The Cinematheque

Roeg dialed back the adult stuff, but not a whisker of the weird stuff, for his wildly imaginative adaptation of Roald Dahl’s dark children’s book. Nine-year-old Luke is educated in the ways of the wicked, thanks to his lore-wise Norwegian grandma. Good thing, too—while staying at a resort, he discovers he’s in the company of a coven. Posing as the ​“Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children”—in fact, being cruel to children seems to be their one and only action point—they nab Luke and turn him into a mouse. Now it’s up to him (a pint-sized talking rodent) and his granny to put a stop to the witches before they transform all of England’s kids into mice. Anjelica Huston, over the top and having a ball, is the grotesque Grand High Witch; Rowan ​“Mr. Bean” Atkinson is the hotel’s manager. Jim Henson’s Creature Shop handles the spellbinding puppets, by turns cutesy, creepy, and completely bizarre.