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.

 

Grimm's Snow White (2012)

This is an okay movie to watch if you're in the mood for watching a fairy tale... but otherwise it's quite bad.

The movie takes place in a more magical world than the original story. The story begins by informing the viewer that once upon a time a green fire landed on earth high on a mountaintop. The fire was magical and brought with it dragons and elves, which embodied its power. We then fast forward to a dragon killing a king, and then to his wife who is practicing her false sorrow for his funeral, who is obviously the evil step mother. The prince from the adjacent land has come to propose marriage to her because he fears that she will invade his country, though he doesn't really like her as she's killed off all of the elves and dragons living on the king's land. Little does he know, she is also planing to attempt a union with him because the magical green fire is rumoured to be on his land, and she is of course power-hungry. We see some of her greed and vanity when she does the whole mirror mirror routine, which they explain by having her use the power stones she stole from elves. This all changes however, when the prince sees Snow White, which takes the story off into a familiar direction, save for a few altered details and a prophecy that has to do with the magic fire.

I thought the inclusion of the magical fire and the elves was an interesting spin, and I thought the film pulled it off quite well, it wasn't too campy. There were elves instead of dwarves, and the magic fit in with the storyline quite smoothly. The acting wasn't that bad either. There were some predictable character sub-plots, but overall it was decent. The thing that really killed this movie were the special effects. I was shocked and appalled when I found out this was made in 2012, because watching it, I pegged the CG to be maybe late 90's early 00's. That animation that poor was still being used in this day and age is just disgusting. The worst of it was the dogs... they could have saved the money and just used real dogs. Even if the dogs weren't as ferocious as would be desired... it wouldn't have looked like crap. This movie wasn't a blockbuster or anything, it might have gone straight to video, but for me that's not excuse for shoddy quality.
Besides that, I did enjoy it. Snow White played a more active role than housewife and mock corpse (taking nothing away from Disney, I love their version) and actually saved the day in her own way. The cinematography was decent too, so it wasn't horrible to look at. Overall this was an acceptable version of the story, but there are better versions our there.

Snow White: A Tale of Terror (1997)

This is a pretty good remake of the Snow White story. The story starts off with a couple running in the woods. There's something chasing them down, and it hits the woman, who is pregnant. The woman then tells her husband to save the child rather than her and to keep running. Then we're brought forward to see a young girl, who is Snow White (named Lilli). The father decides to remarry and chooses for his wife a lovely woman named Claudia, of what we later find out comes from questionable origins. Claudia is seemingly normal and nice to Lilli, even years after the wedding. It's actually Lilli who is wildly resistant to this new woman, feeling as though she's replacing her mother. There are subtle hints of Claudia noticing Lilli's youth, but nothing is acted upon. Claudia eventually gets pregnant and is very happy about the child, but due to complications during the birth, she lost both the child and the ability to bear any future children, and it is then that she starts acting crazy. Claudia hints at some point that her mother was a witch, or social outcast of some sort, and after losing the child, she starts consulting this mirror that was given to her by her mother. She then begins to hear her reflection say things to her, and it eventually suggests that she get rid of Lilli. From this point on the story is pretty typical, but the dwarves aren't all small people, but in fact discontented peasants who actually want to kill her at first. And in this version she may or may not end up with the 'prince'.

I liked this version. It had all of the main elements of the traditional Snow White story, but with a bit of a twist. It still had that old-time feel and was set in the past, all of the main players were present, but some of the more minor details were changed just enough to give the story a fresh feel. Sigourney Weaver played the 'evil queen', and I thought she did a pretty good job. Actually, I bring up this movie just to say her name out loud, it's an interesting one. I don't know if this is a keeper, but if you like the Snow White story, you will probably find this interesting.

Princess Playlist

A collection of films wherein the heroine is a princess. Every so often I just feel like watching a girly, princessy film, or know of someone looking for something to give their daughter/ niece/ friend's daughter/ etc. and these usually pop up in my rotation. There are a few princess movies out there, but for this list I only chose films where the story is about the princess and doesn't just have a princess in the film. I also focused more on children's films than adult films. There are princess films for adults, but this list is for the young and young at heart.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Sleeping Beauty

Cinderella

The Little Mermaid

Aladdin

Beauty and the Beast

Swan Princess

The Princess and the Goblin

Anastasia

A Little Princess

The Princess and the Frog

The Princess Diaries

She-Ra - Princess of Power

Castle in the Sky

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind

Timeless Tales From Hallmark - Rapuznel/Rumpelstiltzkin/Thumbelina

Sea Prince & The Fire Child  Barbie Princess and the Pauper