) Midori Snyder at SMoST

Fairytale Reflections (19) Midori Snyder was last week's fairy tale post at SMoST from Katherine Langrish. Langrish does a wonderful job, as always, of introducing her featured author, this time Midori Snyder, whose books I enjoyed long before I met her through SurLaLune years ago.

Midori's part of the post is a reprint of her essay about The Monkey Girl, originally published on Endicott Studio. Here's the beginning:

When I was a girl reading fairy tales, I appreciated those courageous maidens tromping off in iron shoes or flying on the back of the west wind to find their future husbands where they, imprisoned by trolls or cannibal mothers, waited to be rescued. I admired those young women and their single–minded purpose. They were bold, resourceful, and spirited. And they were certainly a far cry from the “waiting–to–be–awakened” girls or the girls expecting to be fitted with a shoe, a Prince, and a future all at the same time.

Yet even in their plucky natures and heroic tales, there was still something about them that troubled me. Perhaps it was the assumption of happily–ever–after, or at least the seeming surrender of all that reckless adventure. Their rites of passage completed, the journey to find a husband over, there was an expectation that life for these young women would settle once again into neatly defined roles and an untroubled routine. This assumption didn't sit well with me at all. I knew from my own family that such happily–ever–afters were not true. I had parents who had met and married in a passion, and then just as passionately argued, accused, betrayed and divorced each other. The photographs of their early years depict the blissful expressions worn by most newly married couples, but the later years proved ugly, full of dark misadventures and contentious battles over money. Though I left home at seventeen, inspired I think by the example of those stalwart maidens, I roamed the world in iron shoes forged by my parent's issues and no other goal in my mind except to escape their battles. Eventually, my money dissolved, the shoes became as thin as paper, and I returned home.

And as always, here are some of the books by Midori Snyder:
 

   

 

  

Fairytale Reflections (18) Inbali Iserles at SMoST

Fairytale Reflections (18) Inbali Iserles was the post a week and a half ago at Seven Miles of Steel Thistles. This time Katherine Langrish writes about the author's books as well as animal fantasy in general, which Iserles writes. Click through to read it all.

Then Katherine turns the post over to Iserles who writes about Rumpelstiltskin. Here is an excerpt:

What struck me most on first hearing this fairytale as a child was the power of a name. Rumpelstiltskin’s name was ultimately his undoing. As the bearer of an unusual name: my bête noir, my curse, my identity – I could empathise.

In most cultures names have symbolic meaning. They are not just labels by which we distinguish ourselves but avatars that hold a deep message, whether about our origins (Moses, in Hebrew “Moshe”, meaning “plucked out of water”), our intention for the name-bearer (Linda – “beautiful” in Spanish, Aslan – “lion” in Turkish) or a homage we pay to a deity or a saint for protecting the name-bearer.

Modern fantasy reveals a fascination with names. In The Lord of the Rings, there are names in many tongues, and ancient words hold in them the power of revelation. Most characters have multiple monikers. The shift in a hobbit-like creature to a wasted, tormented obsessive is characterised through a change of name from Smeagle to Gollum. The handsome hero of the epic is known, among other things, as Aragorn, son of Arathorn, the Dúnadan, Longshanks, Wingfoot and Strider.

Names may be dangerous and, in the world of books, their expression alone can be folly. Characters in the early Harry Potters are urged not to speak the name Voldemort, due to its perceived power, and in the later books dare not do so because of a trace placed on its utterance (Harry’s foolishness in breaking the taboo almost costs him and his friends their lives). In a world of spells, where language is gateway to untold power, a presence can be called upon by a name alone.

And here are images and links to Inbali Iserles books:
 

   

Student gets to test science behind Rapunzel fairy tale

Photograph by: Arlen Redekop, PNG

From Burnaby student gets to test science behind Rapunzel fairy tale at Science World:

Burnaby student Linette Ho had a serious scientific question: Would the handsome prince from the fairy tale Rapunzel have really have been able to climb the beautiful maiden’s hair to get to her tower room?

A Science World experiment Wednesday gave the 16-year-old Moscrop Secondary student her answer. It turns out, human hair is strong enough to hold a human.

Ho’s question was chosen as part of the B.C. government’s contest called “Choose Science, Go Far, Win Big” as part of the province’s Year of Science. Five more winners will be named in the spring.

In the experiment, Science World staff clamped a hank of long human hair (collected for use as a hair extension, but rejected) to a mechanical device, then attached a handle to the other end. Ho grabbed the handle and the rig lifted her off the ground. Then B.C.’s Minister of Science and Universities Ida Chong, followed by several spectators, took a turn.

“It didn’t break at all,” said Science World spokeswoman Amanda McCuaig.

Enchanted Conversation Giveaway/Promotion!

From KateW at Enchanted Conversation:

Enchanted Conversation Giveaway/Promotion!

In the spirit of creating buzz and gaining the interest of readers and writers, Enchanted Conversation: A Fairy Tale Magazine is holding a giveaway for those who blog, tweet or post a comment or entry on a site that promotes EC for readers and writers. The prize is a $25 Amazon electronic gift certificate.

Details:
1. You can only enter once and you must be at least 18. If you are a current or former student of mine (Kate Wolford, editor), you cannot enter.
2. You may tweet at on your own account or blog on your own blog or post a message on someone else's site (but not EC or Diamondsandtoads.com). The message you create must include a link to the submission guidelines and/or let readers know that this year's first issue will be published on March 20, 2011 and have a link to this site. The message must promote Enchanted Conversation.
3. After you do your promotional effort, please copy and paste a link to your message or the full message into a comment under this post. [Note, not this post on SurLaLune!] You must also guess a number between 400 and 1,000 and make sure it is on your comment. You must also have information that makes you easily reachable via email.
4. The winner will be the person who gets the closest, numerically, to the number we choose randomly, between 400 and 1,000. Only one prize will be awarded.
5. The contest starts now and ends Feb. 18 at 11:59 p.m., EST.

Fun Take on Upcoming Fairy Tale Blitz from Hollywood

Okay, so in reading all this movie news to share with you--and I admit I am fascinated with it all--I found this blog on EW which entertained me and made me smile. I'll share my favorite part.

From Julia Roberts as an evil queen. Famke Janssen as a hunted witch. Fairy tales are going grim(m) by Kate Ward:

So you know what this means: This trend will carry on until the fat lady sings. You know, Strega Nona.

Now, I’m hardly complaining: The Princess Bride, a film that perfected the craft of fairy tale storytelling on the big screen, is one of my favorite films of all time. And, quite honestly, Snow White is way overdue for a new hairstyle. But, after Tim Burton’s dark fairy tale adaptation made bank, it seems filmmakers are becoming more attracted to the dark side of the tales — bringing them to the big screen, really, in the form they were originally written. Both The Brothers Grimm: Snow White and Snow White and the Huntsman are supposed to be more sinister versions of the tale, and Hansel & Gretel is pegged as an action film. (And as for Catherine Hardwicke’s upcoming Red Riding Hood — my my, what angsty it has!) And while that excites a Brothers Grimm fan like myself — who’d love to see the original stories, bleak endings and all — represented in some form, I wonder how it will pay off for filmmakers. Ignoring a happily ever after does allow them more creative license to challenge themselves and the viewer, but in our own bleak world — where moviegoers like to blow off steam with Shrek and its many sequels — is it a gamble to reveal to audiences what really happens on the final page of a Brothers Grimm tale? (Sure, Burton’s gotten away with dark storytelling, but that’s because the director has spent a career perfecting films with a mixture of dark themes and levity. Seeing his movies, you never walk out feeling defeated or robbed of a happy ending.)

I say, go ahead, Hollywood: Continue developing fantastical tales with melancholy overtones. Bring to the big screen The Little Mermaid Hans Christian Andersen created, with the title character (spoiler alert) committing suicide. Make an adaptation of Carlo Collodi’s original version of The Adventures of Pinocchio, which ended (spoiler alert) with the puppet being hanged for various crimes. Create the Brothers Grimm version of Rumpelstiltskin, in which the gnome (spoiler alert) literally tears himself in half in a fit of anger. (Kind of awesome, right?) And I’m still waiting for Burton to take on the petrifying title character of Heinrich Hoffmann’s children’s book, Der Struwwelpeter. Really, any of these would be better than, funnily enough, the comedic 2005 film The Brothers Grimm.

Anyone else digging the trend of grim fairy tales? Hey, it worked for 2006′s Pan’s Labyrinth, right?

Finally an entertainment writer who gets her info right and even shares many of my opinions. I am thrilled!