In the early 1800s, two German brothers were looking for stable, well-paying jobs in order to support their younger siblings after their parents’ deaths, so they became librarians. (Today’s librarians might say that sounds like a fairy tale.) While working in the stacks, the brothers Grimm became the leading folklorists of their day, compiling more than two hundred folk tales and legends. Perhaps due to their own dark past, most of the supposed kiddie tales the brothers collected are twisted and disturbing, driven by envy, vengeance, and the craving for tender young flesh. It’s rich fodder for a film, and Terry Gilliam (who has already taken a crack at fairy tales with Jabberwocky and the Monty Python franchise) adds lots of humor to his revisionist version. However, he misses a great, cathartic moment by not feeding Matt Damon to a wolf.
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