Grimm's Snow White (2012)
** (out of 4)
With both MIRROR MIRROR and SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN hitting theaters in 2012, it was only a matter of time before The Asylum struck with their mockbuster. The story is pretty much the same that we're used to as the Queen (Jane March) wants Snow White (Eliza Bennett) out of the Kingdom but when the jobs not done she enters the Enchanted Forrest where the Prince (Jamie Thomas King) comes to her rescue. Being The Asylum, the wood creatures are actually dragons, which is the biggest change in the story. GRIMM'S SNOW WHITE isn't going to make you forget the Disney classic (or even the good silent version) but it's actually not too bad considering who made it. It seems that everyone on board was actually trying to make a good film and not just a cheap rip-off of something else out there, which is often the case for The Asylum. On a technical level the film is rather impressive as it has a professional look and it's put together rather nicely. I'd add that the editing was also good as was the cinematography. Another thing the film had going for it were the performances, which were actually good and I'd say they were much better than what we got in the bigger budgeted MIRROR MIRROR. Bennett made for a good Snow White as she delivered a certain charm and innocence that really came across. Another major plus was March as the Queen. After the controversial start to her career with films like THE LOVER and COLOR OF NIGHT, I was really interested in seeing her today and she was still a beauty and managed to be quite good in the role. I thought she was very good at playing the evil and she didn't have to be cute with it or go over-the-top. Of course, the low budget also means you get some pretty poor CGI effects with the dragons but to be fair the quality is actually a bit better than you'd typically get. Another problem is that after a while the film just loses all of its gas and momentum and quickly dies out. Obviously this film isn't going to be for everyone but it's certainly not as bad as it could have been.
