Monday, November 5, 2012

"Snow White and the Huntsman" Review

The evil queen poisoned Snow White? Snow-no!
Get it? Instead of oh, I said snow.
Ya, you get it.

 

     Snow White's a pretty popular lady recently. She's a main character on ABC's Once Upon a Time and she's got two brand new films about her. The first one, Mirror Mirror, was a terrible waste of a talented cast in a ridiculously silly movie. This one, the second one, Snow White and the Huntsman, is signifigantly better than Mirror Mirror, but still isn't that great.
    The film follows Snow White (Kristen Stewart), who has escaped from the grasp of the evil queen Ravenna (Charlize Theron), who needs to eat Snow White's heart in order to stay young forever. Ravenna and her brother (Sam Spruell) hire the Hunstman (Chris Hemsworth) in order to track down Snow White and bring her back to them. However, the Huntsman ultimately sides with Snow White, who alongside childhood friend William (Sam Calflin) and the seven dwarves, Beith (Ian McShane), Muir (Bob Hoskins), Gort (Ray Winstone), Nion (Nick Frost), Duir (Eddie Marsan), Coll (Toby Jones) and Quert (Johnny Harris), plans to stop Ravenna once and for all.

Kristen Stewart finally manages to
escape from the Twilight series.
   Director Rupert Sanders has managed to create an imaginative, beautiful and ultilmately hollow world for the characters that mirrors the movie itself. The visual effects in this film are absolutely stunning. Unlike Mirror Mirror, whose world was generic and candy-coated, SWATH manages to create an interesting and creative world that is all the same bleak and hopeful with some memorable locations thrown if for good measure. That said, the movie is a little too into itself. Sanders likes to longingly stare at his wonderfully created visuals and spends a bit more time showing of his picturesque world than crafting a memorable story.
    SWATH unfortuantely delivers a basic story of Snow White and a rebellion than is surprisingly similar to Mirror Mirror, albeit bleaker and without the lame humor. It never trancends the simple premise, breezing by at a smooth pace that keeps the movie feeling short, but undermining any real chance to connect with the characters. Their development seems to happen instantly, with Snow White going from captive to hero and the Huntsman going from loner to partner is the blink of an eye. The movie is constantly grazing over it's own storypoints in order to make it from once slick battle scene to the next.
    And it's hard to deny that it doesn't work. The movie is interesting and enjoyable and I can't say that I wouldn't watch a sequel (Or Huntsman spin-off, as is the plan). The characters are all good. Stewart proves that she can act outside of Twilight, doing a solid job as the hero. Theron is menacing as the evil queen, though maybe a bit over the top in the really dramatic moment. The dwarves are all great and Hemsworth steals the show in a year where he was already doing pretty well for himself.

Thor 2: Witch Hunter.
    Snow White and the Huntsman is the best Snow White movie out this year, though when the competition is Mirror Mirror, that isn't really saying much. The film looks stunning, the acting's all good and fun, the characters are likable and it is completely entertaining. However, the story's very simple, the pace is too fast and the film is a little too show-offy for it's own good. Overall, a solid, but flawed journey into the bleaker world of Snow White. Snow White and the Huntsman gets 4 and a half stars out of 6.

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