Carl the Critic: Reviews "Snow White and the Huntsman" [Caution: Contains Minor Plot Spoilers]

Let's talk a bit about "Snow White" the Brother's Grimm Fairy Tale. In 1812, two German brothers wrote a collection of extremely dark fantasy stories. Among these was a story of a girl whose "lips are as red as blood, hair as black as night, and skin as white as snow." Now in the original story, from what I understand (I haven't read the official Brother's Grimm story but I've read a few adaptions of the classic tale) the common elements of the story are:

· Evil Queen who is jealous of her step daughter's beauty

· A magic Mirror

· Seven dwarfs

· A poison apple (that kills you unless you have been kissed by your true love or something)

· A glass coffin

· A woman who pricks her finger on a red rose, and three drops of blood falls onto the snow, which inspires the woman to have a baby girl.

· A Prince and a Huntsman

Now according to wikipedia, in the original story Snow White gets together with the Prince, however over the years depending on the source, sometimes Snow White gets together with the Huntsman instead. I think it's because some people prefer an underdog, and although a rich and successful prince would make more sense, there is always going to be a select few who think that the poor Huntsman should get the Princess in the end... I am one of those few who believe in such.

Before I saw this film, there was another Snow White film that I loved, it was called "Snow White: A Tale of Terror" staring Sigourney Weaver as the evil queen. It's not perfect, and it focuses more on the queen than Snow White, but I love the fact that Snow White was going back to its original horror routes. I haven't seen this film in three years, but it is very memorable and if you haven't seen it find it and watch it right now! I'll wait.

Finished? Wasn't that great? I'll assume you said yes (because if you said no you would just stop reading my thoughts at this point) Good, now you have to watch "Snow White and the Huntsman".

There isn't too much to say about the story here that I didn't already say in my introduction. Basically the Evil Queen is cursed to be ugly unless she kills Snow White so she sends a Hunts man to go after her. If you don't know the story of Snow White at this point, you might actually enjoy "Snow White and the Huntsman" even more. But because there really isn't a lot I can say about the movie let's get to the critique.

For me this film was very well made. There is a great motif of the birds in the film, and how the Queen is almost bird like (to the point where she almost looks like a bird in some scenes). Most of the basic elements of the original story are here there just wasn't a glass coffin, and an "old maid" who gives Snow White the apple which in my opinion was very clever, it makes more sense and for the people who already know the story of Snow White, they are going to expect the Evil Queen to become the old woman but instead they'll get her childhood friend, William. The film also does the Disney thing, where Snow White goes into the woods and sees "scary" imagery, but it goes a step further and shows a beautiful side to the forest as well (which was well done and this is all made to match the mindset of Snow White).

Now I'm going to admit that this film also has a lot of moments that reminded me of other films (I don't think intentionally) but I have made connections to the following films:

· "Snow White: A Tale of Terror" (obviously)

· "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" (also obviously)

· "Shawshank Redemption" (when Snow White escapes through the sewer)

· "Thor" (the way Chris Hemsworth fights everyone in this movie)

· "Princess Mononoke" (The spirit of the forest, aka that deer with the big horns)

· The "Harry Potter" films (The Castle that the army fights at the end)

· "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" (I was expecting the ending of that film to happen in this)

· "Braveheart" (Kristen Stewart's speeches)

· "Joan of Arc" (Kristen Stewart's speeches)

· "Twilight: Braking Dawn Part 1" (when Kristine Stewart "might be dead")

"Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" (When ever the Queen put her hand over someone's heart)

Just to name a few. This all did distract me while watching the movie, but it didn't make it bad. The thing that does damage to the film is the pacing. Sometimes it's so slow that I found myself dozing off into someone else's popcorn and sometimes there were scenes that were very pointless, like one scene when the Huntsman is fighting that monster from that "Diablo 3" game but then Snow White roars at it and then the monster goes away. A few things seem repetitive in the movie like the fight scenes, but to be honest I didn't mind as much. The music was generic, plain and simple, if you listen to the "Pirates of the Caribbean" Soundtrack you would swear that some of the songs were used in the film.

How was Kristen Stewart's acting? Well let me put it this way, you may think that because I hate "Twilight" I hate Kristen Stewart, but you are wrong. Kristen Stewart is a fine actress, and if you want proof, watch "Adventureland" and "Into the Wild", those are her best films. She was a strong leading character in this movie and she proves that she can act. Every actor in this film was great (Chris Hemsworth was my favorite), and I think almost everyone who watches and enjoys this film (the enjoying part is key) will agree that Charlize Theron was perfect as the role of the Queen.

I can't say that everyone will enjoy "Snow White and the Huntsman" but I will say that it sure as hell surprised me. I saw the trailer thinking "this is going to suck," but came out of it satisfied that I went.

So on the whole, not perfect, but for me it was worth watching. I gave "Snow White and the Huntsman" an 8.0 out of 10.

So I was on my way out of the theater, all satisfied when suddenly I noticed that there was a huge thunderstorm. I was stuck at the cinema, and I had no ride to go back to my place. I decided that I could watch one more movie, so I turned to see what was playing and-

it wasn't pretty

This article was written and edited by Carl the Critic © 2012 HubPages.com