Once upon a time...on the big screen

Fairy tales are read with great relish because of their sense of adventure and mystery. Now these tales have been transformed into movies and they are darker, scarier and more thrilling.

Into the Woods

What if fairy tales became real? That instead of colouring the pages of a book with their magical stories, they came alive on screen. Many classic children’s tales are now being adapted into movies with a twist in the plot, darker stories and tweaked characters that seem more real and relatable. Here are a few fairy tales that have become movies in the last few years.

Red Riding Hood

It is the proverbial tale of the little girl in a red hood, walking through the woods in order to meet her grandmother. A wolf spots her, goes to her grandmother’s house, eats her up and waits for Little Red Riding to come fill his stomach.

In the 2011 adaptation of this folklore, the story gets a little darker. Valerie, played by Amanda Seyfried, is a young woman who lives in the fictional town of Daggerhorn, which is often threatened by a werewolf that lives in the forest nearby. For some reason, Valerie can communicate telepathically with the wolf. On Blood Moon Week, which happens every 13 years, those bitten by the wolf change into werewolves. What will happen to the people of Daggerhorn?

Jack the Giant Slayer

The classic tale of Jack and his magic beans takes a rather fantastical twist in the movie. In the fairy tale, Jack exchanges his cow for magic beans. His mother, furious about the exchange, flings them to the ground, where a beanstalk begins to grow. Jack climbs up, finds a giant living up there, and steals his riches.

In the movie, things are a little more complicated. Jack lives in the kingdom of Cloister, where a certain legendary king defeated an army of giants with a magic crown. He is fascinated by this story and when he trades his horse for magic beans, realises that he has found the giant’s world. There is a love story in this twist, as Jack has a crush on Isabelle, the Princess of Cloister. When she is accidentally carried away by the beanstalk to the giant’s world, Jack will leave no stone unturned to save her.

Hansel and Gretel — Witch Hunters

Hansel and Gretel are left in a forest by their stepmother and are unable to find their way back because their breadcrumb trail has disappeared. They walk aimlessly through the jungle and come upon a gingerbread house, where they are enslaved by a witch. Both children use their wits to escape from certain death.

The Hansel and Gretel of the movies are nothing like the innocent little children in this German fable. The story kicks off exactly where the fable ends. Hansel and his sister, having killed the witch, grow up to become professional witch hunters. When seven children are taken hostage in a village, Hansel and Gretel set out to find the truth.

Maleficent

Sleeping Beauty is the story of a young girl who is cursed to sleep until awakened by true love’s kiss. She sleeps in the tallest tower of her castle, until Prince Philip finds his way into her heart. “Maleficent” is this story, and yet a completely different one.

The movie captures the life of the fairy who curses Princess Aurora into hibernation. Maleficent is a powerful fairy who lives in the Moors. When she is left powerless by a man she once loved, who uses her to become king, she curses his daughter to fall asleep after pricking her finger on a spindle. But things aren’t that simple, Maleficent discovers when she finds herself beginning to care for the princess.