Thursday, May 31, 2012

DVD Review - Grimm's Snow White

It seems like the old Grimm’s fairy tales are becoming popular again thanks to the television series Once Upon A Time, and of course the lackluster comedy Mirror, Mirror and the dark Snow White and the Huntsman. Early this year The ASYLUM brought out their own titled Grimm’s Snow White to DVD starring Eliza Bennett (Inkheart), Jamie Thomas King, and Jane March on a much lower budget.

    The plot follows the basic Snow White formula, but there are a number of differences. After Snow's father is eaten by a lizard-dragon, Prince Alexander arrives shortly after and offers to marry the now widowed Queen Gwendolyn. After rejecting his offer (for now), the Prince meets the beautiful Snow White and he instantly falls for her. Meanwhile, the Queen’s mirror tells her that Snow is fairer than her, therefore she sends her huntsman to take Snow into the forest and murder her.

    Snow is rescued by elves. The huntsman is forced to kill an innocent man and brings his heart to the Queen, telling her it belongs to her stepdaughter. The Prince is heartbroken, while the Queen is thrilled as her plan to rule the kingdom is unfolding, which includes destroying the elves and taking their magic. The magical elves are the dwarfs in this tale, and they take the poor Snow into their home.

     The Queen finds out the huntsman lied, and she has an elf servant turn her into an old woman. In disguise, the Queen gives Snow not an apple, but a ring, which makes her sleep. Instead of the Princess awakening her with a kiss, he slips the Queen’s ring off and replaces it with his own, awakening Snow.

    The Queen gathers her forces and plans on overthrowing the elves, but the elves have their own small army and Snow White with her bow and arrows. 

   The ASYLUM Home Entertainment nicely sent me a complimentary DVD for this reviews, I was eager to watch Grimm’s Snow White directed by Rachel Lee Goldenberg from the screenplay by Naomi Selfman. Over the years Hollywood has lightened up the dark themed Grimm’s fairy tales, so it is great to see new versions being released this year. As you can see from the DVD cover, Snow White is a blonde in this version. I know this may upset some people, but it didn’t bother me all. In the very early versions, Grimm’s referred to Snow as having “yellow” hair. Also, Disney considered having their Snow White as a blonde in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

    The acting for the most part is good, with Eliza Bennett (Snow) and Jane March (the Queen) standing out from the rest. The CGI special effects are low-budget, as the lizard-dragons are silly, and I’m glad they don’t have that big of a part in the movie. The Queen’s hounds look great when they are up close, but when they are running or attacking the effects are out of sync with the background. Replacing the dwarfs with elves was a nice touch, adding something new to the old Snow tale.One thing does bother me. Why didn’t Snow ever mourn the death the death of her father? She never cried once, she was happy. I was disappointed that the huntsman only brought the Queen a heart, as in the original story he was suppose to bring the heart, liver, and the lungs as proof of Snow’s death.

    I have seen a few other ASYLUM films and I have to say the production quality is better in this film. The film was shot in Austria and all the forest scenes look great. The movie contains a few scenes of violence, mostly involving the lizard/dragon, the hounds, and of the finale’s battle scene, but there is nothing graphic, making this feels like more of a family fantasy. Overall, despite a few flaws, I enjoyed watching the Grimm’s Snow White, and I recommend it to others.







3 comments:

  1. Snow White is one of my favorite stories of all time, I'd love to see this version!

    ReplyDelete
  2. @Nina Say

    Rumpelstiltskin and Snow White are two of my favorite Grimm's tales.

    ReplyDelete
  3. oh it looks good, I can not wait to see it.

    ReplyDelete

I adore reading reader feedback! I will, however, remove all spam and pointless comments.

Please take note that I have the right to delete comments from this site. Please only post constructive and respectful feedback.