Grimm's Snow White

You’re going to think I’m crazy, but, this film is actually pretty good. Especially for an Asylum production. For those unfamiliar with The Asylum, it’s a film company who is famous for its low budget productions such as ‘Megafault’ (Which turned out to be Brittany Murphy’s last film before her death), ‘Merlin and the War of the Dragons’ and ‘Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus’, though they are more famous for their copycat versions of more famous films, like ‘Sherlock Holmes’, ‘Monster’ and ‘Transmorphers’.

This post is the mockbuster of this month’s ‘Mirror Mirror’. So the plot is Snow White’s father has died, leaving the kingdom to her stepmother, the evil Queen Gwendolyn. The Queen wants to marry Prince Alexander in order to gain his lands and armies, increasing her power. Upon learning from her Magic Mirror that Snow White is now the fairest of them all and the Prince has fallen for her, the Queen orders her death, only for Snow to escape in the forest, where she’s saved by elves.

Yes, I said elves. Okay, while I did say that this film was good, it still suffers from being an Asylum production. In this case, the Asylum version says that a star fell from the sky, creating a viridian flame and spawning two species from it, the elves and a race of giant lizards. Yes, a race of giant lizards. And I’ll say it now, there aren’t any dwarves. You know, for a film which has ‘Grimm’ in the title, you kind of expect the film to be an adaptation of a Grimm story.

That being said, the Asylum didn’t even get Snow White right, namely in this film, Snow White is blonde, and looks more like Alice in Wonderland. What the Hell? Did they not get the “her hair as dark as ebony”. I wouldn’t be so annoyed by this since it isn’t really that bad, but on the front of the DVD box I have, Snow White has black hair. Or at least the one I have has a black haired Snow White, there is an alternate cover. Speaking of the DVD cover, where was the dragon?!

The acting, isn’t bad, it’s actually pretty damn decent. Sure there are some people and moments who give the standard acting you find in a typical Asylum production, but this one actually proves to be the exception. The Asylum has actually hired actors for this! Eliza Bennett, who plays Snow, was in ‘Inkheart’, whilst Jane March was in ‘Clash of the Titans remake’, and Jamie Thomas King appeared in ‘Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy’. I was really impressed with Sebastian Wimmer, especially since this was his first film. I have to say that Jane March did a damn good job as the Queen, especially when she was pretending to mourn the King.

But like I said, this film does suffer from being an Asylum film. There are reused scenes, though not as obvious, and the effects are standard rubbish, so why the writers wrote giant lizards and mutant dogs into it is a mystery. Well, I say that, but the giant lizards were effectively plot conveniences when you want certain characters to die or Snow White to be saved from her first assassination. While the effect used to summon the Magic Mirror is alright, it is obvious that the mouth of the Magic Mirror doesn’t move.

The characters themselves are pretty good too, and this was mainly shown through the actors behind them. The Queen was, of course evil, but she was also shown as manipulative, cruel, wicked, she was truly a dark character. Snow was, of course, her kind and sweet self, and we saw how her character changed from princess to outcast to revolutionary. Alexander was just badass, he knew how to fight, he could formulate strategies, and yet he still had a caring side. How badass was he, he killed a mutated dog or two, then killed a giant lizard! And then slightly bumping his head knocked him out.

So to conclude, yes it’s still an Asylum film and therefore it isn’t going to win at the Oscars anytime soon, the effects are naff and the acting is off in places. But this has to be a serious improvement on your average Asylum production.  The story is good, the acting has vastly improved, the characters are interesting, and the film is actually enjoyable.

Wow, my first review on an Asylum film and it’s a positive one. I need to rectify this. I need to watch ‘American Battleship’!