After Tarsem Singh’s Mirror Mirror (which I really enjoyed) it was time for me to check out what a more violent and serious interpretation of the classic Snow White story would look like. Is it the princess or the evil witch?
Epic is the thing this movie seems to be striving for. The basic fairy tale story is there and not much is different about it, except it’s all a bit darker and it’s Snow White who will fight the evil witch. This is a movie that seems to be heavily borrowing from other movies. It has a bit of Lord of the Rings (including some fairies who look like Gollum), Batman and even seems to borrow from Princess Monoke. I don’t mind if movies do this, but here it just didn’t fit together nicely. The story just didn’t gel as well as it should have. With big name actors like Charlize Theron, Chris Hemsworth and Kristen Stewart you would expect fireworks, but it never lights up.
Theron has a lot of fun in portraying the evil stepmother (overacting on purpose it seems) and was, together with the dwarfs, the thing I enjoyed watching most. But this is a story about Snow White. This is the first movie I saw her in and I really wasn’t impressed by her performance. She is supposed to carry the story, but when you really don’t care about this character, you won’t care much about the movie. Near the end she does this motivational speech before a battle (you know the kind), but I never felt like she could lead it. She just didn’t inspire. Chris Hemsworth has some funny moments, but too little material to work with.
It won’t be a surprise I did not enjoy watching this. I was constantly checking my watch as the movie dragged on and was the first to leave the theater. Despite some pretty visuals it is a movie to avoid.
Score: 4
I am pleased that we are in tune again on this one Nostra…. I disliked it very much. Lord of the Rings LITE
Yeah, we can’t always be in tune but are certainly on this one! 🙂 Giving it a Lord of the Rings LITE title would be too much for this movie….
I’m not a big dan of Kristen Stewart and do not see her appeal as an actress. Now, Charlize Theron I thought hit it out of the park.
I wouldn’t have minded if she had won, she was more beautiful 😉
I was interested in seeing this one, despite having Kristen Stewart in (who I only like from Adventureland). I suppose Chris Hemsworth and Charlize Theron are what does it for me. Good review, I hope I enjoy it a bit more than you did.
I really hope you do, but I was hoping the same thing but was left very disappointed.
I too enjoyed Theron, but I consider this and Mirror Mirror to be a waste of time. Though I must say SWATH was better than Mirror Mirror – it was much less cringeworthy.
I can understand cringing at Mirror Mirror, I enjoy that specific type of humour, but it’s not for everyone…
I thought that Snow White and the Huntsman was a much better film than Mirror Mirror. I enjoyed Lily Collins as Snow White more than I enjoyed Kristen Stewart but on overall film quality I preferred Huntsman. I especially enjoyed Hemsworth. ‘Huntsman’ never quite reaches the EPIC that it strives so hard to obtain but I felt it was a very good fantasy film nonetheless.
Interesting that you liked this one better. I never thought that Hemsworth stood out, even the little jokes fell flat for me…
I just thought that there was more to ‘Huntsman’ really. I can see what you mean but I thought in Mirror Mirror the jokes fell flatter; Julia Roberts annoyed me a lot (but saying that so did Theron) but I did enjoy Arnie Hammer and the dwarves in Mirror Mirror.
Completely agree. Snow White was under-written, so it was up to the actress to convince us that men would follow her because of her “innate goodness.” (What’s good about her? She cures a guy’s gout by… being nice.. near him?) They couldn’t have picked a worse fit for the role. Kristen Stewart can play moody and spunky I guess, but this role required quietly charismatic and inviting.
Also I wish they had spent a little more time on the social commentary; women derive their power through beauty, competition between women for male attention, etc.
Tons of unrealized potential.
I could have been so much better indeed!
The visuals were breathtaking, but Stewart was a big part of why this movie felt like a disappointment. Now we know why she was cast the lead ahah (gossip alert). But yes, Theron was excellent.
Hahaha, read about the gossip. Don’t think it’s her why this movie feels like a disappointment. There never seemed to be a focus on the story, just nice things to look at.
Your score is out of 10 right Nostra? Yeah, I was disappointed w/ this one too, I gave it only 2.5/5. I actually just saw Mirror Mirror this weekend and I enjoyed it more than this one. I’ve got my review of that up just now, glad you also enjoyed that one.
Yes, it’s a score out of ten. I read your review on it, nice to see you got the same thoughts about it.
Nice review. I wasn’t expecting much out of this one and it doesn’t sound like it delivered at all.
Also I just passed on the Liebster blog award on to you. If you want to pass it on you can check it out here: http://areservationatdorsia.wordpress.com/2012/08/01/liebster-award-blog-a-thon/
No it didn’t.
Thanks for the Liebster award, although I’m not sure yet I have time to answer the questions, other have also given it. Do appreciate it a lot!
This film should have been better. it wasn’t really at all about Snow White and the Huntsman. It should have been called “The Evil Queen’s Story” or something along those lines.
Yeah, that’s true because the romance between the two really wasn’t convincing…knowing the story of the director and snow white this might be the reason why 😉
Good review. I watched this thing back in Los Angeles. I don’t know if it was due to the California sun or being in the movie mecca, but I kind of enjoyed it. I’m not saying its a perfect film, but the action was adequate and the acting respectable. Even deadpan Stewart was decent. Theron stole the show and Hemsworth was in action hero mode. Its a decent time out at the movies.
Glad that you got more out of it than I did Paul…