Hansel and Gretel, the tale of two children who escape an evil witch, gets the Hollywood treatment but the movie, which almost seems devoid of any real plot, is actually a lot more fun than you might think.

Last year, we saw several fairytales receive a modern retelling, Snow White was reworked into Snow White and the Huntsmen, complete with the seven “dwarfs” and also into Mirror Mirror whose only saving grace was the wonderful Julia Roberts. Red Riding Hood received the do-over treatment as well with performances from living legend Gary Oldman and actress Amanda Seyfried.

However, the template hasn’t really worked to date and is having a much better run with animation and kids films like the hugely successful Shrek, the hilarious Enchanted and the fabulous Pan’s Labyrinth. Fairytales have been reworked through different authors and directors for years, perhaps most famously with The Little Mermaid which does not actually end well in the Hans Christian Anderson story, but the current crop of revisions are a strange breed indeed.

Renner in Hansel and Gretel

Written and directed by Tommy Wirkola, he of Dead Snow fame, Hansel and Gretel, like the original tale, follows the story of the a brother and sister who get lost in the woods and end up at the house of a witch who enslaves Gretel and force feeds Hansel. The pair overcome the witch and burn her alive, making their escape.

Unlike the fairytale story where the brother and sister go home to find their father, Hansel and Gretel (Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton) in this production never see their parents again and become famed witch hunters. With their reputation preceding them, the pair are hired by a small-town Mayor to take out a witch who is kidnapping a substantial amount of children from the small village.

While Hansel and Gretel is not exactly Oscar-worthy brilliance it is certainly one of the most fun films to make it to the big screen in months. Although Renner often seems like he cannot believe he is tied up in this project, both he and Arterton deliver deplorable one liners in a very comical fashion. Famke Janssen is probably one of the worst performances, it is beyond understanding why there is a need to make the witches look as ugly as possible, it also serves to make them more unbelievable.

Horror films are the perfect use for 3D and it works really well here; weapons, blood and the fall-out from the fight scenes soar out of the screen and will make you jump on a few occasions. Be prepared for an inordinate amount of blood for a fairytale work, but with hilarious results.

And if that doesn’t work for you, well there’s always an hour and a half of Jeremy Renner...

Renner again. Sorry, who else did you say is in this film?