Snow White and the Huntsman takes a clever spin on an older tale, and fails to stick the landing. There are some wonderful CGI effects that feel like magic, and some of the characters are surprisingly well fleshed out. However, the central conflict between Snow White and the Queen left everyone in the theater cold. Snow White could have used a little more color.
By now the players in this story are familiar, Snow White (Kristen Stewart) is being held captive by her mother-in-law, Queen Ravella (Charlize Theron). The new twist is the Huntsman (Chris Hemsworth), who the Queen uses to find Snow White in the dark forest. Snow White is helped by 8 (not 7) dwarves who do not have names like Dopey and Bashful, although they definitely have some of those traits, and a friend (Sam Claflin) who’s soldiers is loyal to her father.
Turning the tale into an adventure epic is inspired. It changes the scope into something much more majestic. No matter which new setting is discovered, it bears layers of meaning as well as historical elegance when you are presented with it.
Also helping to create the magical setting are the special effects. Not since Middle Earth have I seen a land hold such fun secrets as the lands created in Snow White and the Huntsman. They make some of the magical actions characters use understandable in context. Most importantly, each location becomes much more enchanted as a result. The Queen’s castle looks more imposing, the Dark Forest becomes especially menacing, and the enchanted forest hits new levels of surreal.
If only the script could do more service to the CGI. Snow White and the Huntsman has several storylines that fight to be the main one, and because it can’t decide which one to use, the story suffers as a result. The dwarves do not get enough screen time, nor does the love triangle part of the story, and the queen perhaps gets too much screen time, even though she is the best character in the movie. Also, the ending is telegraphed about 30 minutes into the movie, which eliminated most of the suspense that could have been derived from the Queen vs. Snow Climax.
Because of the messy script most of the characters suffer as well. The main 3 characters have very tragic pasts, but only 2 of them use it to add layers to their portrayals. Charlize Theron clearly relishes on being the malevolent Queen. Even though most of her dialogue is terrible, she does a terrific job conveying levels of sadness to her character. Even though she seems heartless, there is a depth of sadness and longing that provides solid motivation for her actions. Just as terrific (surprisingly) is Chris Hemsworth as the Huntsman. Though his and Snow White’s journey could have been a formula for love as the mismatched pair, the huntsman has some secrets from the past that give his character some stakes as the movie goes on. Unfortunately, the story as written hinges on the transformation of Snow White from fledgling female to fierce fatale, along with her complicated changing feelings toward the Queen. Kristen Stewart is asked to do a lot, and she doesn’t pull off the transformation. Years of Twilight have shed some of the depth from her acting ability, and the climax lacks the emotional punch it should have been building to.
Snow White and the Huntsman tries to be a grown up fairytale. It is too bad the script could not have grown up with the reimagined story. Like the apple Snow White eats, it’s a beautiful sweet shell covering a rotten core. How do you like them apples Snow White? Get a better story and get back to me.