"Snow White and the Huntsman": it's more about the evil Queen, with a taste of Oscar Wilde (who else but Charlize Theron?)

A new twist on the “Snow White” fairy tale comes from director Rupert Sanders and Universal Pictures with “Snow White and the Huntsman”, with Kristen Stewart as the hidden princess Snow White, Charlize Theron (who else?) as the evil queen Ravenna, and Chris Hemsworth as the Huntsman.

Indeed, the story sounds like a concoction from Oscar Wilde (and probably that’s true of the original – I’ve forgotten all this childhood literature).  The Queen captures young women in order to get their youth transferred to her (sounds like Dorian Gray, female side).  After the princess gets away, Ravenna hires the huntsman to capture her so the queen can consume her heart and remain immortal.  Of course, the huntsman becomes Snow White’s protector instead.  That’s not something I could do.

There’s a scene where Ravenna stabs a husband in bed; later she disguises herself as an attractive young man (very metrosexual and smooth) chasing Snow White. All of this is a bit Freudian, and seems like a slap on heterosexuality.

The fantasy world is “fantastic”, although not better than Tolkien and LOTR.  You have trolls, and mushrooms with eyes, turtles with moss – all elements that look like they come from Discovery Channel’s 2005 film, “Alien Planet” (TV blog, May 4, 2012).  More than the case with LOTR, the look of much of the film is that of medieval England.

Universal’s official site for the film is here. Universal skipped playing its own Valkyries trademark music at the opening, which I think it needed.   (Play it loudly on YouTube, with the 100^th Anniversary logo, here).  The film appears to have been shot and processed in Ireland and Britain.