Snow White - The Fairest of Them All

Rating:
Summary: Where's the 0 star?
Review: Spoiler's ahead:

When I read the description for this movie, I thought I was in for some great storytelling. I mean, it stars Smallville's very own Kristen Kreuk! I've never felt so ripped-off in my entire life.

Where to begin with the problems? First of all, there's some weird genie character who's freed from a frozen lake - yes, a lake - by the tears of Snow White's father. Don't expect to find out why that genie was put there, just be happy that he's there to move the "story" along... and turn the father into a king with a kingdom and a queen.

But get this, this queen is really the genie's just-as-ugly sister who is desperate to be beautiful. She gets her wish as part of the new king's wish to have a queen, but evidently the king doesn't lover her. So, to make the king love her - and you're gonna LOVE this one - the genie tells his sister to break her mirror. She does this, and all of a sudden, it starts raining mirror shards in the garden, where the king is seen running for cover. Before he can escape, a shard of mirror falls into his eye and now he's head-over-heals for the queen. Oh and wait till you learn just how long that shard stays in his eye. (I need a laughing smiley here.)

I won't spoil the rest of this waste of technology for you die-hard fantasy fans. I'll just leave at these cons:

1. The music is lackluster
2. The acting is pathetic. (excluding the guy who played Willow)
3. Snow White herself is pointless. I just didn't care about her.
4. The mirror changing its mind about beauty is inexplicable and unconvincing.
5. That rainbow the dwarves and 1 regular-sized man ride around on is just ridiculous.

Rating:
Summary: Not what I was lead to believe.
Review: This movie did not deliver what I understood the description to promise. It had moments of greatness, but they were underminded by the ridiculousness of the additions to the traditional Grimm's Fairy Tale.

I love Snow White, played by Kristen Kreuk. Had she been given more to do, or had her life been more visited, rather than focusing on the silly witch-queen, the movie would have been great.

The days of the week were just horrible. Don't get me wrong, the actors were great - Sunday, Saturday (the man who played Willow), and Monday were great - however, they should have been the dwarfs, not the silly days of the week. Wednesday just plain ruined everything. Disney's version of Grumpy was played much better.

This movie is not worth watching...unless you have absolutely nothing better to do. But check it out from the local library...don't pay money to watch it.

Rating:
Summary: Spectacularly Bad
Review: This version hyped itself up to be a dark, seedy version of Snow White. So, I was stoked. Snow White is almost an obsession for me. It's always been my favorite tale. Imagine my dissapointment when I watch this C-Grade version. It's so kiddiefied it's unbearable. Where's the dark? Where's the scary? Nowhere to be found unfortunately. The character of Snow White is so dullingly two-dimensional and good for goodness sake that you just want to smack her. Miranda Richardson tries, but can't get past the shoddy script. The chick from Smallville may be pretty but that's it. The only highlight is Warwick Davis (From Willow) who continues to be one of my favorite actors. If you want to see a REAL dark and scary version of Snow White (that's DEFINATELY not for kids) go and rent Snow White: A Tale of Terror. That'll scare the wits out of you.

Rating:
Summary: a magical experience
Review: This dvd soon became a favorite of mine.the sets and costumes are absolutley stunning and it has much more detail than the disney version.Though the disney version is also a favorite I think that this telling of the classic snow white tale has a better meaning, and that is that snow white was as beautifull as she was because of her good heart.This tale is more realistic and a bit more scary for younger children but it still makes a wonderfull story that you and your family will enjoy for years to come.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful movie! A must have for fairy tale lovers!
Review: This is a terrific movie. I love how hallmark did this classic fairy tale. It is almost as good as the snow queen but snow queen is still my favorite. See my review on the snow queen 2002 dvd. I never liked the original snow white, but I love the hallmark version of it. In fact I bought this movie from amazon. This is a great movie to add to your collection! Enjoy! :-)

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic!!!
Review: There's no use in giving a synopsis here, since most everyone knows the story. But, I can tell you this: Snow White - The Fairest of Them All is the best version in existence...period! I have a feeling that if the Brothers Grimm were around to see this take on their famous tale, they would stand up and cheer! Its dark, mysterious and romantic, not silly and sugar-sweet like some other versions. It is gorgeously shot with great, yet restrained, special effects. Amanda Richardson is a stand-out as Elspeth and Kristin Kreuk is the perfect Snow White.

If you enjoy this production, you will probably find Arabian Nights, Alice In Wonderland, and Snow Queen (each from Hallmark) to your liking as well.

Rating:
Summary: Almost a Great movie but...
Review: The only great actress in this movie is The Evil step-mother and Snow White is plain boring beautiful, they could focus less to find a beautiful Snow White and find a better actress with charisma, then the movie could have been Great. It's a very good movie, mysterious and creepy atmosphere and beautiful landscape and costumes. The dwarfs gets on my nerves, if they will only been dwarfs like they used too and if Snow White will had act good the movie will be a 5 stars but the only person who shine in this movie is Miranda Richardson as the Evil Step-Mother.

Rating:
Summary: Good but...
Review: I would have give 3 and 1/2 stars if I could. This movie have a great creepy magical atmosphere that I like, we cannot really describe how creepy magical it is but we can sense it, it's remind me of early childhood movies that I love who got that type of scary magical atmosphere to it. I think the performance of Miranda Richardson as Queen Elspeth the Evil stepmother of Snow White is Great, she's a very talented actress, she's the one who is the best in this movie. The script is weird but it different and I like it. The mother of Snow White also give a nice acting performance even if we didn't saw her much and also the brother of Elspeth give a very good scary performance, he his so creepy, I had wish to see him more often in this movie. Snow White performance is so boring, she have no character, she just plain beautiful, she had no charisma. The father of Snow White gets on my nerves and also the Little men who one include a little woman and a 6 feet tall man get really much on my nerves. If this movie would have a good Snow White, one who can act and got not just beauty but charisma, that is much more important then beauty and also a good acting perfomance is more important then beauty the movie would have been great and if the little men will only be little men and not the weirds one we saw in this movie. Because you got the Queen, the atmosphere, you only need at lest a good Snow White and good Little men and the movie will have deserve 5 stars.

Rating:
Summary: Amazon needs a zero stars rating just for this film
Review: Where to begin with what was wrong with this film. Could it be the doughy, forgettable Prince Charming? The unfunny anachronistic dwarves? (And one of them is 6' tall, which is a joke I still don't get) The screechy, mugfest of a performance by the usually astounding Miranda Richardson? The expressionless, bland and inscrutable Snow White?

Yes, let's start there. Kristin Kreuk is a pretty girl, but it's evident that's the height of her "talent". See her on the cover up there? That's when Kristin is best-- when she's in front of a camera that doesn't record sound or motion. Otherwise we get her lispy monotone, her wide, inexpressively bright eyes, her lack of body language... and in this film, it's all under about ten pounds of cakey looking white makeup. Why hire an ethnic actress for the part of Snow White if all you're going to do is put her in whiteface? What on earth was the point of that?

But that's the least of Kreuk's worries. Her acting on Smallville has never been noteworthy, but in this, she's downright offensive. I actually found myself laughing out loud when, during a scene in which the Evil Queen's henchman is poised above her with a dagger raised to kill her, she looks up, face blank, and intones without a hint of inflection, "Why?" Yeah, that's what *I'd* do too, hon.

Maybe that's why Richardson's performance seems so overdone by comparison. Next to Snow White and her equally bumbling, tedious father, anyone would appear to be "over"acting.

Unless you're a 15 year old boy with a massive crush on the lead actress who doesn't mind watching 2 solid hours of mindlessness as long as she's in a few scenes, please spare yourself the torture of this horrible movie. Hallmark should be ashamed of itself.

Rating:
Summary: Jealousy Exposed & Happiness Postponed
Review: I have very mixed feelings about this particular Brothers Grimm adaptation. First, I must consider that in the past Fairy Tales have been far from mediocre tales about sanity. Often they are warnings about our most inner desires bringing us certain destruction. This movie deals with jealousy and innocence, kindness and evil.

Caroline Thompson has a great concept at work here, but in places the script falls prey to the cliché. The acting would have been better if the script had been more mature. They seemed to want to make this for children and I could not help hearing the Barney song in the background of my mind when I saw the rainbow and politically correct admonitions. I was disappointed in her naming the dwarfs after the days of the week. I think the names Disney gave the dwarfs were more interesting and would have given them stronger personalities. The acting would have seemed better if all the characters had been given a much stronger script. Yet, this adaptation seems to be reaching further into the past than Disney ever envisioned.

The salvation is in the creativity with which the story is told. It is visually appealing and once you watch the extras on the DVD you will realize this was a low-budget production.

The mirror is fascinating. Not only are there a variety of mirrors, the mirror is broken at one point and contains magical properties. This mirror then becomes a transporter, video camera and weapon. It is no longer just a "mirror, mirror on the wall." The scenes of "raining glass" were wonderfully creative along with the sound effects.

The artificiality of some scenes lend themselves to the "Fairy Tale" appeal. The very fact that the characters are not completely believable at times gives them a certain freedom to be completely evil or completely good.

Snow White (Kristin Kreuk) is incredibly beautiful, but almost solemn in her awakening to the world. She has an almost gothic appeal. As a baby, she is born into a world where apple blossoms fall from the trees into a pond near her home and red rose bushes almost envelope the cottage. Her father John (Tom Irwin) is desperate to save her life after his wife dies after childbirth and tries to make it to a close village. He almost fails and yet his tears awaken a creature frozen beneath the ice. This bewitched creature is able to fulfill wishes like a genie and gives him three wishes. He also unfortunately has a sister who is not quite so kind.

Even as a baby, Snow White was able to sense evil intentions and disliked her new mother-in-law Elspeth (Miranda Richardson) who is part of the wish-fulfillment plot.

In the original story in German, Snow white is born as a princess. In this adaptation, she inherits her royalty through magical means. When the huntsman is told to kill Snow White the new queen asks for her liver and lungs. In this adaptation parents might not appreciate their young children seeing the queen eating "what she thinks" is Snow White's heart.

When the queen finds out Snow White is still alive, she poses as her dead mother instead of a witch. Offering an apple to someone has been known to be a declaration of love or deceit. In this movie, it spells certain death. Snow White is buried in ice instead of a glass coffin.

The queen is not transformed back into her true self until the end of the movie when she is subject to the violence of the "garden gnomes" that come to life to seek revenge. In the real story, she dances to her death in a pair of iron slippers which would not have been enjoyable to watch onscreen. The violence of the gnomes is more "implied."

This is not a calm, happy movie but does have a happy, yet questionable ending. Would any father let such a young daughter ride away with a prince? I think not. In the real story, Snow White grows into an adult while in the coffin. Her hair is still black as ebony, her lips as red as blood and her skin as white as snow.

This movie does contain some violent content I don't think "very young" children should be exposed to although I imagine they might miss some of the implied meanings. This should have been rated PG in some instances in my own mind.

Otherwise, there are elements in this story I really enjoyed, especially the magical elements incorporated into the mirror, castle, roses, forest and the inclusion of various intriguing elements not seen in a Snow White movie to date.