Tear Jerker / The Witches (2020)

Trailers

• Unlike the book, the film doesn't gloss over how the boy became orphaned. The trailer shows the boy waiting at the police station, where his grandmother comes to pick him up. Without words, he gets up and hugs her. She looks like she's about to burst into tears.
• Grandmamma has pictures around the house of her daughter, the boy's mother. The boy takes to looking at them when he's feeling sad.
• When the boy is not looking, Grandmamma looks very sad. She then hides it by asking him to dance with her, so that her grandson can get his mind off the grief.

Film

• Unlike in the 1990 film, the boy was actually with his parents at the time of the car accident. In the book; he explained the car fell into a ditch and thanks to his seatbelt he only received a small scratch. This adaptation makes the accident much worse; we open up to a smoking car that's upside down, and the boy hanging from his seat with a dazed expression but no visible injuries. The only reason he survived is that he was wearing his seatbelt. His desperate crying out to his parents as he realizes what’s happened and rescue workers take him out of the overturned car makes it worse.
  The Narrator: We lived in Chicago, and it snows a lot at Christmas time. The tricky thing with snow is, it’s slippery. I was wearing my seatbelt… Mama and Daddy weren’t.
  • And the kicker? The boy as an adult explains that he lost his parents on Christmas.
• Daisy, the boy's mouse, reveals she can talk and has been transformed for four months. Also, her real name is Mary. Grandmamma asks why she didn't tell them; Mary says being a talking mouse can be dangerous and wasn't sure who to trust.
• The Grand High Witch locks up her cat familiar in the cage that is provided by the Hotel Manager. She does this, thinking her cat "betrayed" her. Fortunately for the cat, however, The Boy keeps mentioning that the cat is still locked up. As a result, The Boy’s Grandmamma frees the poor cat, and this allows the cat to get revenge on the Grand High Witch.
• There's a Hope Spot about Grandmamma being able to reverse-engineer the potion to change the kids back. After they do a ritual, the potion goes back to normal. She apologizes as Mary comforts Bruno. The boy reassures Grandmamma that he doesn't mind being a mouse.
• Bruno is saddened when his mother rejects him at the end of the film. Fortunately, this turns into a heartwarming moment as Grandmamma decides to take him in with Mary and her grandson.
  • Although, that might’ve been for the best, because from what we see of them before he turns into a mouse, it’s implied that they’re at least verbally abusive towards him.
    Bruno: My mum thinks I’m clumsy, and my dad complains that I’m always hungry!
• When the Grand High Witch realizes that Grandmama is the same child that got away from her years ago, she decides to mock her friends' humiliation and gloat about she couldn't save her, taking the time to rub it in and savor the woman's guilt.
• The end of the movie in general, where a decade later it's implied that both Mary and Bruno have passed on and that the boy and Grandmamma don't have much time left either. It's downplayed, however, in that they enjoyed the time they did have together and that the same thing will be prevented from happening to many other children.

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