'SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN'

'SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN' (PG-13) (3 STARS)

Written by Evan Daugherty, John Lee Hancock and Hossein Amini
Directed by Rupert Sanders
Actors: Kristen Stewart, Charlize Theron, Chris Hemsworth, Ian McShane, Sam Claflin, Bob Hoskins

"Snow White and the Huntsman' is a complete surprise and a visually beautiful looking movie that has a welcome feel of darkness.
It reminds me of a tamer, less violent "Excalibur" which was also one of the most visually beautiful movies I have ever seen. The movie is played seriously down the line instead of being a campy, annoying fluff piece like this year's earlier Snow White stinker "Mirror, Mirror". I went into this movie dreading another "Twilight" type film with doom and gloom and a brooding, pretentious manner. I was wrong for yes the movie is dark but is is also creative in the way it tells it's story and it is fun to watch.

"Snow White" stars Kristen Stewart as Snow (that's what I like to call her, "Hey, Snow! What's Up!") whoose father dies at the hands of the evil Queen. We first see this Queen in rags and all homeless looking and a handsome King who is Snow's father rescues her, takes care of her and makes her his Queen. That is when the evil woman kills the father and imprisons the beautiful Snow in a tower for years. Snow breaks out and the Queen dispatches a hottie named Eric to capture her and wouldn't you know it he will fall in love with Snow and protect her. Oh and there are seven dwarfs for back up too. My description of the plot is tongue and cheek and I expected to laugh at this movie but this movie surprised me with it's maturity. I only laughed when it was warranted and I can't say that about "Twilight".

The earlier Snow White movie "Mirror, Mirror" was a campy and pretentious movie with an annoying, wise cracking Queen played by Julia Roberts. That movie was like going to a party being thrown by a group of smart asses who were trying to entertain you so badly they fell on their faces. Tarsem directed that movie and it was beautiful in spots and Tarsem is supposed to be a visual genius but the latter Snow White movie kicks his butt. This movie is beautifully photographed with spellbinding special effects and it is not only beautiful looking it uses it's effects to be creative. There are many wonderful, creative visuals like when during battles a warrior would be slayed but there would be no blood, the warriors just exploded into pieces and ash. There are many breathtaking ways that monsters and animals are shown here that puts to shame any of the monster movies that have come out this year including "The Avengers" with it's metallic hunk of junk.

The acting is much better here than in "Mirror, Mirror" because no one has to mug here like a desperate buffoon. Charlize Theron is perfectly cast as the evil Queen and she milks this role for everything she can milk it for and she nails it. She is effectively evil and when she is given some really bitchy and overwrought lines to say that could have come off as laughable she twists them to make them sound chilling.

Kristen Stewart does what is asked of her very well here and she could get backlash for playing another brooding character and I am getting a little pissed off about this. I have never seen an actress have so much hate spewed at her. I will say this, Kristen Stewart is a great actress and I have three movies, "Adventureland", "Into the Wild" and "Panic Room" to prove it, case closed! It is not her fault she has been cast in roles that require seriousness. I am waiting to hear haters saying she stinks here too and that would be false. You can't expect her Snow White, who has been imprisoned in a tower for years to come out of the tower smiling, laughing, dancing and singing with birds tweeting out of her butt.

She is very good here, Chris Hemsworth is solid and Charlize Theron is delightfully evil here. She creates a Queen that is scarier and more effective than a lot of Queens in movies including the over rated and laughable Wicked Witch form the over rated "Wizard of Oz". The movie also has dwarves that are played by some of our finest actors like Ian MacShane and Bob Hoskins who are creatively manipulated visually to actually look like dwarves. They are very effective here and they have some funny lines of dialogue and some slapstick scenes including a very funny sight gag. The movie is drop dead gorgeous and I actually felt an effective amount of dread and thrills that I didn't expect. "Snow White and the Huntsman" is a delightful and dark movie that doesn't come off dark in a pretentious way, it is a breath of fresh air.