Snow White and the Huntsman - Review

Snow White and the Huntsman is yet another take on the Snow White tale where an evil queen locks up Snow White and attempts to kill her to be the fairest in the land.


I was pretty excited for Snow White and the Huntsman primarily because it looked better than Mirror Mirror and it had Charlize Theron as Queen Ravenna. Overall I would say that it was good but that doesn't mean it was great. It wasn't bad but it was severely lacking in many ways. The main things...

1. Character development of William (aka, the Prince)
2. I wanted more of the dwarves and a little more development with them
3. The film's pacing was extremely awkward
4. The actors' accents going in and out as they pleased

I felt the most cheated with William. They show him as a child and then all of a sudden he pops up as an amazing archer and storm the castle wanting to kill the queen. I was like, um who is this again? They gave almost no background to him at all and it's a shame seeing that he is technically a main character. 
I also feel like this film was split into acts and that it might have been purposely done. The first act introducing Ravenna and showing how she rose to power was fantastic. The second where The Huntsman finds Snow White in the forest and eventually leads her to sanctuary was where it started to die. The third act, however, should have picked it up and it really didn't do it as much as I would have hoped. When Snow White and her army reaches Ravenna's castle the climax of the film was cut very short. It had a slow build, a very short climax, and an even faster finish... that's what she said.
But seriously, I was the most disappointed with the last chapter of the film.


However, there were things that were great...

1. Charlize Theron
2. Charlize Theron
3. Charlize Theron

Charlize Theron was the best actor and had the best character, by far. What she did with Queen Ravenna was fantastic and it's a shame that this movie isn't good enough to gain some kind of recognition other than MTV Award status. She deserves some recognition for this role. Her very presence on screen gave me goosebumps at times.
Aside from her I would say the visuals were stunning. I definitely didn't walk away thinking they skimped out on the effects. I also loved the dwarves, especially Gus. They were really fun to watch.

And of course, how could I get away with doing this review without mentioning the biggest question of all... the casting of Kristen Stewart as Snow White. I want to start of by saying I have actually grown to like Kristen as an actress and I don't think she is terrible like most people do. She is terrible in the Twilight movies but to be fair everyone else is, too. She was fantastic in Welcome to the Rileys, Speak, and The Runaways. She also was a pleasure in her very small role in Into the Wild. However, her as Snow White just didn't do it for me. It wasn't the typical "she is bland" excuse most people give, but I feel like this type of action/leader role just doesn't suit her. She is best playing emotionally damaged, hostile, and vulnerable. She isn't good at being a leader in body armor and swinging a sword around. I don't think she ruined the movie but she definitely wasn't the best part of it and I feel the title character should be the most captivating.




Anyway, overall I wouldn't say Snow White and the Huntsman was terrible but it wasn't great. It had the potential to be great but just missed it. If the script was better and had a little bit more character development, and maybe had a different actress as Snow White, I think it might have worked a bit more. An easy 5.5-6 out of 10. I didn't see Mirror Mirror but I'm sure this one was better,