Rent Snow White and the Huntsman (2012)

LOTR Influenced Fantasy Version Of the Fairy Story - Snow White and the Huntsman review by GI

This is a really entertaining and somewhat underrated sword & sorcery fantasy that keeps the essence of the original fairy tale (and there are some tiny homages to Disney's 1937 cartoon masterpiece) but is told as a dark adventure film. It steals blatantly from The Lord of The Rings trilogy but that actually makes it all the better and I've no doubt that without Peter Jackson's game changing films this would never have been made. The stand out here is Charlize Theron who channels the sinister and evil Queen Ravenna so brilliantly. It's a wonderful performance and shows just how good an actor she is. Having murdered the smitten king on their wedding night Ravenna imprisons his daughter, Snow White (Kristen Stewart) in case she later proves useful and with the aid of her nasty brother (Sam Spruell) rules the kingdom through fear and the use of dark magic. The sets and cinematography are superbly created and director Rupert Sanders keeps the CGI down to a minimum using real buildings made for the film. Eventually Snow White escapes and the Queen hires The Huntsman (Chris Hemsworth) to track her down in a dark forest. But Snow White is linked in some way to the land and nature and aided by a band of dwarf warriors she leads a rebellion against the Queen. The dwarfs are wonderfully cast including Bob Hoskins (in his last role), Ray Winstone, Toby Jones and Ian McShane and are reminiscent of the dwarves of LOTR, as are the dark forests, white horses, birds as friend or foe. There's monsters and mystical creatures, knights in armour and plenty of sword fighting This is a family film but with a dark edge especially in the battles and combat scenes. It's great fun, played totally seriously and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Don't be put off by the title by assuming this is a children's film, it's not, this is aimed at adults as much as teenagers. The original fairy story of vanity and jealousy is there but used only as the central core of a good fantasy film. Indeed personally I would have liked to see it as an even darker tale with more blood and guts in the battle scenes especially. Well worth checking out though.

Theron's Ravenna is a revelation - Snow White and the Huntsman review by PT

The wicked queen Ravenna sucks the youth out of young women to maintain her youth. One day though, after asking the mirror who is the fairest of them all (bet nobody guessed she would ask the mirror that) the usual reply of herself is replaced by Snow White. The mirror also informs her that if she gets the heart of Miss White her youth will be permanent.

She sends her brother to bring her Snow White, who she has imprisoned because of her earlier murderous machinations. Snow White escapes to the dark forest, where Ravenna has no power, thus enter the huntsmen, promised a reward by Ravenna to bring her back.

Of course Snow White has an agenda too, to wrestle back the kingdom that is hers by birthright.

Good special effects and enjoyable fairy tale for kids and adults alike. It is Charlie Theron who steals the show though, really turning it on as the wicked Ravenna.