I really wanted to like this film, a nice bit of escapism that didn’t take itself too seriously was what I was expecting. The main issue with the escapism bit is that the cgi in the film is so terrible that it really becomes impossible to immerse yourself in it, especially annoying as it is mostly stuff that Harry Potter has shown to be perfectly possible, people turning into animals, bits of fabric floating around by their own volition etc. Beyond this the plot is slightly bonkers, it makes sense, but in a strange effort to put a tiny bit (I really mean tiny in most cases) of most of the well known Grimms fairy tales, as well as some they didnt write, we end up with with something of a fairytale clusterfuck. There is a huge amount of material here, any part of which could have served as some aspect of this sort of Grimm genesis story. So much so that it makes absolutely no sense that in the main the story is concerned with a nonsense exchange between the brothers and the French government, who at this particular time in history are busy occupying Germany, but also devote an awful lot of time to exposing the con artist Grimms. The accents are forgivable because they are so over the top. Peter Stormare is the best thing about this film, I cant put my finger on why he is so watchable, but his slightly sinister, slightly insane and extremely silly depiction of a torture crazed Italian (whos inclusion is not really explained) is brilliant, its a shame that he outshines Damon and Ledger who despite all their efforts just dont invite a great deal of sympathy. The fact that Ledger seems to be channeling a sort of nervous land bound Jack Sparrow, without the jumping around doesnt really help. This film could have done what Enchanted managed to do two years later, have a lot of fun with some stories which everyone knows and loves, but ultimately it serves as a Grimm reminder that however good your source material is, you still need to make it work with the tale you are trying to tell. 10 points from Griffindor for not managing to write that without a Grimm pun. Apologies.