Snow White and the Huntsman – This Isn’t Your Grandma’s Fairy Tale

In the original stories by the Brothers Grimm, not all were pretty and magical and had happy endings. They were bitter, dark, and cruel.  The movie Snow White and the Huntsman starring Kristen Stewart, Charlize Theron and Chris Hemsworth took the same route. 

Snow White and the Huntsman begin with Snow White as a child, losing her mother and her father remarrying.  The night her father gets remarried, Ravenna kills him and takes over his kingdom locking Snow White in the north tower until she is useful.   When Snow White comes of age, Ravenna sends her brother to kill her as Snow White has become fairer than the Queen.  Snow White escapes and so begins the pursuit of Snow White by the Huntsman and the search for her by her father’s faithful following that survived the purging of the kingdom so many years ago.

This was Kristen Stewart’s follow-up movie to the Twilight Series.  Was it good – was it bad? It was hard to tell.  The farther the movie progressed, the less I was watching her.  I wasn’t thinking about her acting; I was thinking about the story and Snow White.  So in that sense, she did a good job of helping viewers forget that she spent 5 movies portraying an iconic character in literary and film history.

But Stewart wasn’t the main attraction.  Charlize Theron’s portrayal of the Evil Queen Ravenna was by far the best part of the movie.  She puts all other queens to shame with her performance.  Her portrayal had so much fire and intensity it was hard to look away.  The viewer was brought back to reality however when she turned from the gorgeous woman she creates to the ragged, old and decrepit crone she truly is.  The movie did a great job going from one extreme to the other with her and the only other actress I could see doing the job any better would be Angelina Jolie but even then it is only a small chance.

The story flowed nicely from point to point. What might have seemed out of place for some (the singing from the dwarves) seemed appropriate in a place turned dark and morose after Ravenna took over.  In the darkest of times a light can be shown and in this world it was the singing and the few minutes of happiness the dwarves, Snow White and the Huntsman receive from it. 

It has been a while since I have seen it so my review isn’t as current as it could be. I will get better at this. What I can deduce from watching this movie is I was glad I watched it.  It was entertaining, suspenseful, dark and enticing.  The creators of the movie weren’t afraid to step over the boundaries of the original tale and create their own version.  I am glad they did.