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Snow White: The Fairest of Them All (TV) More at IMDbPro »Snow White (original title)

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37 reviews in total

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13 out of 16 people found the following review useful:
Interesting take on a classic., 19 April 2003
Author: TxMike from Houston, Tx, USA, Earth

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.

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13 out of 18 people found the following review useful:
A nice, modern retelling, 3 May 2002
Author: gapeach17

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.

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9 out of 11 people found the following review useful:
Kristin Kruek SHINES as "Snow White", 17 March 2002

Author: John Nickolaus (nickolausj@yahoo.com) from Maplewood, MN

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!

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5 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
A letdown considering the source and the talent - pretty Grimm., 26 December 2002

Author: Victor Field from London, England

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.

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2 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
The movie bit the apple, 3 September 2006

Author: Dan Phillips from Texas

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Snow White has a few nice turns of dialogue, a plot that feels heavily padded, a few competent actors (Miranda Richardson, Clancy Brown, Warwick Davis), one or two decent effects -- and almost no life at all.

Maybe the movie should have been named "Sleeping Beauty," as it features some nice sets and locations, but they are inhabited by actors who intone their lines almost expressionlessly in an almost stationary, dreamy, sleepwalking fashion.

The only actor who seems to be having any fun is Vera Farmiga, and she dies in the first five minutes. She reappears playing Miranda Richardson being her -- again, for about five minutes. She can't save the movie.

The dwarfs are lifeless and uncompelling. They haven't much to say or do except look uncomfortable, say silly (not funny-silly, but dumb-silly) things, and occasionally participate in a very awkwardly-done special effect (Director: "Everybody crouch a little, then stand up and lean left together; they'll turn you into a rainbow later. It'll look cool, I promise!").

My advice: unless saying "Huh? Okay, whatever" for ninety minutes is your idea of fun, don't bother.

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5 out of 8 people found the following review useful:
A classic updated!, 17 March 2002
Author: michelle hayworth (michellehayworth) from New York City

The dark wonder of the Brothers Grimm, the quixotic imagination of writer/director Caroline Thompson (The Addams Family, Edward Scissorhands), state-of-the art special effects by Reel Elements and the breathtaking spectacle that has become a symbol of Hallmark Entertainment combine for a truly visionary retelling of the classic fairy tale . . .

Born from a drop of blood in a flutter of apple blossoms, and framed in ebony, a young girl named Snow White becomes the blessing of a loving peasant couple, John and Josephine. But with her birth comes a curse and the end of her mother's life. Left alone with an infant daughter, John braves a brutal winter in search of food for his starving angel. Salvation comes unexpectedly when the father's tears melt the frozen tomb of a bewitched creature, the Green-Eyed One. In thanks, the insinuating beast grants John three wishes: nourishment for Snow White, a kingdom in which to raise his family and a queen by his side. But John's cause for celebration is short-lived.

For the Green-Eyed One has devious plans for the well-being of his own family. Owing his loathsome spellcasting daughter, Elspeth, a long-awaited wish, he encourages her desires for appointment to the throne. A kingdom to rule is hers for the waiting, the new King John is hers for the belittling and a luscious little stepdaughter named Snow White, is hers to toy with and destroy at will.

The castle awaits. A looking glass is calling. And a fairy tale like no o ther begins...

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6 out of 10 people found the following review useful:
Could have been better, 18 March 2002

Author: charmedchick from USA

This movie could have been so much better. The sets were beautiful and the special effects were very good. Many of the cast were also good. However, it's very hard to over look the flaws in the script. There were so many parts that weren't explained so you weren't sure why the part was in the movie. Some of the lines were also poorly written. The movie wasn't horrible, but overall it really could have been so much better. I gave it 5 out of 10 stars.

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2 out of 3 people found the following review useful:
Surprisingly Good, 5 January 2006

Author: stuntedvampire from United States

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

To be be honest, I was expecting this movie to be terrible. I'm a big fan of Warwick Davis and bought the movie just because he was in it. What I expected to be a cheesy, poorly acted retelling of a tired fairytale, turned out to be an only occasionally cheesy movie with a few casting mistakes that was reasonably entertaining. The queen's back story and the intertwining of other fairy tales (pinches of Snow White & Rose Red and Snow Queen)make an otherwise predictable story interesting. Miranda Richardson is amazing as the queen to the point where she makes up for the fact that Snow White is just reciting lines and her father is overly dramatic and completely unbelievable. As for the seven, I was disappointed with the flatness of some characters. Script-wise the leader is really the only one with depth, so I can see where some of the actors struggled to show humanity, but when half of them act like they have feelings, and the other half act like they stepped out of a Disney *shudders* movie, is make all seven seem fake. It's still fun to watch, though, if for no other reason than to see Warwick Davis threaten to beat up some one twice his size.

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10 out of 19 people found the following review useful:
Hardly the fairest of them all., 9 August 2005

Author: phillindholm

"Snow White" is a classic story, one which is so perfect in its original form that there is really no need (or room) for improvement. "Snow White, The Fairest Of Them All" is a great example. The story has been needlessly rewritten as if the screenwriter didn't trust the power of the original. Kristin Kreuk as Snow White, looks the part, but doesn't act it. She is sullen and unappealing throughout. And what a waste of the great Miranda Richardson! As the wicked queen, she is as beautiful and compelling as ever, but this adaptation undercuts her fine performance with a terrible back story in which she is originally a hag who is turned into a beauty by her well-meaning spirit of a brother.The Seven "Dwarfs" are played so broadly that they are totally ineffectual. The rest of the film is chaotic and needlessly convoluted. I could go on, but, suffice it to say, that this is not your mother's, grandmother's, or anyone's "Snow White". It's true that the Disney film fell short of being a faithful version of the story, but it compensated with a great deal of charm, only one of the essential elements so obviously lacking here...

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Load of tripe, 16 April 2013

Author: addyjustforregistering from United Kingdom

Put succinctly this film starts out OK, then quickly descends into the most appalling acting and directing I've seen in a long time. The cut to the baby is so badly done it would not credit a first year video student. The story is odd, the special effects next to dire, the acting abysmal, photography average, lighting poor and sets/location poor.

There is only one saving grace to this movie and that is the welcome presence of the fantastic Vera Farmiga. Her skills transcend this movie so much that she ought to have embarrassed everyone in it. I grudgingly accept that Miranda Richardson wasn't dire, but neither was she good. Kristin Kreuk looks like some kind of manufactured doll, and in fact acts like one too.

If you love Vera Farmiga's skills watch this if nothing else than for her: she totally shines. As for the rest, it's an hour and a half of your life utterly and totally wasted.

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