Movie Review - "Snow White and the Huntsman" (2012) ****

     I did not want to see this movie. I didn't bother reading any reviews, I just wasn't interested in the story. I was perfectly fine with Disney's original version, which is still one of my favorite hand-animation films. However, at the request of two friends, I joined them for a showing of the movie and I'm glad I took them up on that offer. This is a gem of a movie and it's for this reason that I continue to enjoy cinema as my favorite art form. You just never know when you're going to find that next surprise. It's one thing to go into a movie with high expectations and be satisfied, like I was recently with Prometheus. But when you go into a movie with zero expectations and come out raving about what you have just seen, those are the movies I love talking about the most. And it's that continuous search for the next one that lands me in the theater on a regular basis.

    Snow White and the Huntsman follows the story we know fairly closely but definitely veers off into it's own direction at times, most of them with great success. Kristen Stewart of Twilight fame stars as the title princess who is imprisoned by the evil queen Ravenna (Charlize Theron) following the betrayal and murder of Snow White's father. When the magic mirror on the wall reveals to Ravenna that Snow White is the fairest in the land, Ravenna sends her brother Finn (Sam Spruell) to fetch the princess. Snow White utilizes this opportunity to escape and heads for the Dark Forest. Ravenna dispatches a hunter (Chris Hemsworth) to capture Snow White, but once he finds her he feels for her and decides to help her escape the queen's army. Snow White and the huntsman form a bond and he becomes her protector and trainer in an attempt to remove Ravenna from the throne, placing Snow White as the true ruler in order to bring peace to the kingdom. They are joined in their quest by William (Sam Claflin), childhood friend of Snow White who feels guilty for leaving her behind when the evil queen took over and he escaped. On their adventures we encounter a kingdom full of interesting creatures, including a troll who proves to be a dangerous foe, and of course a few dwarfs join in along the way.

     This is a much darker telling of the story than anything you have probably experienced in the past, and I enjoyed that aspect of it. I was surprised by how quickly the story hooked me in and it never really let up. There's only some slight pacing issues in the middle third of the film. I feel having about 10-15 minutes cut from the running time would have been an improvement but it's really nitpicking. The visual effects in this movie were the biggest surprise to me. I was reminded of lot of films like Pans Labyrinth, Lord of the Rings, and The Chronicles of Narnia while watching this. It's hard to believe, but this on that same level for sure. Even stranger is that this was made by a first-time feature director, Rupert Sanders. You sir, I will be watching for more of. Bravo. The acting is fine with the only standout performance coming from Charlize Theron as the evil queen. She gives her best performance since her Oscar winning role as Aileen Wuornos in Monster, and is having a great 2012 with this film as well as Prometheus. Kristen Stewart has never been my favorite actress, but she is fine here as Snow White. Hemsworth plays a role similar to his turns as Thor with equal success. Claflin is a bit flat as William, but I've seen worse. But for all the acting choices, this is a directors film and Sanders is the star here as he has put together a visual masterpiece that caught me completely off guard. I can't wait to see more. Highly recommended.