So where do I start?? Let's go w/the movie's visual aesthetic. It literally looked like the majority of the film was underexposed. I sincerely HOPE that the lighting in this movie is meant to visually convey how dilapidated the town is under the Evil Queen's rule, so at least the squinting had a purpose!! But that meant, it was dark for about 70% of the movie. So dark, that I went to customer service at AMC to ask if there was something wrong with the film projector. I was assured that, no that was how the movie is lit. (Please note, I have 20/20 vision.) In the last four scenes of the movie, the director figured out the lighting. Unfortunately, the story is not engaging enough for a viewer to want to sit there for 90mins to get to those last four scenes. Not even the wardrobe was notable!! The performances were solid, but honestly, who knows who Lily Collins is????? You have Julia Roberts playing a notable villain for the first time and you give her Lily Collins to play against??? FAIL #2!!
At the end of the day, if it ain't on the page, it ain't on the stage and the story was just majorly lacking here. I would have respected the film more if it was a straight re-telling of SNOW WHITE, just in live-action, but the auspices tried to re-imagine some of the elements of the story and it was an epic fail. (As noted by the unimpressive, $19M opening.) They even renamed the Dwarfs!!!
If you want to see SNOW WHITE re-imagined, save your $$ and wait for Charlize Theron's SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN to arrive in theaters June 1. They made intelligent cast choices to broaden their audience and created visuals to make the trailer look epic.
