Man and Witch: The Dance of a Thousand Steps

As a child of the 80s, I was intrigued by a film that promised to pay homage to the fantasy films of that decade...but also a bit skeptical about its ability to do so. That skepticism gave way to pure delight as the film delivered on that promise and then kept delivering.

The story's creative twists are charmingly and skillfully unfolded to us, and the film keeps a humorous and whimsical tone while delivering moments of actual scariness and suspense. The acting is uniformly terrific, from the two leads down to the tiny child playing Cupid. Jim Henson's puppets serve as a Greek Chorus of sorts in a way that engaged the children and amused the adults in the audience. And the broadening of the POV from just the goatherd to include the witch enhances the tension of the build to the film's very satisfying denouement.

The film carefully threads the needle between being a throwback to the 80s and commenting on the world of today. It's a joy to see something that unmitigatedly "feel-good," and it says a lot about this film that it has stuck with me in the weeks since I've seen it. I'd love to get to see it again and to share it with others of all ages.

It must be nice to have such good friends and crew members who all think this movie is a 10 and not one score under 10 given.

How did this movie get made?

Someone actually financed this garbage?

Good luck getting your money back.

The acting was beyond bad.

ChatGPT could have written a better script.

The directing, lets just not comment on that, I have nothing nice to say about that.

Hollywood is dead. Its that simple.

No more good ideas and even less talented writers / directors who can produce a descent movie these days.

For all those who gave it a resounding 10 out of 10, get your head examined. This movie was a train wreck and if you think this is worthy of a 10, clearly this is the only movie you ever watched in your life and never witnessed a well crafted, well written, well acted and directed movie.

Guys stop giving 10's.

It is that rare kind of cinematic oddity that defies traditional notions of quality, effortlessly earning a place among those so-bad-it's-good films that viewers can't help but return to. The plot is delightfully absurd, wandering through medieval fantasy tropes with a charming lack of subtlety, like a fever dream conjured up in a basement D&D session. Characters are over-the-top and occasionally baffling, with performances that swing between campy earnestness and full-on melodrama. But for all its quirks, there's a strangely endearing quality about it-the way it fully commits to its wild, unapologetic weirdness without blinking. "Man and the Witch" is cinematic junk food, undeniably flawed yet irresistibly entertaining, the kind of film that begs for late-night re-watching with friends, a true cult gem for those who revel in the beautifully bizarre.

Truly utterly a diamond in the rough a black Perl yet to be discovered a little piece of magic for everyone that is available and receptive to just enjoying a magical enjoyably fun movie experience filled with laughter irony fun love task and old school storytelling made in a marvel way to entertain and they so entertain so well wit a great narrator that makes the story perfect in so many ways it is as I said truly a b movie of the princess bride it's a love version of the never ending story that keeps it head held up high and will become a cult classic for the few of us that listen watch and understand it's truly marvellous.

Man and Witch: The Dance of A Thousand Steps is an under appreciated masterpiece. It is a movie that knows exactly how cliche it is, makes fun of how cliche it is, and shows how fun it is to be cliche. From great main characters to great background characters, to a great setting, to great set pieces, to great writing, this movie feels to me like a cult classic in the making. It heavily calls back to the whimsical era of 80s fantasy, from The Princess Bride to The NeverEnding Story, deconstructing some of the more cliche tropes of 80s fantasy while still showing how fun fantasy can be to watch. I highly recommend this movie to anyone looking for a fantasy movie, romance movie, comedy movie, or just a movie with a happy ending.