The Brothers Grimm is a 2005 adventure fantasy film directed by Terry Gilliam. The film stars Matt Damon, Heath Ledger and Lena Headey in an exaggerated and fictitious portrait of the Brothers Grimm as traveling con-artists in French-occupied Germany, during the early 19th century. The brothers eventually encounter a genuine fairy tale curse which requires courage instead of their usual bogus exorcisms. Supporting characters are played by Peter Stormare, Jonathan Pryce and Monica Bellucci.
In February 2001, Ehren Kruger sold his spec script to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). With Gilliam's hiring as director, the script was rewritten by Gilliam and Tony Grisoni but the Writers Guild of America refused to credit them for their work. MGM eventually dropped out as distributor but decided to co-finance The Brothers Grimm with Dimension Films and Summit Entertainment, while Dimension took over distribution duties.
The film was shot in the Czech Republic. Gilliam often had feuds with brothers Bob and Harvey Weinstein, which caused the original theatrical release date to be delayed nearly ten months. The Brothers Grimm was finally released on 26 August 2005 with mixed reviews and grossed $105.3 million at the worldwide box office.
Plot[]
Will and Jake Grimm are traveling con artists who use Jake's knowledge of folklore to fool people into paying them to kill monsters in French-occupied Germany during the early 19th century. In Karlstadt they "kill" a witch's ghost, after tricking the village. Italian torturer Cavaldi captures the two and takes them to the French General Delatombe. Delatombe forces them to solve a mystery: the girls of the small village of Marbaden are going missing and the villagers are convinced that supernatural forces are responsible. The Brothers are charged with finding out who is responsible, under the assumption that it is the work of con artists like themselves. They soon discover that it is the work of a real supernatural force, a 500-year-old, Thuringian Queen stealing young girls to restore her beauty.
Long ago, King Childeric I came to the forest to build a city while his Queen experiments with black magic stolen from the pagan locals to gain eternal life. The Bubonic plague comes and she builds a high tower to avoid it, while her husband and everyone below her perishes. She did not understand the Plague was carried by wind and soon rotted away as she decayed over the years. Her spell granted her immortal life, but not the youth and beauty to go along with it. Her youthful appearance now only exists in her mirror, the source of her life, as an illusion and nothing more. She needs to drink the blood of twelve young women to regain her beauty; ten have already been reported missing.
The queen is working an enchantment to regain her beauty with the aid of her werewolf huntsman with a magic axe, crow familiars and various creatures in the forest. The Brothers Grimm, with the help of Angelika, a knowing huntress from the village and sister to two of the missing girls and Cavaldi discover her tower in the woods. After another girl goes missing and all his men are killed by the forest, Cavaldi takes the Grimms and Angelika back to Delatombe. Because they have failed, Cavaldi may kill both of the Grimms but after convincing Delatombe that the magic in the forest is caused by German rebels, he sends them back, while Cavaldi stays behind with Angelika in the village. Jake gets into the tower but another girl named Sasha is captured, despite Angelika and Cavaldi's efforts to save her.
In the tower, Jake notices twelve crypts in which the victims must lay. When Sasha's body comes up from a well, the werewolf takes her to a tomb. After rescuing Sasha and taking the wolfman's magic axe, the Grimms return to the village. The magic axe is the only thing of which the trees in the forest are afraid. Delatombe captures the Brothers and believes them to be frauds. French soldiers begin burning down the forest and Cavaldi represses his sympathy for the brothers but they are eventually saved by Angelika. The werewolf is revealed to be Angelika's father, who is under the Queen's command by a spell. Angelika is drowned by her father, becoming the twelfth victim. The Brothers reach the tower while the Queen breathes an ice wind which puts out the forest fire. Delatombe notices that the Grimms have escaped and goes after them with Cavaldi. When Cavaldi refuses to kill the Grimms, Delatombe shoots him but is impaled by Will.
The climax ensues with The Mirror Queen's death, caused by Jake shattering the enchanting mirror in the tower. The werewolf transforms into Angelika's father (the woodsman) and destroys the rest of the mirror by jumping out of the window with it and Will, who was trying to destroy the werewolf at all costs. Outside, Cavaldi seems to have survived, having donned the Grimm's faux-magic armor while the tower falls apart, with Jake surviving by using the Queen's mattresses. Jake awakens Angelika with a kiss of true love at Cavaldi's urging, which in turn resurrects the other eleven girls and Will. With the menace gone and their daughters returned to them, the villagers of Marbaden celebrate and give their heart-felt thanks to the Brothers Grimm. Cavaldi stays in the village and joins the villagers for the feast. The Grimms decide to pursue a new profession, presumably writing fairy tales.