A beautifully shot prologue gets us up to speed with a mostly familiar story: Snow White’s (Kristen Stewart) mother perishes, and her father remarries with a beautiful stranger (Charlize Theron) who swiftly dispatches the rightful king and seizes his kingdom, imprisoning his daughter in the castle. The Wicked Queen learns from her enchanted mirror that Snow White’s beauty isn’t only to surpass her own, but that her step-daughter’s innocence and purity is like an anti-ageing magic bullet; all she has to do is eat her heart and hey presto, eternal youth. Stewart’s Snow White is part Aslan the lion, part Jeanne d’Arc. A Christian symbol of healing goodness (she walks on water; we meet her reciting the Lord’s Prayer), Snow inspires and restores those around her thanks to her superpower of being really very pretty. Uncomplicated goodness being the path to protagonist boredom that it is, they’ve understandably tried to pep her character up with a flinty shard of rebelliousness, but sadly it’s not enough to flesh her out from archetype to person. While Kristen Stewart is pretty good as the pretty, good titular lead, it’s Charlize Theron’s crazed performance as wicked Queen Ravenna that leaves the biggest impression. Demonic, furious, and psychologically fractured, Theron is utterly committed to her role as Ravenna, playing the sorceress as the ultimate psycho beauty queen. Theron has long done a good line in dark and crazy, and this, combined with her extreme beauty, make her a perfect fit for the part. Those same nifty visual effects have been used to create a recognisable cast of dwarfs, played by Ian McShane, Bob Hoskins, Ray Winstone, Eddie Marsan, Toby Jones, Nick Frost, Johnny Harris and Brian Gleeson. Despite the film extending to 127 minutes, it feels as if we barely meet the entertaining troupe, and that excellent cast isn’t showcased to its potential. A long and largely superfluous river village sequence could certainly have been sacrificed in favour of spending more time with Snow White’s smaller statured companions. Snow White and the Huntsman hits the darker notes of the Brothers Grimm tale nicely but plays merry havoc with the romance plot, aiming for surprise but ending up by telling only half a story. The pleasingly sturdy Chris Hemsworth has a meatier backstory than Sam Claflin’s wispy Prince character, but both are difficult to pin down, and neither excites much empathy. In short, Sanders’ film takes on too much. It aims to people the inevitably paper-thin pages of a fairy tale with robust, psychologically believable characters, as well as ticking off romance, epic action, stunning visuals, and comic relief. It’s simply too tall an order and results in an unbalanced, slightly dissatisfying film, if one with visuals to die for. Sanders has aimed high, something never to be discouraged, but ended up only somewhere in the middle. A visual tour de force, and an admirable debut from a talented director, but not an instant classic. Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here. And be our Facebook chum here.
title: “Snow White And The Huntsman Review” ShowToc: true date: “2025-07-25” author: “Jerry Hill”
A beautifully shot prologue gets us up to speed with a mostly familiar story: Snow White’s (Kristen Stewart) mother perishes, and her father remarries with a beautiful stranger (Charlize Theron) who swiftly dispatches the rightful king and seizes his kingdom, imprisoning his daughter in the castle. The Wicked Queen learns from her enchanted mirror that Snow White’s beauty isn’t only to surpass her own, but that her step-daughter’s innocence and purity is like an anti-ageing magic bullet; all she has to do is eat her heart and hey presto, eternal youth. Stewart’s Snow White is part Aslan the lion, part Jeanne d’Arc. A Christian symbol of healing goodness (she walks on water; we meet her reciting the Lord’s Prayer), Snow inspires and restores those around her thanks to her superpower of being really very pretty. Uncomplicated goodness being the path to protagonist boredom that it is, they’ve understandably tried to pep her character up with a flinty shard of rebelliousness, but sadly it’s not enough to flesh her out from archetype to person. While Kristen Stewart is pretty good as the pretty, good titular lead, it’s Charlize Theron’s crazed performance as wicked Queen Ravenna that leaves the biggest impression. Demonic, furious, and psychologically fractured, Theron is utterly committed to her role as Ravenna, playing the sorceress as the ultimate psycho beauty queen. Theron has long done a good line in dark and crazy, and this, combined with her extreme beauty, make her a perfect fit for the part. Those same nifty visual effects have been used to create a recognisable cast of dwarfs, played by Ian McShane, Bob Hoskins, Ray Winstone, Eddie Marsan, Toby Jones, Nick Frost, Johnny Harris and Brian Gleeson. Despite the film extending to 127 minutes, it feels as if we barely meet the entertaining troupe, and that excellent cast isn’t showcased to its potential. A long and largely superfluous river village sequence could certainly have been sacrificed in favour of spending more time with Snow White’s smaller statured companions. Snow White and the Huntsman hits the darker notes of the Brothers Grimm tale nicely but plays merry havoc with the romance plot, aiming for surprise but ending up by telling only half a story. The pleasingly sturdy Chris Hemsworth has a meatier backstory than Sam Claflin’s wispy Prince character, but both are difficult to pin down, and neither excites much empathy. In short, Sanders’ film takes on too much. It aims to people the inevitably paper-thin pages of a fairy tale with robust, psychologically believable characters, as well as ticking off romance, epic action, stunning visuals, and comic relief. It’s simply too tall an order and results in an unbalanced, slightly dissatisfying film, if one with visuals to die for. Sanders has aimed high, something never to be discouraged, but ended up only somewhere in the middle. A visual tour de force, and an admirable debut from a talented director, but not an instant classic. Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here. And be our Facebook chum here.
