That is not to say that Snow White is a complete mess, I did love the costume, photography, lighting and set design, the music has a mystical quality and there are two good performances from Vera Farmiga and Warwick Davis and a great one from Miranda Richardson. On the other hand, Kristen Kreuk is very dull and passive albeit beautiful as Snow White, likewise with Tom Irwin. The dwarfs apart from the one played by Davis are lifeless and devoid of personality, the script is stilted, the pace is sluggish and the story has the basic outline of the original story still intact but the telling of it is dull and uninteresting with some scenes going on for too long. In conclusion, not terrible but hardly a fairytale come true either. 5/10 Bethany Cox

When Josephine (Vera Farmiga) sees the combined images of the white of snow, the black of ebony and the red of blood she voices her desires for a child with such features. In time this does come to pass and Josephine and husband John (Tom Irwin) believe she is the most perfect baby, (who; as we all know, is named Snow white).The Joy is short lived however as Josephine soon passes away leaving widower John to look after infant Snow white.After a moment where he pays his final respects at his wife's grave, the scene cuts to John wondering in the snow. (if you look carefully, you may notice that his footprints show that he has gone round in a circle)> When all seems lost, John's fallen tears thaw the icy prison of a magical being (refered to in the end credits as: 'The granter of wishes, played by Clancy Brown). In exchange for his freedom the being offers John three wishes. The first is a request for milk, which is provided; secondly John wishes "I need my wife back, my queen." The granter of wishes cannot resurrect the dead (Whether bound by law, or it's beyond his powers isn't specified), but can offer a queen and a kingdom to go with her.The granter of wishes offers the position of queen to his sister Elspeth, (Miranda Richardson) but not before giving her a whole new look. Elspeth seems to posses much the same magical power as her brother, but she is not as kind hearted.Much of the story follows as most people know it, with the infamous "Mirror, mirror, on the wall...who is the fairest of them all?" line been repeated several times in one part by a very vain queen Elspeth. (Watch as she pulls a face and still gets her desired answer ;)) When suddenly Snow white (Kristen Kreuk) is fairest of them all this throws the queen into a fit of jealousy. Speaking of Snow white, Ms Kreuk plays a rather sassy version of her, as the following lines from the movie may show:Prince Alfred: Princess, you are so beautiful. Snow white: I am not; the queen is beautiful.Hector: The queen craves rabbit stew for breakfast. Snow white: You know that if there are any rabbits in the traps I'll just let them go. I'll go to the palace by myself. Hector: No you mustn't! The queen has ordered that I escort you. Snow white: I'm not afraid of the dark Hector.Snow white: If I was wearing one of the colours; say yellow... Wednesday: Yellow? That's my colour! First you steal my horse, now you want to steal my colour? Snow white: I did not steal the horse. (Actually, she did).As for the 7 dwarfs, apart from been named after the days of the week, and pertaining to one of the 7 colours of the rainbow, which they can magically create and travel by, they are also responsible for the weather. Quote:- (while in the process of creating a storm) Saturday: Ah Wednesday, you're back, the teapot. Wednesday: I can't. Saturday: What do you mean you can't? Oh! Ha ha ha good joke, hilarious now hand it over.The movie reaches its critical scene with the infamous poisoned apple (carefully coated with what appears to be wax on one side to be poison free). The queen disguises herself herself as Snow white's dead mother in order to deliver the apple, quite a contrast in character for Vera Farmiga from when she played the real Josephine at the beginning of the movie.False Josephine: (after Snow white bites the apple) No breath my dear? Oh, it looks like I've finally left you breathless. (wicked laughter follows as she leaves).When Elspeth attempts to remove the 'Josephine' guise and return to her queenly form she instead becomes a gnarled crone (Karin Konoval) with an even more grotesque appearance than before her brother gave her a magical makeover. It becomes apparent that it is her brothers doing as he explains: GOW: Elspeth, I gave you a life that would make anyone happy, but... Crone: But? GOW: Look what you did, she was no threat until you imagined her to be one.

Not the cloying Disney musical (sorry, I've never liked that film) but a modern retelling of the story, a live-action version originally done for TV. This Snow White is a little different in that it's told by a woman with a woman's point of view.The story is pretty much like the Bros. Grimm version, with a few notable changes. One of them is a pretty good performance by Clancy Brown as the Green Eyed One, from whom much of the impetus of the story flows. Freed from an icy prison by Snow White's father, John (Tom Irwin), the Green Eyed One gives John three wishes. Which is how John ends up being a king, a job he isn't suited for and doesn't do very well. Sadly Snow's mother died when she was young, and so John really wants a queen. Enter Elspeth (Miranda Richardson), the Green One's sister and a hag until he works a magical nip/tuck on her. Of course now that she's a flame-haired hottie, she wants to be the only game in town, a status which is threatened by the blossoming princess Snow (Kristin Kreuk). Yeah, there's some silly stuff about dwarfs in there as well.This Snow White is more about two women in transitional stages of their lives and how they can't deal with it. Snow doesn't want to be a grown up, and Elspeth doesn't want to grow old. Both of them reject their change in status, which leads to predictably bad results. Snow ends up running away and hiding amongst the dwarfs (who are given names of the week and clad in the colors of the rainbow here). The dwarfs are mostly amiable oafs except for Tuesday (Vincent Schiavelli) who stands six-five and complains about everything. Oh yeah, there's also a prince (doesn't there have to be?), played by Tyron Leitso, but better known as Jaye's neo-boyfriend from Wonderfalls (Jaye sort of would have been at home here, with talking dwarfs and flying mirrors and all).The production design is a little on the cheap, which is to be expected from a TV movie, but what they lack in scope they make up for with spirit. The dwarf costumes are all fanciful, and the few sets are creatively decorated and very striking. Kreuk looks very princessy, and Richardson is suitably attired for an older woman trying to pretend she's younger. Clancy Brown is also well-hidden behind some nice fantasy make-up.The story's a little trite, especially when we have to focus on Irwin's incredibly weak John; but the dwarfs are more or less fun (led by Michael J. Anderson, best known as the backwards talking dwarf on Twin Peaks) and Richardson vamps it up pretty well. Kreuk comes off as oddly unappealing (a real feat for her); we never warm up to her Snow at all, and I really think we're supposed to.Overall this isn't a bad rendition of the story, but it's not a great one, either, and probably for most people Disney's version will reign supreme. I like the attempt at imbuing an old tale with some modern sensibilities, even if they did dumb it down enough to make it kid-friendly. Snow White isn't something you should spend a lot of time tracking down, but might be worth a bemused spin on the DVD player should you stumble across it.

SPOILERS within--be warned.Okay, y'know how you sometimes hear from people "This movie is horrible. It's so bad it's funny!"? I never really understood what that meant until I saw this telefilm. This was broadcast in 2001 but it was filmed in 2000 (I think) because it was supposed to be Kreuk's very first starring role. There are some familiar bit players as dwarfs and wannabe dwarfs, but the only serious player in the whole company is Miranda Richardson. Suffice it to say, everyone took a break but managed to collect a paycheck. The script is absolutely horrible, the key to what's wrong with everything else. Nobody gives a quality performance and none of the characters are even likable. Richardson can't save the project on her own and this is Kreuk giving her most bland, raw delivery--and that's saying something.I have no clue where they got the idea to make Snow White's father an ordinary man who was made into a prince by a jinn (a rather demonic Western genie who looked like he'd have been more at home on an episode of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys) or why they made the wicked Queen a hag sister of the jinn who spent her days turning unsuspecting dwarfs into lawn figurines, but really just wanted to be beautiful and adored. However, it was very jarring, silly, and unconvincing. Also, the character of Snow White rails at being labeled beautiful but is trapped and suffocated by what amounts to an enchanted shawl while doing chores in the forest because it catches her eye and she comments "How beautiful!"There is only one scene in this mess which is absolutely priceless. Richardson's wicked Queen, having disposed of Snow White through the suffocating shawl--or whatever it's supposed to be, retreats to her room of wall-to-wall magic mirrors and with the source-mirror in her hand asks a variation on her famous question"Mirror, mirror in my hand, who is the fairest in the land?"She's asked the wall question twice (that we've been shown) and been given two answers. The mirrors illustrate each answer so that if things work out the way she wants them to, she'll be surrounded by sentient reflections of herself gesturing, smiling adoringly, and saying "You are" over and over again--quite the booster for her fragile ego. When Snow White outshone her, she was instead surrounded by magic reflections of Snow White repeating "I am."What's funny about this scene is, after a hard day's work of evil magic to get rid of her rival, the Queen reclines and asks the mirror in her hand (the source-mirror) the famous question, and a living reflection of Snow White pops out of the mirror--says "I am" and gives the Queen a quick kiss on the mouth before disappearing back into the mirror. The Queen shrieks in horror, rage, and agony--the emotions I felt as I sat through this telefilm.