What age is The Witches appropriate for?

The Witches is rated PG and PopcornCheck recommends it for ages 7+, based on reading the actual screenplay. The film contains genuinely frightening witch imagery and a deeply unsettling villain who threatens to 'rip out' Grandma's heart and gleefully watches children transform screaming into mice, but it is balanced by warm family themes and comedic resolution.

Does The Witches have swearing or bad language?

The Witches has Very Mild language. Hero says 'Jeez, that scared the crap out of me' — 'crap' used once

Is The Witches violent?

The Witches has Mild violence. Hero's parents die in a car crash offscreen — sirens are heard, Hero screams 'Mama! Dad!' and the older Hero narrates 'Mama and Daddy weren't wearing seatbelts' — death is implied not shown graphically

Is The Witches scary for children?

The Witches has Moderate scary scenes. The grocery store witch encounter — a raspy-voiced woman with a snake approaches young Hero alone and commands him to 'give her a kiss' to the hissing snake — unsettling and predatory in framing

Is The Witches OK for Kids?

Name: The Witches
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Genre: Comedy, Fantasy, Family, Horror
Released: 2020
Duration: 104 min
Cast: Anne Hathaway, Octavia Spencer, Stanley Tucci, Jahzir Bruno, Chris Rock

ComedyFantasyFamilyHorror

PG⭐ 5.4 / 102020 · 1h 44m

Robert Zemeckis

Where to Watch

United States

Rent

Rent or Buy on Amazon

Streaming data by JustWatch

What's In It

Based on the actual screenplay

🗡️Violence

Moderate▼

Moments in the script, mildest → most intense

Cartoon / Comedic

Action & Peril

Injuries & Death Shown

Graphic & Disturbing

Hero's parents die in a car crash offscreen — sirens are heard, Hero screams 'Mama! Dad!' and the older Hero narrates 'Mama and Daddy weren't wearing seatbelts' — death is implied not shown graphically
The Grand High Witch force-feeds Hero a potion while other witches hold him down — described as 'gag position, flip him, open his trap' — presented as menacing and violent in context
Bruno Jenkins transforms into a mouse with audible bone-cracking sounds and smoke rising from his body — the scene is played as spectacle but the physical horror is explicit in sound
Witches frantically try to squish Bruno with mallets after his transformation — 'Squish him! Kill him!' is shouted repeatedly — played as chaotic comedy but the intent is lethal
The Grand High Witch threatens Grandma directly: 'I will reach into your chest and rip out your withered, shriveled heart and squeeze it until it bursts' — verbally graphic threat
Grandma physically knocks the Grand High Witch into a fish bowl using an improvised attack — brief but Hero and Grandma are in genuine peril moments before
Hades the cat attacks the Grand High Witch inside the fishbowl — described as hissing and yowling with 'panicked squeaking' — played for dark comedy
Overall tone of violence is cartoon-menacing — threats are real within the story but consequences are comedic or resolved quickly with no blood shown

💬Language

Very Mild▼

Moments in the script, mildest → most intense

Mild Words

(damn, hell)

Moderate

(ass, b**ch)

Strong

(sh*t)

Extreme

(f**k)

Hero says 'Jeez, that scared the cr*p out of me' — 'cr*p' used once
Grandma uses 'sweet patootie' twice as a mild exclamation — not profanity but colloquial
Grand High Witch calls children 'pea-brain brats,' 'parasites,' 'putrid varmints,' 'filthy sewer guttersnipes,' 'disgusting little brat,' and 'horrid little boy' — creative insults throughout
Grand High Witch uses 'da**' implicitly in 'every damnable witch' — spoken by older Hero in the final rally
Bruno says 'Crikey' twice as an exclamation — mild British interjection
No f-words, c-words, s-words, or slurs of any kind detected in the script
No sexual language or innuendo of any kind

👻Scary Scenes

Extreme▼

Moments in the script, mildest → most intense

Mildly Tense

Startling Moments

Genuinely Scary

Deeply Disturbing

The grocery store witch encounter — a raspy-voiced woman with a snake approaches young Hero alone and commands him to 'give her a kiss' to the hissing snake — unsettling and predatory in framing
The Grand High Witch's convention reveal — 70+ women simultaneously remove wigs, shoes and gloves to reveal they are bald demons with claws — described as a mass transformation scene with sighing and growling
Hero discovers he has been turned into a mouse — the transformation of Bruno involves audible bone-cracking, smoke, and screaming before Bruno wakes up confused — body-horror element
Grand High Witch directly threatens to murder Grandma by squeezing her heart — delivered as a cold, detailed monologue with no comedic framing at that moment
Hero trapped under the table in the ballroom surrounded by witches sniffing for children — sustained tension sequence where Hero whispers and hides while witches growl and sniff directly overhead
Grandma reveals her childhood friend Alice Blue was turned into a chicken by a witch — Grandma describes witnessing the transformation and being believed by no one — emotionally disturbing backstory
Hero's parents die in an opening car crash — not shown but narrated with Hero screaming for his parents over sirens — emotionally heavy opening for young viewers
The Grand High Witch physically confronts Grandma alone in room 666 with no escape — the scene escalates to genuine physical threat before the reversal
Scary scenes are consistently resolved with wit and Grandma's love — the overall arc is triumphant and reassuring

💕Romance

None▼

Moments in the script, mildest → most intense

Crushes & Holding Hands

Kissing & Dating

Suggestive

Sexual Content

No romantic relationships, crushes, kissing, or dating of any kind in the script
No sexual content, innuendo, or implied intimacy of any kind
All character relationships are familial — grandmother and grandson, and peer friendships between child-mice

🍺Substances

Very Mild▼

Moments in the script, mildest → most intense

Mentioned in Passing

Shown Casually

Featured Prominently

Glorified or Abused

The Grand High Witch is shown drinking 'wormwood' alone on her balcony and complaining it is ruined by the smell of children — one brief reference, no glorification
No alcohol consumption by any sympathetic character
No drug use, smoking, or substance abuse of any kind shown or referenced beyond the single wormwood mention
Formula Number 86 Mouse Maker is a fantasy potion used as the central threat — framed unambiguously as evil with no glorification

⚡Stimulation

Extreme▼

Moments in the script, mildest → most intense

Gently Engaging

Exciting

Intense

Overwhelming

The ballroom witch-convention sequence is the most intense — mass transformation of dozens of witches, chaotic mouse-chase with mallets, shouting, and smoke — likely the most overwhelming scene for young viewers
The dining room scene where witches begin transforming into mice is fast-paced with screaming, crashing, and chaotic crowd reaction — elevated audio and visual intensity
The majority of the film is warmly paced — scenes with Grandma and Hero at home or talking in their hotel room are gentle and emotionally grounded
Soul and disco music punctuates uplifting scenes, adding energy without chaos — particularly the gramophone scene with The Four Tops and the final rally sequence
The film contains several sudden loud noises — thunderclaps, the witch hiss, and Bruno's mallet scene — that may startle younger sensory-sensitive children
Generally suitable for sensory-sensitive children with parental awareness of the ballroom and dining room sequences

The Witches — Heads Up for Parents

Despite the PG tone, the film opens with an 8-year-old boy screaming alone for his dead parents at a car crash scene — 'Mama! Dad! Mommy!' — and Grandma later tells him bluntly that life is unfair and most kids don't learn that this young; this emotional weight arrives within the first five minutes and may catch parents off guard if they are watching with recently bereaved children.

About The Witches

A young Black boy named Hero loses his parents in a car accident and goes to live with his wise grandmother in Alabama. When they escape to a luxury hotel after a witch encounter, they stumble into a secret convention of witches led by the terrifying Grand High Witch, who plans to turn every child in the world into a mouse using a potion called Formula Number 86. Hero is transformed into a mouse and must work with his grandmother and two new mouse-friends to stop the witches' global plot.

👨‍👧

Best watched together

Children under 9 will benefit from a parent present for the car-crash opening, the Grand High Witch's heart-squeezing threat to Grandma, and the extended body-horror transformation sequences — the film's emotional warmth is best shared, and several scenes invite natural conversation about grief, identity, and what makes a family

Family Takeaways from The Witches

What it gets right

✓The film handles parental death with unusual emotional honesty for a children's story — Grandma tells Hero 'Life isn't fair. It's a hard lesson and most people don't have to learn it this young. But you do' — this validates rather than sugarcoats real childhood grief
✓The film centres a Black grandmother and grandson as its heroes in a 1960s Southern setting without making race trauma the plot — their dignity, warmth, and intelligence drive every scene
✓Grandma consistently models that doing the right thing requires real courage and real cost — she knowingly confronts the Grand High Witch knowing she may die to protect children she just met

The Witches Cultural & Values Guide

Cultural & Values Guide

Values & Themes

●Traditional family values

The grandmother's fierce protection of her grandson and their bond drives the entire emotional core of the story. The film emphasizes family loyalty, sacrifice, and the grandmother's wisdom in protecting her family from supernatural threats.

Community Notes

Some critics and community members noted that the 2020 film adaptation was criticised for depicting the witches — who target poor and overlooked children — with hands that resemble limb differences, which disability advocates argued reinforced harmful associations between physical difference and evil; this is a visual element not fully capturable from the script alone but parents of children with limb differences may wish to be aware

Cast:Anne HathawayOctavia SpencerStanley TucciJahzir BrunoChris Rock