The Fairest of Them All…

It seems like Hollywood has become very taken with fairly tales, especially with a specific princess named Snow White.  I do not think Snow White has been this popular since 1937, and why should she be? All she really did was be pretty and eat a damn apple.  But Snow White is depicted very differently in two films released this year.  In both Mirror Mirror and Snow White and the Huntsman, she is a kickass warrior princess trying to take back her kingdom.  Both films also explore the role of the evil queen further: why she is evil, why she hates Snow White, how she got her powers, etc.  But that is where the similarities end when it comes to these two films.

Both films are very different when it comes to style.  Mirror Mirror is more theatrical, colorful, and whimsical where as Snow White and the Huntsman is dark, moody, and gritty.  Both films create two completely different worlds that are being destroyed by the evil queen.

The real star in Mirror Mirror was Julia Roberts as the Evil Queen.  Lily Collins, who played Snow White, and Armie Hammer (Prince Charming) were really secondary characters.  Roberts was evil but in a witty and rude way that I very much enjoyed, and Nathan Lane – who played the Queen’s servant – was hilarious, but without a doubt the most entertaining scenes were with the dwarfs (or little people).  Though I am very surprised by how much I did enjoy this film, there were definitely some lose ends.  Because of the film was targeted at a family audience, the studio keep the running time around 90 minutes, which caused a rushed ending.  I would have like to have seen a more rounded ending for the Evil Queen, and, of course, I would have liked to have seen a happily ever after moment (duh).

The supporting cast was also what sold me on Snow White and the Huntsman. I am not a huge Kristen Stewart fan, though I do think she has improved since the release of Twilight, so I kind of enjoyed the fact that she had very little dialog, but lets be real, no one really went to see Kristen Stewart awkwardly play a princess.  People saw this movie because they wanted to see Charlize Theron play a wicked and sexy evil queen, and Thor’s Chris Hemsworth throw around an axe and talk in a mixed aussie/Irish accent.  Hemsworth and Theron did not disappoint, and in all honesty I would have rather the movie just been about them. The plot was more complex than Mirror Mirror, which I enjoyed, and I liked the tiny details, and the theme of magic and life through out the film.  Like in Mirror Mirror, the dwarfs stole every scene they were in, without a doubt.  What really bugged me was the stupid love triangle and the fact that the audience still did not know how that ended. My guess: this because they are planning to do a SWatH2.

So which film was the fairest of them all?  This is difficult because I am truly surprised that I enjoyed these films at all. Visually? Mirror Mirror, but looks can only get you so far.  The fairest of them all when it comes to plot and character development would have to go to Snow White and the Huntsman. There was just more of a story there, and I would go see a second one if they were to make it.