By Melissa Antoinette Garza
“They’re giant dwarves…” Prince Alcott (Armie Hammer)
The movie opens with a king that looks remarkably like the Burger King. He decides that his motherless daughter Snow White (Lily Collins) needs a mother. Thus, he meets and marries the Queen (Julia Roberts).
The King leaves as trouble arises and he never comes home and is thought to be dead. Snow White grows older and the queen grows jealous of her. The story is one we’ve all heard before. The kingdom is in ruins and the only way to stabilize it is to unite the two royal households.
It is Snow White’s 18th birthday and she wants to attend a gala but The Queen says no. All the housekeepers remember and throw her a small party. She gets a pep talk and is told to revive her kingdom as they no longer dance. Snow then sneaks out with the acknowledgement of the workers that they won’t tell the Queen.
Meanwhile Prince Alcott (Armie Hammer) seeks adventure with his companion Charles (Robert Emms) and finds it. He comes across the dwarfs who are wearing some sort of spring pants that make them much taller. They rob the prince and tie him up.
Snow comes across and cuts down the rope. The men fall and she helps them both up. She and Alcott share a moment but then they go their different ways. Alcott ends up at the Queen’s castle. Upon seeing him she decides to have a party so that she could convince the prince to marry her.
As the Queen is penniless, she advises her cohort Brighton (Nathan Lane) to go and collect taxes to the already devastated community. He claims the Queen is protecting them from the beast that lurks in the forest.
Everyone including Snow White attends the galla. She tries to enlist the help of the prince but the queen sees her and she rushes off to face the consequences. When Snow White stands up to her and says she’s the rightful leader. The Queen decides to kill her. She orders Brighton to take White to the forest and feed her to the beast. He decides to let her go but tells the Queen he killed her.
When White awakes she is among the dwarfs who are watching intently over her. They decide to let her spend one night. She cooks and cleans making the dwarfs believe she’s a “keeper.” When they steal money from Brighton, White tells them it’s the people’s money and they need to give it back. Here we learn that the dwarfs were banished as the Queen stated to get rid of all the “undesirables.” They give the money back to the people and decide that they’re going to steal from the Queen and continue to do that. They train her in fighting and thievery skills.
Meanwhile, the kingdom announces that Snow White is dead, and the Queen does whatever she can to get frisky with the prince.
There’s a fight scene between White and the Prince which was really well done and exciting. The back-and-forth between them is sweet and entertaining.
All in all, the movie is a romantic fairytale and the execution is fantastic. It’s a fun film for the whole family.
Scared Stiff Review 8/10
