s k And that's about the BEST thing I can say about this mess. It's one thing for a film to go somewhere slowly. This film, OTOH, goes nowhere slowly. What were they thinking? It was a tale of terror, alright. For the viewer. Considering some of the stars in the cast, it makes me wonder what EVERYONE associated with this disaster was thinking. Avoid at all cost. Or you'll wish YOU'D taken a bite out of a poison apple.

CelesteChere I've had Snow White on the brain for a while now, with the coming out of TWO Snow White films and all (both of which were very disappointing btw), I've become nostalgic for this classic tale about a vindictive envious step-mother, a poisoned apple, 7 dwarfs, and a girl with lips red as blood, hair black as a raven, and skin as white as snow.Fortunately, this under-appreciated movie has almost ALL of those things all wrapped up in one. I'm not gonna giggle and tell you all that this isn't anything like the Disney movie like so many of other reviewers have said---mostly because that's gotten old now and it's stupid to sit their and smugly declare that this is no Disney movie when obviously it's most certainly NOT. This is a more adult and realistic approach on the Snow White tale but still has elements of the supernatural and magic."Snow White" is renamed Liliana Hoffman and she actually looks the part of someone with lips red as blood, hair black as ebony, and skin white as snow. The father (played by Sam Neill) has a bigger role in this version (albeit still small) and he's not a king but merely a Nobleman or Lord (whatever), and the 'evil queen' is named Claudia and is really a sympathetic but still rather vain and mentally unstable (played by the always fabulous Sigourney Weaver). The 'Prince Charming' is merely a young doctor who make look like a Prince and even act like one on most occasions, but he's not the one 'Snow White' rides off into the sunset with. The 'dwarves' are reduced to 6 bitter miners and 1 dwarf. The 'magic mirror' is really Claudia's reflection telling her to commit these atrocious things. The movie less childish and more realistic in which Liliana isn't all rainbows and butterflies and the step mother has just reasons to dislike her. The atmosphere, the architecture, the music, the lighting, the camera shots, the scenery, the costumes, ALL of it was just wonderful! What bothered me about this movie would have to be the use of American accents in what is clearly a film set in a European country (Germany I'm guessing?). They never really clarified where this movie takes place, but the American accents are distracting (one of the reviewers on here made a good point on how one of the miners sounds like he's from the Bronx). SMH. I would've preferred they speak in those annoying fake English accents rather than the American ones. I also had a hard time understanding how the miners so quickly changed their minds about Lili, at first they dislike her and mockingly call her 'Princess' and afterwords they mourn her 'death' and then praise her when she's revived. Perhaps if they had shown her saving one or more of them from certain death when Claudia was casting her spells, thus forming an alliance, and perhaps if they showed Lili grow from a privileged snob to an understanding, tolerant, down to earth girl then their change in attitudes towards each other would be more believable. I also think the surviving miners should've been at the final showdown at the Hoffman estate when Lili confronted Claudia, avenged their friends deaths and do something productive to redeem themselves.All in all, I loved this movie and would recommend it almost anyone. 8/10

moonspinner55 Sigourney Weaver appears to have a field-day playing the wicked stepmother of a beautiful princess who is aided by her magic mirror in dispensing with the pesky girl. Gothic rendering of the Grimm Brothers' tale of "Snow White" features wolves and dogs with glowing eyes, a fiancé for the fair maiden who is also ensnared in the stepmother's web, also a motley gang of excavators with bad teeth who suddenly find themselves saddled with the young woman (they have an unexpected change of heart towards her--and she to them--which seems to happen off-screen). Prominent among the miscreants is a lightly-bearded hunk with bedroom eyes (sure, why not!) who touches the princess with his sensitive soul and facial scar. Theatrical production debuted on cable-TV in the US; it isn't badly made, but one can see right away this never would have worked in theaters. The continuity is shabby, the cinematography is murky, and young actress Monica Keena is far too modern as Lilly. Weaver gives it a little kick, and her fiery send-off boasts showmanship if not style. *1/2 from ****

Kenneth Childers The truth is that Grimms' fairy tales were rather dark and bloody. Just read a copy of the unexpurgated versions - out in many different editions - and you will see. From pre-Roman times and onward, Europe had a dark and difficult history. What the Grimm brothers were trying to do was to recreate a pan-Germanic history, and the fairy tales - which they literally collected by traveling around Central Europe and interviewing people, especially the elderly - helped them research folkways, folk beliefs, and old ways of speaking and narrating. What they recorded was marvelous in m,any ways, and not always lovely.We've seen the movie and think that it goes just a bit beyond what the Grimm brothers recorded. However, this version is certainly much more consonant with their work than is the sugary-sweet Disney version. That happens a lot. For example, Johnny Depp's version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is much more in line with Roald Dahl than is the Gene Wilder version.