Review: "Snow White and the Huntsman"

The second Snow White film of the year arrived in theaters this week and it couldn't be further apart in tone from Tarsem's Mirror Mirror, which starred Julia Roberts as the evil queen and Lily Collins as Snow White. Whereas that film was light and comedic, Snow White and the Huntsman is a dark, visually rich, full-blown fantasy that strives to come much closer to its Grimm beginnings.

Locked up in a castle tower ever since her kingly father was killed, Snow White (Kristen Stewart) is at the mercy of her stepmother Ravenna (Charlize Theron), an evil queen with supernatural powers. The queen is obsessed with youth and threatened by anyone whose beauty could surpass her own, so when her magic mirror slaps her in the face with the old "you are no longer the fairest" bit, she must literally eat Snow White's heart in order to retain her immortality.

Snow escapes, however, and is chased into the dark forest, where the queen's men are too afraid to follow. Enter the titular huntsman (Chris Hemsworth - playing it like a blue collar version of his character, Thor), who is forced by the queen to capture and return Snow for the queen's heart-y feast. Of course, no one could resist the charms of Kristen Stewart (Ahhahahahahaha!), and the huntsman quickly becomes her protector as they navigate the dangers ahead.

It isn't until the second half of the film that we get our first glimpse of the dwarves, who, in a bit of Benjamin Button-style trickery, are played by some very recognizable non-dwarfs (with Bob Hoskins, Ian McShane, Toby Jones, Eddie Marsan, and Nick Frost among them). Also arriving late in the story is William (Sam Claflin), the son of a nobleman and a childhood friend of Snow White's, who hopes to rescue and marry her. Unfortunately, for both the dwarves and William, as the film rolls to its final act, there isn't much for them to do, and it feels as if they're simply there to be checked off the list of required fairy tale characters. Since the huntsman easily serves that double role of protector and love interest, the best scenario would have been to cut William out of the story completely.

Charlize Theron is outstanding as the soul-sucking, wrinkle-obsessed, vampiric Ravenna. She plays the obsession, paranoia, and madness to extreme levels, but there's also a modicum of real-world hurt underneath it all. In many ways, she's a sad character, trapped within a cycle she cannot break free of. On the flip side of that, Kristen Stewart is serviceable in the title role, but is never able to fully convince the audience to believe in her the way the characters in the story do unreservedly. Whereas the queen does some pretty terrible things, our heroine never really does anything equally good. Dramatically, the filmmakers are relying on us to project our idea of purity and goodness onto her.

There's a lot of imagination on display from first-time director, Rupert Sanders, who almost overcomes the poorly-crafted screenplay with his impressive visuals. The design work that went into the dark forest, the queen's army, the magic mirror, and the fairy-meadow are all standouts that help the film wow the audience in the way that a fantasy movie should. Snow White and the Huntsman takes itself seriously, and while there are a few moments of levity, it maintains a consistent tone and keeps things moving with a sense of urgency.


"Setting the Frame" Film Grade = C+