With comic book superheroes getting dibs on their very own big-screen treatment, why do fairytales have to settle for the back seat? This time around, fairytale refuses to be neglected yet again, and is bent on making a comeback tackling its ever-popular tale; Snow White, which has two upcoming movies to offer along the ride. Originally titled "Kinder- und Hausmärchen", Snow White is a 1857 German folk tale from the Brothers Grimm, which sees an emotionally abused, neglected child who still manages to hold together her sanity and good nature, despite being robbed of her birthright from her evil stepmother who repeatedly tries to kill her. In spite of all the unpleasantness, Snow White is a pretty awesome tale that has been remade or re-imagined countless of times, including the well-known Disney animated version in 1937 which we have all grown to love. Now let's run through some of the Snow White movies that have, and will be adapted after the fairytale in the near future.
1. "Happily Ever After" (1993)"Happily Ever After" is an unofficial sequel to Disney's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs", which was produced in 1988 and released in 1993. It featured low budget animation and a typical high fantasy/adventure setting, though with surprising twists. The story this time around, sees the Evil Queen's brother attack Snow White in the form of a dragon and take Snow White's Prince to the Realm of Doom. Instead of dwarfs, we're also introduced to the seven 'dwarfellas'. The movie is a complete reverse from the well-known old Snow White tale where Snow White gets saved by the Prince. In this feminist-like movie, Snow White embarks on a quest to rescue the Prince with the aid of the 'dwarfellas'.
2. "Snow White: The Fairest of Them All" (2001)In this adaptation, Snow White's mother dies during childbirth, leaving baby Snow White and father John for dead on an icy field, who then receives a visit from one of Satan's representatives, granting him three wishes; nourishment for Snow White, a kingdom in which to raise his family and also a Queen by his side. Miranda Richardson as the Evil Queen is 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. Kristin Kreuk (Snow White) looks the part, but doesn't act it as well as expected. The film is a great example of a classic story, one that is so perfect in its original form that there is really no room for improvement. Caroline Thompson known for the screenplays of "A Nightmare before Christmas", "Corpse Bride" and "City of Ember" directed the film.
3. "Sydney White" (2007)"Sydney White" is modern retelling of Snow White set against students in their freshman year of college through the Greek fraternity/sorority system. Sydney White is a re-imagined version of Snow White, in the movie there is no evil Queen but instead a popularity-obsessed evil college mate, and instead of the seven dwarfs there are seven geeks with whom Sydney is friends with. Interestingly, a college networking system that rates "who is the fairest of them all" among the female students of the college replaces the famed magic mirror. The movie stars Amanda Bynes as Sydney White and Sara Paxton as Rachael Witch; the arch-nemesis of Sydney. The movie took a different approach to the story and is quite a diversion into reality from the fairytale world.
4. "Snow White and the Huntsman" (2012)This upcoming movie is also a twist to the well-known fairytale, but only on a very small scale. Starring "Twilight's" mono-expression faced Kristen Stewart as the fairest of them all, in this version, the Huntsman is played by Chris Hemsworth from "Thor", and is ordered by the Evil Queen to take Snow White (Stewart) into the woods to be killed, but instead takes pity on her and trains her to fight the Queen. In a role that was first offered to Viggo Mortensen and Hugh Jackman, audiences are excited for Chris Hemsworth to be back on the screen after the highly successful comic book adaptation for which he played the God of Thunder, Thor. Eventhough the pairing of Hemsworth with Stewart may be cringe-worthy; we hope the movie turns out to be a big-hit next year especially with Oscar winner Charlize Theron playing the Evil Queen.
5. "The Brothers Grimm: Snow White" (2012)For probably what would be the closes adaptation to the original fairytale, "The Brothers Grimm: Snow White" puts a rebellious Snow White who bands with the dwarfs to overturn the Evil Queen who killed her father and destroyed the kingdom. Tarsem Singh ("The Fall") directs with Julia Roberts starring as the Queen, Lily Collins ("Priest") as Snow White and Armie Hammer ("The Social Network") as Prince Andrew Alcott. Director Tarsem who is famed for his artistic movies, informs audiences to expect the strange visual aesthetics of his fairytale, which will feature monotonous buildings contrasted by colourful costumes in what promises to be the most anticipated movie next year.
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