The Beauty of Snow White and the Huntsman: Movie Review

It is a rare event where the beautiful set pieces and designs cover the mediocrity of a film, but that is the case for this twisted fairy tale movie.

Snow White and the Huntsman

Snow White (Kristen Stewart) escapes the clutches of her evil stepmother, Queen Ravenna (Charlize Theron), by going through the Dark Forest. Being of no power in the woods, the queen sends The Huntsman (Chris Hemsworth) to seek Snow White and capture her.

The main idea of the film is to exploit (in its positive sense) the children's fairy tale to create a dark and twisted tale for adults. The result however as less spectacular than Guillermo del Toro's vision, director Rupert Sanders, though his talent falls short (yet), does share the same visual ambition. Even more impressive is the fact that this is his directorial debut for theatrical film. Sanders' take on the film is so powerful that it outshines the plot holes and the mediocrity of Evan Daugherty, John Lee Hancock, and Hossein Amini's screenplay. However, the end of the film proves the point that, rather than embrace it fully, its fairy tale source has imprisoned the lengths the movie would've achieved.

Theron and Hemsworth's acting elevated the quality of the film greatly. Theron has fully embraced her evil character, even making it greater and more beautiful than what its supposed to be with its bland backstory and development. The same is true with Hemsworth unremarkable huntsman. They were simple, yet their performances were the biggest assets of the film. The only weak link in this category is Stewart, as she has been boxed with another successful franchise. And it doesn't help that her acting is not that different from The Twilight Saga. No wonder why the marketing of the film focused more with Theron and Hemsworth

The ambitious visuals and set designs, even with mediocre script and development, makes the film worth your time. Three stars and a half stars out of five.