Feels weird to watch a children's movie tailor-made to scare the crap out of them. Actually, upon reflection I'm amazed at how many horror flicks were designed with kids in mind. From Gremlins to Coraline and pretty much everything from Tim Burton, apparently watching something with the potential to give you nightmares is fun regardless of your age. And let me tell you parents, you're definitely risking your son and/or daughter's sleeping pattern with this one. The titular witches are terrifying in their disgusting, monstrous true forms. Not even Anne Hathaway's figure flattering dress and ridiculous, yet very committed performance can make her any less unsettling to look at when she loses the wig and gloves. Personally, I don't think I would have been able to handle this growing up. In order to keep things from getting too frightening for the target audience, the film balances the more hair-raising stuff with plenty of silly humor. There's a whimsical, escapist tone running throughout even during the darker moments that keeps things from ever getting too serious or intense and crossing over into the realm of adult-oriented entertainment. Perhaps too much so during the second half. The movie starts off with the perfect amount of fantasy and fairytale vibes. There's a strong emotional component that allows you to sympathize with and get invested in the young protagonist and his grandmother, with hints of race-related social commentary going on in the background. As soon as the first person gets turned into a mouse though it all starts to get steadily more over-the-top before devolving into a full-blown farce by the end. Yet, its worse flaw is Chris Rock's narration. His unbelievable old southern man accent only served to make me question how I could have possibly failed to notice he can't act before now. Outside of that there's not much too complain about. So if you've ever wanted to help ensure your future cinephile(s) enter adulthood with a healthy appreciation for the horror genre this will make for a nice building block. You may want to start with something tamer like 2015's Goosebumps, but regardless of when you get around to showing this to them I'm sure you'll find it to be petrifying fun for the whole family.