Approx. Runtime: 127 minutes (2 hours, 7 minutes)
Language Watched: English
Type of Movie: Medieval, Action, Fantasy, Fairytale
Overall Impression: Decent with some issues. Worth watching on a cheap movie night.
SPOILER ALERT WARNING!!
This
review will contain some spoilers -- or rather, there will be a
"Spoilers" section at the end of the review to go into further detail
about certain things. There may still be slight spoilers throughout the
review, but I've tried my best to keep them at a minimum.
PERSONAL STANDING (Pre-exposures, thoughts, etc.)
I don't remember ever seeing a trailer for Snow White & the Huntsman. But I do remember almost all of my friends saying they would check this movie out. I figured I might as well check it out, too. And -- this would be my first time watching anything "Snow White". I have never watched Disney's version, and I didn't watch Mirror Mirror.
STORY
The movie starts with a queen wishing she had a daughter with skin as white as snow, lips red like blood, and black hair. Later on, she gives birth to Snow White. After some years, the queen dies.
Consumed by grief, the King goes into battle. He ends up rescuing a very beautiful woman, who becomes the next queen (and Snow White's evil stepmother). Things happen and Snow White meets a huntsman and some dwarves. Then she tries to work up the resolve to take down her evil stepmother.
The pacing is decent but tends to be a little slow sometimes.
Consumed by grief, the King goes into battle. He ends up rescuing a very beautiful woman, who becomes the next queen (and Snow White's evil stepmother). Things happen and Snow White meets a huntsman and some dwarves. Then she tries to work up the resolve to take down her evil stepmother.
SCRIPT/PACING
For a movie based on a fairytale, a lot happens. There's still the usual "Mirror, mirror on the wall" stuff, and the stepmother trying to kill Snow White. Everything in between gets told from a different angle (at least, basing it off of what I read from the Wikipedia entry on Snow White). Unfortunately, some details aren't explained (like the connection between the stepmother and her brother). There is also next-to-no romance, which sucks (since the movie introduced a possible romantic love interest character).The pacing is decent but tends to be a little slow sometimes.
ACTING/CHARACTERS
The acting was not very good. Charlize Theron was good playing the evil stepmother and Chris Hemsworth was great as the Huntsman (though I have a soft spot for Chris Hemsworth after watching Thor). Everybody else was... not so good. Not stirring enough.
CHARACTERS
There's some characterization. We actually get to see some kind of a backstory for the stepmother, though not enough to really sympathize with her and her motivations. It's kind of like that with every major character -- we get a feel, but not the full story, which makes it hard to care about them. Out of all the characters in Snow White & the Huntsman, I only care about the Huntsman.
MUSIC
The music isn't memorable. I think there was only one track that stood out. Everything else sounded generic and typical for a movie with battle scenes (not many battle scenes, mind you).
VISUAL EFFECTS
The visual effects, while stunning and breathtaking at times, falls short. My sister summarized it best: "The visuals are really good. Then it just goes further and ruins it." The visual effects would be fine if it didn't try so hard to be breathtaking. A lot of the beauty becomes weird and slightly off-putting. I'll go into a bit more detail about what I liked and didn't like in the Spoilers section.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
Snow White & The Huntsman is worth watching, but not at full price. It's probably better as a rental (when it comes out on DVD/Blu-Ray). I think this movie just tries too hard to be a great movie and in doing so, goes too far and the nice moments are ruined. And because it tries too hard, a lot of it feels forced. For being my first full exposure to the story of Snow White, it was okay -- that's all I can say.
Thanks for reading! If you want some more input about something I didn't cover, feel free to ask. :)
Now I'll do the scrolly thing so you don't see the "Spoilers" section right away. Then I'll add some more scrolly things after the "Spoilers" section in case anybody wants to comment, but not see the spoilers.
Thanks for reading! If you want some more input about something I didn't cover, feel free to ask. :)
Now I'll do the scrolly thing so you don't see the "Spoilers" section right away. Then I'll add some more scrolly things after the "Spoilers" section in case anybody wants to comment, but not see the spoilers.
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SPOILERS
Visual Effects (Likes)
The scene in the forest was really good. The hallucination effects were good -- I'd be creeped out and frightened if that happened to me.
The antlered spirit in the fairy world was beautiful. It made me think of Princess Mononoke.
My favourite visual effect is when we see Ravenna (the stepmother) sucking the youth of a girl for the first time and we see her old features becoming young. The process was so subtle and unnoticeable, but you could tell she was becoming youthful again.
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Visual Effects (Dislikes)
I didn't like the fairies. They're kinda gross. Seeing the fairy for the first time was freaky (when the fairy pops out of the bird's stomach).
The greenery of the fairy world was off-putting. We see beautiful-looking flowers... with an eye in the centers. Some of the mushrooms looked a little gross, too, though I don't remember how it really looked.
If you read my spoilers, thank for reading! Now to finish with more scrolly things. If you disagree with anything or just want to say something, feel free to comment :D
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I was kind of worried because your sister wanted to see this, so it was a relief when she said she is going to see this with you. :) Ha ha.
ReplyDeleteThough I don't have any interest in seeing this in the first place, the thing that made this movie toxic was it's connection to the creators of the recent Alice in Wonderland film. That film stank, making Snow White a skip for me.
After reading your review, and hearing your sister's comments, I'm glad I stayed far, far away.
Count yourself lucky :) I never watched the remake of Alice in Wonderland and didn't realize that Snow White & The Huntsman was connected to it. I thought Alice in Wonderland got good reviews, but I guess not.
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