Roald Dahl's The Witches

Right now you can watch Roald Dahl's The Witches in Australia on Netflix and Stan, and in the UK on Netflix and BBC iPlayer — and it is funnier than its reputation suggests. The length is exactly right for the story it is telling — nothing rushed, nothing dragged out. A 6/10 rating says what the writing already makes obvious: this one works. Anne Hathaway's performance alone is worth the time investment. Available now on Netflix — press play and find out why people keep recommending it.

Roald Dahl's The Witches arrived without much fanfare and built its audience the hard way — through word of mouth. Sharp writing and a well-matched ensemble are what separate Roald Dahl's The Witches from the crowd. In late 1967, a young orphaned boy goes to live with his loving grandma in the rural Alabama town of Demopolis. As the boy and his grandmother encounter some deceptively glamorous but thoroughly diabolical witches, she wisely whisks him away to a seaside resort. Regrettably, they arrive at precisely the same time that the world's Grand High Witch has gathered. Between them, Anne Hathaway and Octavia Spencer carry the comedy without ever forcing it. Roald Dahl's The Witches came out in 2020. The real test of any comedy is whether it is still funny once you know all the jokes, and Roald Dahl's The Witches holds up on rewatch in a way that separates it from one-off curiosities. It delivers reliably on what it promises, which is more than most of its competition manages.

Roald Dahl's The Witches is the kind of thing you put on in the background and end up fully watching. It rewards viewers regardless of what else is in their watch history. It is a manageable watch, easy to fit into a single evening. Anne Hathaway sets the tone, but the supporting cast is where a lot of the best moments come from. A reliable pick for any night you want quality comedy without the homework.