Blanche-Neige

Hallmark Entertainment's seemingly remorseless quest to film every fairy tale ever made meant that they'd eventually get to the Grimm brothers' tale of Snow White and the seven dwarves - except that as told by adapters Caroline Thompson and Julie Hickson only six of them are dwarves, as part of their development of the classic tale. Unfortunately, you know what they say about the road to hell and good intentions.

"Snow White" also works in a few elements of "The Snow Queen" - the shards of Queen Elspeth's mirror flying into people's eyes and causing them to not see her evil for what it is - but also adds some interesting twists to the yarn; her psychosis is for once given some basis (the Queen's insecurity over the hideousness that is her true self is the ultimate cause for her going over the edge when her mirror informs that it is her stepdaughter, not she herself, who is the fairest of them all), and the septet - the days of the week in... um... corporeal form - are also a bit more defined than the norm. Lovely British Columbia scenery and a fine score by Michael Convertino also help; the problem with "Snow White" is, however, Snow White herself.

Other characters here get fleshed out, but Snow White remains a bit too passive for comfort - it's less the fault of Kristin Kreuk's performance than the basic script and character, but there's only so much you can do with a symbol instead of a person. Miranda Richardson has much more scope as the wicked stepmother, and is clearly enjoying herself (although you do wonder why nobody notices the woman is obviously a few sandwiches short of a picnic), but a few less wisecracks would have helped - "It looks like I finally left you breathless!" she cackles post-poisoned apple delivery.

A lot more wonder would also have helped; "Snow White" is sadly short of magic, and doesn't really take as much advantage of its story as it could (except for the sadly truncated attack of the garden gnomes... not as daft as it sounds, trust me). This is particularly sad considering Caroline Thompson did such a good job on "Black Beauty" and as the scripter of "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and "Edward Scissorhands." It is, however, always good to watch Vincent Schiavelli and Michael J. Anderson (the dwarf from "Twin Peaks") - but fairytale completists, Richardson fans and guys in love with the brunette from "Smallville" will get more from this ultimately dull tale than I did.

Those reliable guys at Hallmark Entertainment are behind this cheapjack adaptation of the classic fairytale, filled with cheesy special effects and familiar faces. It's often an example of so-bad-it's-good entertainment, with plenty of overacting and bizarre situations to take your mind off the shortcomings of the script and set-up.

Certainly compared to the recent likes of SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN, SNOW WHITE: THE FAIREST OF THEM ALL is a cheap version of the tale. Rubbery masks are used for some of the characters, and the CGI effects that do occur are, well, rather cheesy. The acting is hardly of a high standard either: as Snow White, Kristin Kreuk (the world's first part-Chinese Snow White?) is pretty but wooden, while Miranda Richardson can't resist but to ham it up terribly as the evil Queen.

Still, there are better actors in support, and these include Clancy Brown who looks fantastic underneath some truly 'Grimm' make-up. Warwick Davis unsurprisingly appears as one of the dwarfs, and there's a nice comedic turn from the underutilised Vincent Schiavelli. Watch out for Vera Farmiga in an early turn.

This is probably very un-American of me to say, but I never liked Disney's "Snow White", mainly because Snow White herself is such a twittering bimbo! There, I said it. On with the review:

I was very surprised at how good this version of "Snow White" was. The genie was cool, if a little creepy, and the acting is great. The highlight has to be the dwarves. Their names are days of the week and they travel by rainbow. One of them is even a girl! Faces to look for in the dwarf cast: veteran fantasy film star Warwick Davis ("Willow", "The 10th Kingdom"), as Saturday, Michael J. Anderson ("Twin Peaks") as the sweet leader dwarf Sunday, and Vincent Schiavelli (Uncle Enyos on season 2 of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer") as the negative Wednesday. The latter is an odd choice: he's not a dwarf at all! Oh, well.

Sadly, the biggest drawback is none other than Snow White herself. Kristin Kreuk ("Smallville") is unforgivably bland as Snow White. She's a stunning beauty, but little else. To break it down, Snow White's gone from having no brain to having no personality.

Still, "Snow White: The Fairest of Them All", is a treat for Hallmark movie fans. Catch it when it comes on video.

It's not your traditional version of the Grimm's famous story, but this effort by Hallmark Entertainment (distributed by Disney) certainly has it's merits!

Caroline Thompson's script tells the traditional story of the princess with "skin as white as snow" and the jealous stepmother who wishes her stepdaughter dead. But Thompson decides to elaborate the story with several touches of her own. For instance, Snow White's father, John (played by Tom Irwin), releases a "jinn" or "genie" type creature (Clancy Brown) from a frozen prison in the ice. To show his thanks, the creature grants John three wishes: 1) milk for his infant daughter, 2) a kingdom, and 3) a queen. But the candidate chosen to sit at King John's side, is none other than the creature's hideous sister, Elsbeth (Miranda Richardson). As an "act of kindness" to his sister, he transforms her blemished skin to worldly beauty. But King John's heart still lies with his dead wife, Josephine (Vera Farmiga). So, Elspeth's first spell of manipulation is cast.

Another added plot twist borrows from another Grimm's story, "Snow White and Rose Red". Queen Elsbeth lets her raging hormones get the best of her when Prince Alfred (Tyron Leitso) spurns her lusty advances. For revenge, Elsbeth turns the prince into a bear, who then seeks out Snow White to help break the spell.

In a psychological twist, Esbeth disguises herself as Josephine, Snow White's mother, when she delivers the poisoned apple. Quite clever.

Hallmark Entertainment regular Miranda Richardson is perfectly cast as the woman who's sole existence rides on being "fairest in the land". In her usual brilliant way, Richardson's performance is deranged yet humorous all at once.

Kristin Kreuk (WB's "Smallville") as "Snow White" gives a deeper performance than one would expect. Rather than turning the princess into a sugary sweet victim, Kreuk brings out the human qualities of a teenager who longs to be seen as more than the beauty she is. Because of Elsbeth's spell on him, her father ignores her. Her stepmother hates her. The visiting prince swoons over her. The poor girl simply wants to be loved and known for the person behind the beautiful face. Kreuk was the perfect choice.

The seven dwarfs are creatively reworked as the creatures that control the weather. They travel around the countryside as a rainbow, with each of them playing a different color. Named for the days of the week, each dwarf's personality comes from the old nursery rhyme' "Monday's child is fair of face, Tuesday's child is full of grace.....". Warwick Davis, of Ewok fame, plays "Saturday". Davis is no stranger the Snow White story, having performed in and directed many pantomime productions in his homeland of England. In another creative twist, Vincent Schiavelli plays "Wednesday"....the only "dwarf" over 4.5 feet tall! Michael J. Anderson (Twin Peaks) plays "Sunday" the kind-hearted sympathetic leader of the "magnificent seven".

As in anything she is in, Vera Farmiga is wonderful. She is under used sadly, as Josephine is buried for most of the film. Thankfully she is brought back for the famous apple sequence.

If you are expecting a live action version of the Disney 1937 classic, you will be greatly disappointed. The film rides on it's own merit and will hopefully become another family classic. Thanks Hallmark!

First I want to say with a certain amount of authority (50 years of movie-watching) that the total of about 37% "1" and "10" votes for this movie are equally bogus. It is neither. The median rating of near "6" or "7" is about right.

I like Kristin Kreuk (Lana Lang of Smallville TV series), she is so cute, she is a perfect pick for Snow White. I expected to see essentially the same story as told in the classic Disney animated feature, but it is quite different. On the DVD extra the writer/director explains that this version is more in line with the original Snow White tales that were handed down from olden times.

It is quite well done in places, and the use of "days of the week" to name the 7 dwarves, the use of rainbow colors to identify them, and the inclusion of one 6 ft, 4 inch "dwarf" help make it interesting. Maranda Richardson, known best for her work as Ms Tweedy in CHICKEN RUN, is really good as the stepmom who wants Snow White dead.

In summary, while not a great film, interesting enough to spend time watching.