Snow White and the Huntsman — a dream cast wasted

**1/2

It’s a pity that this highly polished reinterpretation of the Grimm fairy tale is such a muddle. Snow White and the Huntsman is well-cast, beautifully photographed and features fine special effects work. But from start to finish it feels phony. Characters change their motivations from scene to scene. No one seems aware of what’s going on in the world beyond the space they happen to be occupying. And what was intended to feel fantastical just seems contrived and obvious.

First-time director Rupert Sanders fails to create a cohesive universe at which Peter Jackson’s team succeeded in the Lord of Rings trilogy. So while Snow White and the Huntsman blends similar locations, such as mountain vistas, ominous forests, giant castles and enchanted glades, it lacks the magic and intensity of Jackson’s work and comes off as manufactured and artificial.

What’s worse, Sanders wastes the talents of a dream cast, including Charleze Theron as the villain and Bob Hoskins, Ian McShane, Ray Winstone, Toby Jones, Eddie Marsan and Nick Frost as 6 of the 7 dwarfs. These little people (made small through special effects)  might have been able to raise the movie above a pedestrian level if they had been developed as characters, but instead they are condemned to the delivery of wooden dialogue and are given little to do beyond looking short and carrying differently-shaped pickaxes.

MPAA Rating:  PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, and brief sensuality.