(Not) scary and (not) magic witch – review of the DVD release of the movie “The Witch 2”

In the sequel to the 2014 hit, Aurora decides to marry Philip, which is difficult for Diabolina to accept. During the preparations for the wedding, a tragedy occurs, which will put into question the further truce of magical beings with people.

The first edition of Disney’s production delighted with its unconventional approach to the subject of the legendary fairy tale, dazzling visuals and an extraordinary creation of Angelina Jolie. This is one of those movies that we buy in the Blu-ray or DVD version to see it again after some time with our children. I was hoping it would be the same for the sequel. Unfortunately, the magic is gone.

Repetition of the entertainment

The creators of the sequel took the easy way, again throwing into the film cauldron such well-known elements of the schematic brew as: scheming mother-in-law, intolerance towards others, aversion to son-in-law, bad people, etc. The scriptwriters completely killed any element of surprise or plot consistency in their film. Diabolina most likely got amnesia, hating people again. Further it is even better – the magic tree from Avatar , story holes, resistance movement created from the main character’s race or another truce with people. In the next installment, the protagonist will probably surprise us by fighting … people (like Rebels with the Death Star).

Fortunately, the production still looks good from the visual side, which impresses with the idyllic images of Kniea. The scenes of Diabolina’s return to the roots or the final battle are also pleasant, and the accompanying soundtrack adds a fairy-tale atmosphere to the Witch . Angelina Jolie herself once again steals every scene of the film with a fantastic creation of the main character. But much more screen time is given to the highly exaggerated character of Aurora, almost vomiting a rainbow. For a future monarch, she is simply stupid and naive. Elle Fanning’s weak, one-dimensional performance also does not help in its positive reception.

Poor version or brilliant simplicity?

By firing up the DVD, after choosing the language, we can see the trailer for the latest Disney animation – Forward and the pretty good-looking Mulan . It is worth noting that the distributor took care of the Polish language version in the announcements, which the competition may not be proud of.

A simple, intuitive menu, enriched with atmospheric music should not be difficult to use for the target group of the production (it was also positively tested on a four-year-old who started the DVD edition without any problems). We find in it a classic button to turn on the image, scene selection, settings (including the language version) and the previously mentioned trailers.

Unfortunately, there are no additions on the DVD. The distributor probably stated that the kids would not be interested in such materials. As always, Galapagos took care of the quality of the release, correctly prepared Polish subtitles and an eye-catching menu board. It is worth noting that among the language versions we can also find a version dedicated to the hearing impaired.

The witch and the matter of parents …

Witch 2   is one of the unnecessary sequels that do not add much to the original, being only a jump on the pot of gold. Nevertheless, the production with Angelina Jolie, despite its shortcomings, is a decent entertainment (this time) for a younger audience. They will find positive patterns of behavior, an idyllic world and an important message of tolerance and acceptance in the film. All this, along with the easy-to-use DVD version, should give parents a few free moments from their kids.