Themes: Heroic Mission, Knights and Ladies, Fantasy Life
Main Cast: Miranda Richardson, Kristin Kreuk, Tom Irwin
Release Year: 2001
Country: US
Run Time: 90 minutes
Plot
Shown theatrically in Europe and the Middle East in 2001, this live-action version of the classic fairy tale "Snow White" often bids fair to be the grimmest of all Grimm Brothers adaptations. When his wife Josephine (Vera Farmiga) dies in childbirth, hapless woodsman John (Tom Irwin) and his newborn daughter Snow White embark upon a journey which ultimately finds them hopelessly lost in the snowy wastes. Praying for a miracle, John is visited by a seemingly benign spirit called "The Green-Eyed One" (Clancy Brown), who offers to grant John three wishes: Nourishment, a kingdom, and a queen for a wife. Little does "King" John suspect that the Green-Eyed One is actually an emissary for Satan, and that his queenly new wife Elspeth (Miranda Richardson) is the Green-Eyed One's equally evil daughter. The familiar "Snow White" plot takes off from here, complete with Queen Elspeth's efforts to kill the "fair" Snow White (now grown up and played by Kristin Kreuk), her rescue at the hands of seven "little men"--each one a different rainbow color, each one named for a different day of the week--and of course, the last-act arrival of the Handsome Prince, here named Alfred (Tyron Leitso). Balancing its more frightening aspects with slapstick comedy and awesome special effects, the film debuted on American television as Snow White: The Fairest of Them All, and was first broadcast March 17 2002 as an episode of ABC's The Wonderful World of Disney. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Director Caroline Thompson's dark, nearly-gothic take on the Brothers Grimms' familiar Snow White fable shouldn't be surprising given that she wrote Edward Scissorhands and The Nightmare Before Christmas for otherworldly director Tim Burton. This version de-Disneyfies the tale, with the dwarfs -- still short, except for one that stands 6-feet-5 (played by character actor Vincent Schiavelli) -- taking on more human characteristics and the wicked witch (in a fabulously evil turn by Miranda Richardson) motivated for maintaining her looks in order to keep the king (kindly Tom Irwin) interested. Newcomer Kristen Kreuk certainly has snow white skin, but her weightless character is nearly transparent. There's a lot of story in this telling of it, much of it that will go over the heads of little ones expecting a live-action version of the fairy tale. In fact, this one is too scary for them, but adults with a taste for the exotic and the gothic might find it amusing, but far from cathartic. ~ Buzz McClain, All Movie Guide
