Most people are familiar with the Snow White tale. You know the one. Princess locked in a tower by her evil queen step mother, who talks to a mirror and wants to stay forever young. Combined with a Huntsman, a bunch of dwarves, it’s been a classic Disney tale for quite some time.
While the Universal version keeps the core of the story at its heart, the niceties of the original animated version are long gone as hearts and souls are consumed in great numbers amongst other on screen delights. This is a very different version to what you might have previously been accustomed to. It’s dark, It’s large and it’s absolutely brilliant.
Kristen Stewart has really shed the Bella Vamp vibe incredibly quickly here and looks the part of Snow White. She’s got a great, powerful woman type presence on screen and as handy as she is with a multitude of weapons from swords to nails, she also has a very subtle gentleness about her, which is a nice throwback to the original Snow White. The rest of the cast are equally great and while Chris Hemsworth’s accent drops in one or two places, he pulls off a fantastic performance which is incredibly likeable. Granted, from a timing point of view, it doesn’t help that he’s swinging a hammer in a screen next door. Either way, he’s great.
The real highlight here though besides the Dwarves (played by some great cast including Nick Frost and Bob Hoskins) is Charlize Theron as the evil queen. Her portrayal of a seriously bad ass evil queen is worth the price of admission alone. Simply brilliant!
To be uber critical, on occasion one or two scenes drag on a bit, but not enough to derail the movie or anything. Visually, this is a real masterpiece. This fairy tale land is breath taking. On a second viewing you will definitely see some stuff that you missed the first time round. The level of detail is amazing. Forests, Woods, Creatures and Castles come to life in a way that is utterly convincing. A huge amount of credit to Rupert Sanders here and his vision, let alone the amazing visual effects work that has been completed. The set pieces and battle sequences are vast and realistic and are a sight to be hold.
Overall, Snow White And The Huntsman is a fantastic piece of cinema. Exciting, Exhilarating and Brilliant. This can’t be recommend highly enough. Brilliant!
