First time director Rupert Sanders packs his feature film with other fantasy movie references sprinkled within. You will see a little bit of Lord of the Rings, Avatar, Princess Mononoke, Narnia, Robin Hood and even Terminator 2. Scripted by Evan Daugherly, Hossein Amini and John Lee Hancock the Brothers Grim fairy tale of 1812 retains most of elements of the original story including the poison apple, the magic mirror and the seven dwarfs. Plus it also loads the story with medieval castles, trolls, hallucinogenic mushroom spoors, shattered glass demons and a ton of crows.
Charlize Theron plays the beautiful Ravenna who seduces the widowed king and kills him on their wedding night. His daughter Snow White (Kristen Stewart) is able to escape with her childhood friend William (Sam Claflin) and his father the Duke (Vincent Regan) the hostile take over by Ravenna's creepy evil brother Finn (Sam Spruell) and she is locked in the tower. First redecorating that Ravenna does is put up her magic mirror, a big gold dish in which a liquid coated draped figure arises when summoned. Ravenna's self image confidence is directly tied to the mirror's reassurance that she's the fairest of the land. Unfortunately the mirror says there's another more fairer. That she is destined to be her end and her savior. The only way the Queen can obtain immortality and stop sucking up the youthful energy of the attractive women in the kingdom is to feast on Snow White's heart now that she has come of age. Snow manages to escape her prison and flee to the dark forest. The Queen's power doesn't work there so she hires the Huntsman (Chris Hemsworth) to track her down. He's a widower who has been drowning his sorrow and not to keen on doing the Queen's bidding until she offers to use her magic to bring back his wife. When he meets Snow White he changes his mind and instead helps her on her way to the Duke's castle.
There are 8 dwarfs in this version and they have come along way in making big people look really like little people since we last introduced to Hobbits. Ian McShane, Bob Hoskins, Ray Winsone, Nick Frost, Eddie Marsan, Toby Jones and Johnny Harris who play the last dwarfs in the kingdom steal the movie they almost deserve a movie of their own. They swear allegiance to Snow White as they were loyal to her father. Plus the tree branch antlered deer in the fairy forest gives his blessing that Snow White is the chosen one to save the world. Rising from the dead after biting the poison apple gets the rest of the oppressed population all fired up to attack the evil queen in a last gasp battle.
There are plenty of sword and armor fight scenes, catapults, heroic deeds, and fanciful creatures that the action is non stop. It flows easily and not like each adventure is a game level that has to be accomplished. The costuming and set decoration is a feast for the eyes and deserves special attention. The performances are to be expected from the quality of the cast. Stewart is able to break out of the perpetually dour Bella mode and show some spunk. Hemsworth wields his ax staff like Thor's hammer . The evil witch is given some back story regarding her issues with men so Theron is able to make one feel almost sympathy for the vain and jealous queen. The movie has a lot going for it, but it's also all over the place, but in a good way. It's probably not great for younger children as there's lots of death and dark scary stuff. But fun for those who love magic mushrooms.
(Review by reesa)
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