Snow White and The Huntsman is after Mirror Mirror and Grim's Snow White the third Snow White movie this year. The trailer with the dark fairy tale forest, in which all these wonderful creatures live, drew me into its spell immediately. Naturally that this movie was one i really anticipated. To make it short, the movie doesn't fulfill anything i hoped it would and that the trailer suggested to me. In fact, it was one of the worst movies i saw in the last years and this is why...
The story is known to everyone and therefore not very surprising, but even this is easy knitted story is riddled with errors. It almost seems as if no one read the script.
Story Summary: [Contains spoilers for everyone who never heard of the original]
The story starts out exciting. The king of the Empire is fighting to the death of his beloved wife against a dark army which is shattered in spectacular effects. One of the slaves enchanting him, so he marries her the same day. She was of course the magician who summoned them. As the new queen, she robs him of all his power and takes his daughter Snow White captive, but she can escape on a magically appearing horse. Then the dark queen sends the huntsman into the dark forest, because he is one of the few who have ever step into it. Curiously, a handful of soldiers accompany him. Contradiction? Yes and that will happen several times. Not only that there are a lot of people who don't fear the forest, she also sends real human into it. Someone who posses the power of a magical army would use that probably instead of some soldiers. He finds her in just a few seconds, but meeting her let him begin to question the motive of his queen and he begins to help Snow White on her escape.
The forest, which was firstly introduced as a dark and terrible forest, quickly becomes cute and beautiful. Small animals run around and some humans and dwarves live there. Solely a harmless troll tries to give it something bestial but ultimately fails at it. The queen tries to kill Snow White from now, but she fails constantly. Is anyone surprised by that?
Nearing the end the directors begins to realize that he needs to use the theme of the apple as it was in the original story. To archive the problem of the distant between Snow white and the dark queen, the now learns miraculously to teleport to her directly. The question is why she has not done so from the beginning, but that would require to actually read the script before. The Huntsman saves Snow White with a magical kiss. In a last furious battle, they succeed in restoring peace to the kingdom.
The original story is somehow forced to fit the film and the ideas the director had, which some of them were actually great. One thing most people already saw were the mirror, which were indeed spectacular. Also is dark voice promised a lot of dark stuff going on, which will never be fulfilled by the story itself. Also Charlize Theron plays the role of a cruel queen fantastically and has a lot of beautiful dresses. Some of them are indeed eye-candy, especially for us men.
On the other hand we have a lot of stupid acting heroins and actors, who not shine in their roles. Chris Hemsworth as a Huntsman is most of the time just necessary and it's kinda hilarious to hear that he will be the only on in the successor.
In the case of Kristen Steward as Snow White is that a good thing. She plays her the same as she played Bella Swan in Twilight and actually every other role she ever did. Expect a lot of blank stares into the camera, whining and no expression at all. Sometimes the art style as the one of the mirror is awesome but most of the time it isn't. There is a scene in the movie in which a small bird is shown. Somehow the director felt the urge to be ultra artistic which leads him to the decision that a fairy needs to emerge out of the birds body. Does that explains anything? Did that push the story forward? Was there any meaning in it? I think none of it was the case and yes, also that happens more often than you will believe it.
If you liked the trailer, don't expect the movie to be anything like it. There aren't any more cool scenes in it, that you didn't saw in the trailer. It's a harsh critic, but only the natural conclusion for such a disastrous movie.
Was thinking about seeing this one, but after this review I think I can wait for it to go on video. :)
ReplyDeleteLooks like i'm not the only one who thinks so. Here some comments regarding my post on twitter:
DeleteAnton Gunasingam (@antongunasingam)
@Patrick_Satters I saw it. It's pure rubbish!
Amanda Fanger (@amanda_fanger)
@Patrick_Satters Still digesting. Not seen many films yet this year so not sure if its the worst, but have seen better. I felt disappointment.
Normally i support movies and hope that people watch them, but this one isn't worth it. I would be surprise if anyone likes this film.
Somehow the director felt the urge to be ultra artistic which leads him to the decision that a fairy needs to emerge out of the birds body.
ReplyDeleteHated the movie, but I thought this was one of the better moments. They were saying that the birds who helped Snow White escape her cell were really fairies. I figured they'd draw some parallel between the oddly convenient horse and the white stag/hart thingee.
that would at least explain a bit why the horse appeared magically. The next question would be why the bird/fairy didn't try harder to show her the nail? It just sit there, without doing that much. another question would be why couldn't it be just a normal bird or why the forest animals/troll didn't helped her in the dark forest. also how they could know when the queen tries to kill her or did they wait everyday for her?
Deletei would say that it makes more sense this way, but that it was poorly executed.
Patrick, again, I’m sorry that the movie was such a disappointment for you. I think the only reason I wasn’t more disappointed is because I hadn’t anticipated it as much as you had. But, I was still disappointed. I don’t go see a ton of movies in the theater, usually waiting for them to come out on DVD. So at the end, this was one of the first movies that I was thinking of going and asking for my money back. I’ll probably still get the DVD when it comes out and watch it again, but just wish I would have saved my initial investment of $10.
ReplyDeleteOn that note, I do want to gently point out one thing about your review: the evil queen had admitted that she had no powers in the dark forest – that’s why she had to send her soldiers in her place. I don’t remember if she explained why, but I remember that it was the one place her magic was useless. That explains why the forest had become a safe haven for all the little creatures, fairies and basically anyone who stood opposite the queen. Miss Evil herself is finally able to teleport herself to Snow White only when the traveling group has left the protected confines of the magical forest.
Oh, and I thought the whole “fairies-emerging-from-the-birds-and-little-creature’s-bodies” was a little unnecessary for the movie. It didn’t seem to have much of a point. I thought the fairies themselves were kind of cute, but that’s about it.
I do think that why the animals and fairies were portrayed as being so fascinated by Snow White is because she was “the fairest of them all.” I think the birds waited to show her the nail for the same reason the queen’s powers began waning – Snow White had “come of age.” I forget though, if that was ever explained why Snow White was “the fairest of them all.” There was something at the beginning about Snow White’s mother when she pricked her finger on the rose, but I thought that was all internal monologue, not like the good queen cast a spell or something.
One of the biggest things that left me feeling empty was how they closed the movie. I mean, seriously? Does Snow White know that the Huntsman spilled his guts out to her “sleeping” form just before he kissed her, breaking the spell? Is he really in love with Snow White, or was he in love with his dead wife yet and Snow White just reminded him of her? I think movies (and books) are good to be left with a “what happens next?!” type of an ending, but this one seemed a little extreme is all.
Anyway, don’t want to start an argument or be rude or anything; just wanted to share my thoughts further on this movie. Great job on the post – always a pleasure to read your stuff!
Amanda
http://www.amandafanger.blogspot.com
No, I'm not offended by honest thoughts that only want help me.
DeleteI actually thought that they were within the forest at the time she teleported. I mean it had trees all around, hadn't it?
The ending was indeed something I forgot to point out, which felt really out of place. It would probably better to use a offset voice which says something like "lived happy together ever after..." flying over the last battles in the castle, which would be also open, but explain how the huntsman felt.
Right you are! A voice-over at the ending would have been very fitting I think; I mean, that's how they started the movie, isn't it? With someone telling what was going on. If it worked at the ending, it would have been suitable as an ending too.
DeleteOkay, now I'm done ;-) Thanks!