June 1, 2012 in GENRES
SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN
RYAN: It’s the second Snow White movie within months of each other this year and I have an inherent problem with this film not because of over-saturation but because in order for the story to work, you have to buy the fact the evil queen feels threatened by Snow White’s beauty. And no one in the world can think K.Stew is prettier than Charlize Theron.
KIM: I agree. Even if Charlize is in sweatpants with no makeup, she’s amazingly gorgeous.
RYAN: She’s a specimen.
KIM: While Kristen Stewart does look quite beautiful in this film, she’s still not threatening Charlize in that territory.
RYAN: True, K.Stew does look great and this is actually her best performance to date. She didn’t annoy me at all like she does in the Twilights. This movie is fantastic.
KIM: It is. I went in with really high hopes and was not disappointed in the least. The effects and makeup were phenom.
RYAN: And the costumes, by Colleen Atwood, a Tim Burton darling, were epic. Shes does cool, twisty things.
KIM: I was never a huge fan of Disney’s Snow White but I really liked this dark and thrilling and suspenseful spin on it. I was genuinely creeped out at some parts of the movie.
RYAN: Compared to the Julia Roberts version, Mirror Mirror, this is so much more faithful to the Disney plot line and overall very intense, gritty, fierce and complex. For all that it is a full-on fairy tale with some light, beautiful moments, it really has a cool edge.
KIM: It does take you into a total fantasy world. But you’re right there is a good balance between the light and the dark. I liked the darker parts a lot.
RYAN: The first trailer I had seen for it worried me. I thought it was gonna be, like, a Snow White war movie. But it’s not that. The fight scenes turned out to be more like battle scenes, similar to the battle at the end of Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland; the same guy produced it. He must have a thing for putting Disney characters in armor with a sword.
KIM: We grew up viewing Snow White as just a princess and frail. This story paints a strong, empowered woman. It’s a great message. You don’t have to use beauty as a weapon. It can be used for good.
RYAN: OMG that’s brilliant. Charlize is, this just in, incredible. Part of it is, of course, how good she looks. She brought a lot of fierceness to this. You believe she’d kill for her beauty.
KIM: She really is one of the best actresses of our time. She just has you in the palm of her hand in this movie.
RYAN: For having supermodel good looks, she’s really versatile – from Young Adult last year, to this… she’s just so good.
KIM: I was especially impressed by Kristen though. For me, it was her best performance since Panic Room.
RYAN: Yeah there was one scene that she just killed. Chris Hemsworth was good but I thought his role was a little wordy. I understand he needed to express all of that but it’s like everything he says just sounds like Shakespeare to me, maybe he’s a little stuck in the Thor zone. He needs to cut his hair and do a comedy or something.
KIM: I like him. He did a good job and he’s a fine piece of meat.
RYAN: And that’s coming from you, honey!
KIM: [laughs’ I know, right? The scenic design looked amazing. It’s a visually wonderful film.
RYAN: And the dwarfs were great – casting and effects. And they provided the right amount of humor without ever crossing into camp. It was cool how they made Bob Hoskins, Ian McShane and Toby Jones dwarfs.
KIM: It was seamless.
— BOTTOM LINE —
KIM: I was not bored throughout. It’s very entertaining.
RYAN: I’m biased – I love fairy tales but this is among the better of the crop.
— RATING —
