My Review of Snow White and the Huntsman: A Grimm Tale

Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. We’ve all grown up accustomed to the childhood movie, Disney’s first ever full-length animated film. 

Snow White and the Seven Dwarves

We watched Snow White run off into a scary forest and befriend little friendly creatures and dwarves. We watched the evil queen fall to her demise and the handsome prince rescue Snow White from a deep sleep.
This year, another Snow White film has come out, but it has taken an entirely different spin on the classical tale from that of its various predecessors. This time, Snow White is a live-action film that is meant to be taken seriously. It is probably the first Snow White film that wasn’t made for little kids.
While this version doesn’t really follow the Brothers Grimm fairy tale or the Disney movie that it was based off of, Universal Picture’s Snow White and the Huntsman has an interesting plot and an on-par cast.
In this Snow White which came out in American theaters on June 1st, director Rupert Sanders was able to add a dark twist to the classic story. One could argue that this made it more similar to the Brothers Grimm version of the tale. Regardless, this made it an interesting watch.
The story is about a girl named Snow White, the daughter of a king. When the king’s wife passes away, the king falls for a beautiful woman, Ravenna, who turns out to be an evil witch. Ravenna marries the king and then kills him. She takes over the kingdom and locks Snow White away in a tower.
On the day Snow White comes of age, the evil queen asks her magical mirror to tell her who the fairest one of all is and the mirror replies, “Snow White.” In order for Ravenna to gain immortality, she needs to consume Snow White’s heart.

Don't you wish your mirror
turned into this?

The queen fetches her brother to get Snow White so that she can take her heart immediately, but Snow White escapes. She ventures into the Dark Forest, and a huntsman is sent after Snow White to bring her back alive. Snow White eventually befriends the Huntsman, and together they meet a whole cast of magical creatures. She is also reunited with her childhood friend, William. And together they go forth to destroy the queen and once again restore the crown to its proper heir.
I liked this movie because it was always busy with new adventures cropping up around every corner. The movie moved from event to event at a breathtaking pace and kept me on the edge of my seat.
I also liked the wide range of characters introduced in the movie, ranging from the seven dwarves (who could actually be taken seriously) to the Forest Spirit (which also made an appearance in Princess Mononoke). 
The actors also for the most part did great jobs in their roles. After all, what would you expect from an award winning cast? 
Kirsten Stewart, who I despise for her role in Twilight, did not disappoint me in this movie. She sucked as much as I expected her to in her role as Snow White. Her character remained emotionless even when exacting revenge by killing off the witch who stole her father’s life, which is representative of her acting. She generally lacked emotion throughout the film. One prime example I can give of this is when she is giving a rallying speech to the town’s people to get them to rise up against the evil queen. I did not feel any emotion in it at all. She was just devoid of expression, and even made me yawn.

Charlize Theron as the Queen

However, Charlize Theron’s portrayal of Ravenna more than made up for Stewart’s disappointing performance. Theron played the most fantastic evil queen ever. Her acting was breath-taking, and I thought she performed the best out of all of the actors by far. She captured the entire essence of a faulted, power-hungry witch. I would love to see more of her acting in other movies. She actually won an Oscar for her previous performances, and I can see why. She does a great job shifting into character and making that character’s whole life believable.
Chris Hemsworth was awesome in this movie. Instead of wielding a hammer like he does in Thor, he wields an axe as the Huntsman. I really appreciate his prevalence in this movie because he is so great to look at. He is just one hot hunk of a man. 

Sam Claflin. Snow White's "Prince"

Sam Claflin plays the handsome prince. While he isn’t as awesome as Chris Hemsworth, he does an alright job in his role as the worried childhood friend of Snow White, William. Claflin is new to film, and is best known for his role as a missionary in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Strangers Tide. Claflin is a budding actor, and still needs to work on becoming a memorable character, but I’m sure he’ll get there eventually. He has potential.
Now that I think about it, I feel that this movie was cast based off of the actors’ looks. The huntsman needs to be really brawny, strong, and brazen so why not hire Hemsworth? And of course, whenever a pale white girl is needed, it’s Kirsten Stewart to the rescue. Haha. 
The dwarves were the only exception to this casting trend. They were played by normal sized people whose appearance was digitally altered to look shorter. These actors include Ian McShane, Bob Hoskins, Ray Winstone and more. 

The Huntsman and a few of the dwarves

Many “little people” are in a frenzy about this because they don’t get many opportunities for big roles, and this one was taken away from them. It’s tough being a little actor in the big world. 
Still, I really enjoyed the performances of the dwarves even if their size was all a lie!
The CGI in this movie was magnificent. I loved how all of the fairy tale creatures were brought to life. That was definitely my favorite part of the film. I loved seeing the sprites come alive in the friendly forest, and the majestic beauty of the dark creatures in the Dark Forest. It was all so beautiful and surreal.

This captures the beauty of the scenery and the
horror of the outfit. Oh my!

The scenery was also very beautiful throughout the movie. Much of it was filmed at Marloes Island, a tropical island that is bountiful with natural beauty.
The costuming, however, was disappointing. Snow White wore pants underneath her dress. I didn’t think that girls wore pants underneath their dresses during the middle ages. Also, the costumes did not match time period that the movie was set in. Everything about the costuming was incorrect. I was especially annoyed at the ease with which Snow White was able to do things in her armor. Armor is supposed to be big and bulky(aka Hemsworthy), the opposite of what Snow White was wearing.
The movie was interesting for the most part, even though some of the scenes were unnecessary. I loved how Universal Pictures took the fairytale and turned it into something to be to be taken seriously. For the most part, the actors played their parts well, and the CGI and scenery were both breath-taking. I am quite pleased by this take on Snow White. It has its fair share of adventure, action, magical creatures, and kissing but no real romance, and I would mostly recommend it to preteens.