Snow White And The Huntsman

"You know what would make Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs better?" SHOULD NEVER BE SAID!

Now having gotten that out of the way, this is a darker more epic take on the old tale of Snow White. The story is basically the same. The evil queen wants to be young and powerful forever, and must make the fairest maiden, Snow White, dead to stay that way. In order to add some scale and weight to the story, this telling has quite a bit of action. And it is pretty good. Fighting trolls, soldiers, and the queen does bring some fun and excitement to the table. But in creating this variation it feels like it drags at times. I caught myself thinking, "Yeah, I get it. Now lets move on." Because the story augmentation was just extra fluff. It didn't give me anything that I wanted and didn't receive in my previous outing with Ms. White and her merry men. They tried to give you perspective on how the queen was wronged and warped in to this monster, but I don't care. We don't need a reason. She is evil. Pure and simple. The introduction of the dwarf feels unnecessary. It is kind of like they put them in because they had to, although they added very little to the narrative. And there is something of a love triangle that doesn't even get played our for whatever reason... surprised?

I read that they wanted to do as much practical effects as possible. Which I think worked out pretty well for them. Most everything looks as it should. Trolls, Dwarfs that weren't actually little people, and the super cool Magic Mirror were all sharp. The dark forest is extra evil and creepy, while the untainted areas to have a certain Disney-esque feel to them that I liked. I feel like they took the time to polish those aspects.

The casting was a little wonky. It's not that there weren't good actors, it is just that they don't really work together as a unit. Chris Hemsworth as the huntsman, was the only character that  felt was adequately cast. He is dashing, handsome, and Strong. He plays the lonely hunter well. Charlize Theron is the evil queen. She is twisted and mean and great. Problem is that she is way more attractive that Snow White. Our queen needs to be beautiful, but not so beautiful that it diminishes the beauty of out princess. The actors that they chose to play the dwarfs were too good for such lousy tiny parts. Ian McShane, Bob Hoskins, Ray Winstone, Nick Frost, and Toby Jones are all good actors. Too good, in fact, to play such nothing roles. That have such a small effect on the story as a whole. Last and least is Kristen Stewart. Listen, I'm sure she is a nice person. She probably has done something once where somebody actually thought she acted well. (I personally think she practices better than she plays) But she just drags everyone down. The lack of emotion/acting range just leaves everything bland and tasteless. She just doesn't give you the delightful Snow White that you want to love because she is just wonderful. She just doesn't stand up to the on screen presence that Theron provides.

Snow White leaves much to be desired. The action and increase in serious tone of the story do not make up for it's over all lack of goodness. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) was moving art with sound. It was satisfying, and this just isn't.