Whaddya know, a Cannon Movie Tale that didn’t make me cringe once. Maybe it’s just the Christmas spirit getting started I’ve had this queued for ages just ‘cos it has Nicola Stapleton in it as the young Snow White, and I was really surprised by how much screentime she has – more than half the movie – making it almost worth watching “just for her” even more than Hansel and Gretel, where she played Gretel. And it kinda makes sense, too – kids watching I’m sure will get much more out of someone their own age being the one who first encounters the dwarves etc. Anyway, needless for me to say, Stapleton is irresistibly lovable with her long black hair, the camera barely leaves her alone, and she gets to sing more than a handful of songs. “Daddy’s Knee” is just so cute it makes you sick, lol. The other songs are really surprisingly good, too … sometimes almost too good, lol (“Everyday I seem to grow / Isn’t it lucky I have learned to sew?” – shut up, I loved that line, lol)

Another thing this one does, something people are always criticising fairytale movies (especially Disney ones) of avoiding, is really deliver on the creep factor at times, like say when Snow White looks into the mirror herself, or the Queen telling the woodsman to bring back her liver from the forest, or even worse the Queen’s ending – which, while not quite as creepy as Terry Gilliam’s Brothers Grimm, will certainly give some kids nightmares. I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed this one, and I’d almost be more happy to watch it again than the Disney version – though I’ll admit that’s probably mostly the Nicola talking.

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 24th, 2007 at 1:35 pm in 4 hearts, Movie Reviews and tagged as cuties, fairytale, musical. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.