Snow White and the Huntsman Review

Snow White and the Huntsman Review
By Simon Jago

There is no questioning that Snow White and the Huntsman is a bold and innovative re-imagining of the old fairy tale of Snow White. However, would its beautiful style and superb special effects be enough to revitalise a story that we are all too familiar with.

Charlize Theron plays the evil Ravenna, who after the death of the Queen plays a cunning trick to seduce the lonely king into marrying her. She swiftly kills him and is made the new Queen of the land. Due to a spell placed on her as a child, she will remain young and beautiful as long as she is “the fairest of them all.” However, the thorn in her side, the king’s daughter Snow White played by Twilight teenage idol Kristen Stewart is really the fairest in the land.

Snow White having been imprisioned in the Queen’s tower manages to escape just before she is killed. The Queen desperate to find her employs the help of the local huntsman (Chris Hemsworth) who is forced to hunt her down and bring her back. Stop me if any of this sounds familiar?

Snow White and the Huntsman is beautifully shot, with stunning visuals and really unique ideas that sell the darker image of the film. It’s bold visual style stands out and is much more remenicent of the darker tales of Brothers Grimm than the fairy tale spectacle of Disney. The re-imagining of the Dwarves is fantastic, all played by some of my favourite British Actors; Ray Winstone, Bob Hoskins, Ian McShane, Nick Frost, Eddie Marsan, Toby Jones, Johnny Harris, etc.

However, despite all this, there is nothing that new to the story. Snow White is more of a warrior character but eventually her fairness shines through and good triumphs over evil. The film builds to a point of potentially epic status, similar to ‘Lord of the Rings’, but then remembers its only 127 minutes and there are no follow-on movies so rushes through a disappointing climax battle scene to get to the end in time before the credits.

It’s not that I didn’t like Snow White and the Huntsman, in places it really grabbed me, but on the whole I just found it more of the same and fairly tedious at times. Although towards the end I felt like someone in the consessions stand had given me a poison apple as I found myself fighting falling asleep.

Not a bad movie, but nothing special none the less. Most entertaining bit for me was watching ‘Thor’ with a let’s say unusual scottish accent.