Snow White and the Huntsman is a new version of an old fairy tale, based on the Grimm fairy tale more than the Disney interpretation. The film features an odd mix of actors–which leads to mixed performances–all of whom play versions of the fairy tale as influenced by Lord of the Rings. This is a new way for us to see any childhood fairy tale up on screen and a welcome one at that. Snow White and the Huntsman is beautifully shot and scored but its beautiful look doesn’t help a script that feels too condensed. It’s worth seeing for fans of the tale and fans of epic storytelling, but trying to jam so much story in such a small time forces contracted character development and cliched narrative tropes. This isn’t to say that Snow White and the Huntsman is bad, just flawed.

The story is really straightforward–evil queen (Charlize Theron), in order to maintain her rule is syphoning off the life force of beautiful young girls of the kingdom. The only thing standing in her way is Snow White (Kristen Stewart), once she turns of age she becomes fairest, and all the queen needs to do is take her heart to consumer her beauty and life force, becoming immortal. Snow White discovers this plan and escapes, and the queen sends her brother and a small army after Snow White, led by a local huntsman (Chris Hemsworth) who knows the dark forest that borders the kingdom. The huntsman catches wind of the queens plan and joins Snow White and eventually several dwarves in overtaking the throne as rightful heir.

In between these events we get a very protracted view of Snow White. She is nature, in its purest form. Her connection to animals and nature makes her almost god-like, while the queen is death in the same manner. The spiritualism in Snow White and the Huntsman is well represented and adds a nice touch to the film, but this doesn’t solve the problems of the film.

Surprisingly, Theron is so overtop as the villain it’s often distracting. The vast amount of time in the middle of the film where she is absent is a welcome relief from watcher her scream in such an overdramatic fashion. What’s great about all those villains we love is not their over the top nature, it’s how they’re all so greatly not evil, subtle and in some ways endearing. The queen’s goal is evil, but the goal of our favourite villains is always something more than personal gain. In some sense I understand this, vanity and selfishness are ugly, and Theron understands this and runs with it, but Stewart and Hemsworth are playing on such a different level, with different–and sometimes unclear–goals that though the film is entertaining and really nice to look at, its substance is lacking, but not in a bad way.

I talked about cinematic junk food with Men in Black 3 and Snow White and the Huntsman falls into the same category, but not at a bad level. It’s a really good interpretation of a fairy tale but it could use a little more care in its execution. Some more time, a tighter script and consistent tone and performances would have strengthened the film. See it, for sure, but note that it is good with some flaws.

Also, stick around for the score and a new song from Florence and the Machine…amazing artist if you haven’t heard her yet.