Snow White and the Huntsman (2012)

I was really skeptical about watching this movie. I always like watching a good fairy tale, but Kristen Stewart... not so much. I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised, though not completely proven wrong on the Stewart front.

The story is pretty much your classic Snow White story. Girl grows up with loving parents, mom dies, dad remarries witch, witch tries to kill her, she escapes, etc. They didn't really change the essentials of the storyline much, but they did change the roles of the characters slightly.

Snow White was given a harder edge in this story. Instead of living a comfortable life until her attempted homicide, the queen locked her in the castle prison for years and the first visual we get of her after she grows into a young woman shows her to be an unwashed, grimy, sheltered creature. She doesn't stay that way for the duration of the film, but she does have more of an impulse to stand and fight when danger arrives than do some of the other Snow White renditions. She also rouses and leads an army to fight the queen in a Joan of Arc like charge.

There is also an increased sense of an everyday magical world. That magic is normalized in this world, still to be wary of, but a normal occurrence. The queen is a witch of sorts. She made a sacrifice in her youth and must suck the life force out of young women to stay beautiful and powerful. Despite her girl hunt however, it is not this fact that she wants Snow White... or I should say not the only reason. Snow White is said to have a purity and a strength that is the only thing that could stop the queen from achieving true power and is what makes her weak, so she wants to consume Snow White to ensure her power doesn't wane. Snow White's ability is not as manifested as the queens, but she seems more to have a oneness with nature, to be the physical representation of life, and this is demonstrated in her interactions with non-human life forms.

What is really enjoyed about the film was the visual landscape of the forest. It was very magical and lush at times, and held that latent expectation and light. I thought that overall the characters were well cast as well. The queen was glacial, but you could see how someone would submit to her. The huntsman was running from his own demons, but was strong enough to put them aside to do what needed to be done. The only character I didn't enjoy was Snow White herself. I wasn't bothered enough not to enjoy the movie, but her voice showed too little emotion and was almost flat at times when emotion needed to be shown. Also, she does not seem to be able to display more than a handful of facial expressions, which really limits the character development and believability.

Aside from that however, I enjoyed this film. It was a pleasure visually and the storyline was gripping, as well as were the rest of the cast.

 

Jack and the Beanstalk (1974)

This is a Japanese cartoon adaptation of Jack and the Beanstalk. I don't know what it is about it, but I think I will always remember watching this film. It's not traumatizing or overly weird, I felt more hypnotized than anything while watching it. It's just like any other film, but I just re-watched it recently after about a 15 year gap of having no seen it and I was hit with huge wave of nostalgia, every line and song and movement was familiar. I thought it was just me of course as I am sometimes told that I have a very esoteric taste in... everything, but after browsing through some forums I discovered that almost everyone who watched this film when they were younger loved it intensely and it has affected them in someway or another. And as I re-watched it I'd have to say that I agree with the sentiment.

The story is a familiar one. A poor boy and his mother live in a little shack of a house trying to make ends meet when one day their cow stops giving milk. The mother sends the boy, Jack, to the market to get a decent price for it. On the way to the market however, the boy is intercepted by a man playing weird piano (the note from which I can always remember so clearly as they were so queer), who convinces him to take a handful of magic beans in exchange for the cow. His mother is furious and throws the beans out the window, and after disciplining Jack, goes to bed. In the night the beanstalk grows and a little mouse comes running down it. The mouse motions to Jack's dog of trouble up the beanstalk and Jack comes out of the house marvelling at what had grown in his backyard. Jack, his dog, and the mouse all climb up the beanstalk. When they get to the top they come out of an old well in the courtyard of a castle and see this girl standing there watching them with an oddly vacant expression. She is the princess of castle and she tells Jack of the joy she will have when she marries her beloved prince Tulip. Jack soon discovers that Tulip is a giant and that his mother is an evil witch who is trying become queen by enchanting the princess to want to marry her son. Jack then faces the dilemma of whether or not to help the princess or leave with his gold.

I enjoyed the characters a lot, but what I like about it is there are two stories going on at the same time, one involving people and one with animals. Jack can't understand what any of the animals say and he doesn't even pay much attention to them most of the time because he's busy with his own plot line and agenda, but there are animals throughout the movie and the all have very vibrant personalities. Even the audience can't understand what they're saying, but through movements and expressions you can tell what they're trying to say. A lot of story lines with both people and animals bridge the gap between them and let them talk to each other  or let the audience understand them if the people in the film don't. The animals in this film actually have their own sub-plot.

The music in this movie is captivating. It's not an award-winning score by any means, but there is just something odd about it that catches at one's interest. It's not quite unsettling, but it doesn't fade into the background either. The music is definitely one of the aspect that will draw you into the film to make you love it. The characters are good and the plot is very interesting, but the music is what will get you. The artwork too. There's just something about the movements of the characters and the setting, especially in the castle.

As I said, this isn't the best movie I've ever seen, nor is it even the best Jack and the Beanstalk story I've heard. Despite that, this is the kind of film that you'll remember after you've grown up. I don't know what exactly it is about it, but I do know that I enjoy watching it and will probably try to obtain it at some point on dvd.

Castle in the Sky (1986)

Pazu is an orphan who works for the owner of a mine and one night after everyone has left he sees something falling from the sky. He runs up to a platform and sees that it's a young girl floating down from the heavens. Just as he tentatively reaches out to catch her, almost as if she weren't real, she stops floating and falls heavily into his arms, almost knocking him off the platform himself. The girl's name is Sheeta and she is on the run from the leader of an organization who wants to get his hands on a crystal Sheeta got from her grandmother and keeps on a necklace. Pazu decides that he'll help Sheeta escape both the man and an unruly gang of pirates who are also after the crystal. This back and forth chase leads everyone to a mythical castle in the sky. Pazu's father got lost in a storm surrounding the island and Pazu has been preparing to go find the floating castle that his father was searching for. The crystal has great power that can be deadly, and has a connection with this mystical castle in the sky. Will the bad guys get their hands on this potentially deadly power? And if they do, is there anything Pazu and Sheeta can do to prevent a most certain disaster?!

This is a wonderful film. There is action, adventure, romance, and suspense. It's both whimsical and grounded at the same time. The movie is about a dream of a floating castle, but that fantasy and whimsy is brought down to earth by greed and power. The characters are wonderful and I enjoyed the dynamic between Sheeta and Pazu. A wonderful film for all ages.