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Powerful

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

The acting in this movie is really good.

Set in the late 19th Century - This well-produced Disney production is a rather tame (but, all the same, effective) little tale of terror. Its story was adapted for the screen from the novel of the same name, written by Ray Bradbury, who was also responsible for this film's screenplay.Told from a 12 year-old boy's point of view - This film's story is set in Green Town, USA (a typical mid-western, American town).It's late Autumn and a strange, travelling carnival, run by Mr. Dark, arrives (seemingly out of nowhere) and mysteriously sets itself up, in a matter of mere seconds, on the outskirts of town.Before long the forces of darkness begin to manifest themselves, casting a sleepy, hypnotic spell over all of the unsuspecting townsfolk. 2 terrified young boys soon discover that Mr. Dark, with all of his malevolent power and wickedness, intends to control the town and seize all of the innocent souls.This fantasy tale is an old-fashioned, even gentle, story of the supernatural, that seems, most likely, best appreciated by pre-teens.

In Green Town, Illinois, the twelve year-old boys Will Halloway (Vidal Peterson) and Jim Nightshade (Shawn Carson) are neighbors and best friends. Will's father Charles Halloway (Jason Robards) is an old man and the local librarian while Jim and his mother wait for the return of their father and husband that will never occur. The boys know everyone in town, including their school teacher Miss Foley (Mary Grace Canfield) that misses her beauty and youth; the lonely barber Mr. Crosetti (Richard Davalos) that has no girlfriend or wife; the greedy owner of a cigar store Mr. Tetley (Jake Dengel) that is obsessed with money; and the bartender Ed (James Stacy) that has severed arm and leg and dreams on being a football hero. One day of Autumn, Jim buys a lightning rod from the salesman Tom Fury (Royal Dano) that tels that a storm is coming. During the night, the boys overhear a mysterious train and they run through the woods to see the arrival but they do not see a living soul. However, they find the Mr. Dark's Pandemonium Carnival ready to be enjoyed and they snoop around. Soon they realize that frustrated and greedy people are vanishing in town and the evil Mr. Dark (Jonathan Pryce) and the Dust Witch (Pam Grier) from the carnival make their dreams come true. In return, Mr. Dark seizes their souls. Now Mr. Dark is seeking the boys out but Charles Halloway has a journal from his father about the autumn carnival that might be their last chance to defeat the evil."Something Wicked This Way Comes" is an impressive movie with many layers with a story by Ray Bradbury. It is amazing how a story about greedy, vanity and shattered dreams can be seen and understood in different levels, depending on your age and life experience. The dialogs and lines are mature, but children will have a different understanding. Unfortunately this little gem is underrated and not well- known. My vote is eight.Title (Brazil): Not available on VHS, DVD or Blu-Ray

There are always things we will need in life, whether it's obtaining a certain object, going someplace, or achieving something we haven't yet achieved yet. But it's always a matter of which price your willing to pay to get it.This is another forgotten gem that is personally I feel one of Disney's best live action film but also one of my favorite fantasy film's based on a book by an author I really like the late great Ray Bradbury. This was another movie that took place when Disney was still taking chances and this film was another big chance due to how dark it is. Personally I love it if Disney tries again in chance taking, because it's a prime example that shows they can appeal to a wider audience.I really like the story it's a suttle fantasy, almost the kind from "The Brother's Grimm" where most of the stories are about the extraordinary circumstances would happen to the ordinary. I also feel in a way it's almost kinda a Christian story, since Mr. Dark's scheme is similar to The Devil's. Let alone a theme on Redemption.The production value is good I really like the locale they shot it in, not just capturing a small town but of a time of innocence long gone. I really like Mr. Dark's carnival, it has a aura of mystery as if their could be anything in it or anything could happen. The effects are solid though there aren't that many. My favorite is in the mirror maze sequence, which is kinda similar to the one in "Enter the Dragon" but I like how made to be a maze of the psyche. Music is also very good a few music tracks are memorable. I even like the suspense in the film, you really do care for the protagonists lives and are in their shoes trying to figure out what's going on before it's too late.I really like the characters and the dynamics they have. The two kids that play Will Holloway and Jim Nightshade are solid and capable actors, it's a shame they didn't do more. But both had a good back and forth, both felt like real kids not some stereotypical annoying ones. Will is a little more wiser and reserved and Jim is little more aggressive but not all the smarter.Even like the villain Mr. Dark played well by Johanthan Pryce whom does well at playing villains, to me this is my favorite one. He's is menacing, he seems at times kinda friendly but he can easily turn that around which is part of what makes him a little scary; kinda like anyone that has a violent mood swing. But I like how he's a devil like figure, like the devil he preys on the weak and wounded, tempts them with treasures to entice them only to make them his own.As the narrator Will says, this story is really about his father Charles Holloway (played well by Jason Robards)and in some ways it is. The story on him sort of similar with the movie "Bubba Ho Tep" just like the character Elvis, Charlies is a man that is in the twilight of his existence. Both him and his son are aware they may not have much time together left and worst of all isn't sure if he's lived life the way he wanted. I really like one movement which was suspenseful but I always feel a spiritual test, when Mr. Dark constantly tempts Charles to give him youth again and rips away pages of a book (which I thought was a good visual effect) as Charles doesn't comply. It was kinda a sad moment as well because it was like Mr. Dark was ripping away pages of Charlies life.There are multiple themes, for the kids it's sort of a coming of age tale, it's not so much about the journey to being an adult but journeying at the right pace. In a way there is sort of contrast parallel between some of the adult characters and the kids. Jim and even Will have a desire for things in his future to happen right now while the adults desire things lost from their past. In a way those adults didn't really grow up, people that pine too much for the past aren't really living in the present or for the future. Both the kids in a way from what they say and how they behave seem more mature, it shows that both of them are the ones that are growing up because despite their desires their not ready for them yet; as an old saying goes all good things come to those who wait.For the adults it's issues on the problem with old age and our constant struggle and desire for more time despite time running out. But also a positive theme on redemption, sure everyone of us might have a regret or two but it's not permanent it's not something we have to live with forever, do whatever it takes for as much time as you have in your life to destroy it. By trying and succeeding at atonement is what makes us truly grow but most importantly live.There truly is a time and place for everything, good and even evil.Rating: 4 stars

The devil-comes-to-town premise is one that Stephen King has practically built half his smelly career on. He has used it – or shall we say "ripped it off" – from Bradbury (and others) and turned it into countless formulaic stories and novels. Satan comes to a small town to wreck havoc, and it's always the same shticks, over and over, at least when it comes to his drivel. There are, however, worlds between how an intelligent, skillful writer such as Bradbury treated this idea and how a commercial, fluff-for-the-masses mediocrity such as King does. SWTWC is a moody, subtle, enjoyable take on the subject. King treats this type of story (his favourite story) with much more pomp, clichés, and very exaggerated and annoying small-town stereotypes – most of which reveal this left-winger's barely hidden resentment towards small-town folk (and people in general; perhaps he's just frustrated that nearly all of us are much prettier than him). King wrote these kinds of stories with the primary intention of dragging small-town America through the mud, because - as every good Marxist - he detests the success of democracy and Capitalism, and nothing annoys him more than religious folk. (I am an atheist myself, and yet I do not hate believers the way King does.) No such pathetic, sociopathic, misanthropic tendencies are to be found in SWTWC.The movie has an excellent visual quality; the photography, the look of the movie is reason enough to watch it. Most of the special effects stand up very well to today's CGI; there is very little of that miserable cheesy quality or hoakeyness that some 80s fantasy movies have. It's a Disney flick, but it strikes a fairly decent balance between a kid's movie and adult horror, although obviously leaning more toward the former. Nowadays, the Disney conglomerate would be hard-pressed to squeeze anything of quality out of its ravaged/fruitless Mickey Mouse butt, let alone make a movie that either kids (with taste) or adults (with brains) can like. (I do not count Pixar's movies as Disney produce.)The only "beef" I have with SWTWC centers around Jason Robards. No, not the actor himself; he is excellent, as always (one of the very few top-notch nepotists in Hollywood). I am referring first-and-foremost to the age difference between him and his wife, played by a useless nepotist that goes by the name of Ellen Geer; she was 42 at the time of filming, he was 61, which is simply ludicrous. Far from make-up reducing the difference between them, they actually look as if there's 30 years between them - though this is by no means intended as a compliment to the homely Geer. Robards looks like the kid's grandpa, not his father. The other thing that I found silly was Mr. Halloway's unlikely/exaggerated obsession with his failure to save his son from drowning a few years earlier. It would make perfect sense had his son drowned - but he didn't. Halloway (Robards) even states that he harbors ill-feelings toward the man who saved his son – which I find highly far-fetched and a bit of a leap; it would imply that the life of his son takes a backseat to his own Ego, i.e. the issue of whether he is a "real man" and brave father. Still, I guess the story needed some kind of "inner conflict" in order to make the all pieces fall together in the movie's evil-snuffs-it finale.For other film versions of Bradbury's material, I highly recommend "Fahrenheit 451", and especially the lesser-known, fairly ignored gem "The Illustrated Man".