Movie Review - Snow White and the Huntsman

With this new job, I'm going to have the opportunity to see movies for free for the next little while.  So I figure I'll start doing a semi-regular movie review post on the blog - partly just because it's good material to post about, and partly because writing down my thoughts helps me to process what I've just seen!  So, this week, Snow White and the Huntsman.  I went with my landlady, since I can bring a friend for free and it's more fun watching movies with someone!

It was -- not nearly as good as Avengers.  That's putting it mildly.  I did appreciate that they tried to take it away from the super-sweet Disney version, but I think the bid for originality ended up just making the film disjointed.  The first ten minutes or so -- the set-up -- were decent... and then they brought Kristen Stewart onscreen, and I'm sorry, but she's just not lead-actress material.  She lacks the whatever-it-is that keeps me interested and invested in really good actors.  Chris Hemsworth as the Huntsman was good, but he wasn't given a lot to work with.  (But if the story got boring, he's always nice to look at.)

He has an axe instead of a hammer in this one.

I did enjoy the scenery and the spectacle of the film -- the film was beautiful.  Though at times it looked like it was trying too hard to channel or imitate films like LotR and The Chronicles of Narnia.

Random pretty scenery - in a scene I completely didn't get the point of.

Charlize Theron as the evil stepmother was probably the most interesting character in the movie, but she was very two-dimensional.  They kept trying to develop her as a slightly sympathetic person (overcome by her past circumstances, or something) but it was never in-depth enough to be believable.  There was this whole big set-up for a love triangle -- and then they didn't do anything with it.  This, in the end, is my main gripe with the film -- all the characters had potential to be interesting, three-dimensional, sympathetic characters, but the filmmakers spent more time showing us beautiful scenery than in developing character and relationships, and in the end, the film suffered.

Pretty decent villainess.  She had really cool hairstyles, too (best part about her...)

My conclusion: it was okay.  It held my interest for the most part, but we definitely whispered and made fun of certain parts.  One can only suspend disbelief to a certain extent.  I don't consider those couple of hours wasted -- I was entertained -- but I am glad I didn't pay anything to see it.  I certainly don't think this one is going to make a lasting impression or join the ranks of classic movies.

P.S.  I would also love to see someone make a movie in which the dwarfs do NOT come across as the comic relief.  Anyone?  It can be done in books (Gimli, for example, although P.J. reduced him to the buffoon and the comic in the film) -- why not in movies?