Surprisingly, the old fairy tale gets a less revisionist treatment than you expect in this debut feature from director Rupert Sanders. Re-ordered, with different emphases (see title) and a whole new fourth act (Snow becomes Joan of fucking Arc), but all the expected elements are on call: dark forest; huntsman ordered to kill the runaway princess, poisoned apple, Prince Charming, dwarves; the works. Alas, the tone and look, call it Dank Goth, meant to be creepy-crawly merely unpleasant (like something stuck to your shoe), CGI effects overused and acting from the principals inexcusably bad. (The last two faults typical unforced rookie errors from director Sanders.) A wan Snow White from Kristen Stewart, Chris Hemsworth’s Huntsman saddled with lame comic relief comeback lines between he-man chores, and Charlize Theron’s Queen a pop-eyed shrieking harpy. Those Down-Under accents also no help. Fortunately, halfway in the Dwarves show up, immediately attack the good guys, and for a while take charge of the movie. At last, a rooting interest; even after they figure out who the good guy are. Bob Hoskins in his final role a particularly wonderful little fellow . . . and nearly short enough not to need help from clever camera angles.
DOUBLE-BILL/LINK: Disney’s 2025 attempt to go Live-Action on their own 1937 SNOW WHITE animated classic opened D.O.A. Not seen here, perhaps more interesting for compare & contrast purposes with this. Elsewise, there’s always the 1937 fairest of them all. https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2025/02/snow-white-1937.html
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