Snow White and the Huntsman
Universal Pictures | Release Date: June 1, 2012 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
57
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 39 Critic Reviews
Positive:
18
Mixed:
17
Negative:
4
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertMay 30, 2012
Snow White and the Huntsman reinvents the legendary story in a film of astonishing beauty and imagination. Read full review
80
SalonAndrew O'HehirMay 30, 2012
I resisted this derivative mishmash of classic fairytale and modern epic fantasy for as long as I could, but ultimately it swept me up into its geeky but manly embrace and carried me away on a white charger. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleKimberley JonesMay 31, 2012
Ambitious, brutish, ruthlessly unromantic – has the right idea casting its heroine as a Joan of Arc-type crusader and its evil queen a dissertation (albeit first draft) on beauty as the most direct path to power for the disenfranchised female. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliJun 1, 2012
Attempts to inject a little humor via the antics of the dwarves don't work, especially since one of the little people is killed early in the proceedings. No one's going to be singing "Hi ho! Hi ho! It's off to work we go!" after that happens. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick GroenMay 31, 2012
Yes, there are many splendid reasons to see Snow White and the Huntsman – enough, maybe, not to care that neither Snow White nor the Huntsman rank high among them. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaMay 31, 2012
A surprisingly fine, fantastic movie it is. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsMay 31, 2012
This is a violent film. It's rougher, in fact, than "The Hunger Games." Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyMay 31, 2012
It is an absolute wonder to watch and creates a warrior princess for the ages. But what this revisionist fairy tale does not give us is a passionate love - its kisses are as chaste as the snow is white. Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternMay 31, 2012
An evil spell nearly does Snow White in, but it's lifted in the nick of time. The strangest spell afflicts Kristen Stewart; she can't seem to imbue Snow White with anything more than a semblance of feeling. That spell never lifts, but it doesn't make much difference in the end because the forces of good manage to work around it. Read full review
70
The New York TimesA.O. ScottMay 31, 2012
Though it is an ambitious - at times mesmerizing - application of the latest cinematic technology, the movie tries to recapture some of the menace of the stories that used to be told to scare children rather than console them. Read full review
70
TimeMary PolsMay 31, 2012
Rare among the recent fairy tale adaptions (from "Mirror Mirror" to the dreadful "Red Riding Hood") the invigorating Snow White and the Huntsman actually breathes new life into an old story. Read full review
70
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzMay 30, 2012
Never quite delivers on its promise -- a dark retelling of the fairy tale in which women hold the true power, good and evil -- but it certainly is an attractive misfire. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinMay 28, 2012
The movie's revisionist tone is startlingly enough to carry you along. Read full review
67
Portland OregonianShawn LevyMay 31, 2012
If you've a mind to see a classic fairy tale rendered as an action movie, and if you want to see a sizeable handful of fine English actors have grand fun playing grizzled dwarves, there are worse ways to spend two hours than in the company of Snow White and the Huntsman. Read full review
63
New York PostLou LumenickJun 1, 2012
The nearly two preceding hours often feel like three, as the patchwork script keeps introducing characters and subplots and dropping them, all while rushing characters through eye-popping environments. Read full review
63
USA TodayScott BowlesMay 31, 2012
One of those movies that makes for a fantastic trailer. Much beyond that can feel like repeat viewing. Read full review
63
Rolling StonePeter TraversMay 31, 2012
Snow White and the Huntsman is definitely a missed opportunity. Sanders was on to something in taking the Snow White tale to its most menacing extreme. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy BurrMay 30, 2012
Just feels like it was made from the pieces of every fantasy-action movie ever made. Read full review
60
Chicago ReaderTal RosenbergJun 2, 2012
The CGI effects are so slick that they undercut the movie's shock value, and the action moves too quickly to instill a real sense of fear, but this is still visually impressive, with spectacular make-up, costumes, and cinematography. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanJun 1, 2012
It's Theron who owns this film, imbuing her deliciously depraved Queen with furious pain and deep-seated fear. Read full review
60
MovielineStephanie ZacharekMay 31, 2012
Why can't heroines just be heroines anymore, instead of micromanaged personalities who may as well have the words "Role Model" tattooed across their foreheads? Read full review
60
Boxoffice MagazineKate ErblandMay 31, 2012
It's hard to imagine who will thrill to this violent, gorgeous, and empty film. Read full review
60
Time OutKeith UhlichMay 29, 2012
The rousing speeches and booming battle scenes are all well done as far as blockbuster spectacle goes, but you can't help but feel the filmmakers' resistance to the story's grimmer undercurrents. Read full review
60
EmpireDan JolinMay 28, 2012
A strong visual style tussles with flaccid storytelling in this ambitious retelling of Grimm. It won't exactly have Walt Disney spinning in his secret ice chamber, but you may wish they spent more time worrying about what exactly the film is than who it's for. Read full review
60
Total FilmJosh WinningMay 28, 2012
A visually inventive, deliciously dark fairytale reheat. The story's far from the stuff of legend, but Theron makes for a ferocious meanie, helping to flush away "Mirror Mirror's" sugary aftertaste. Read full review
58
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerJun 1, 2012
Some of the fairy tale effects are marvelous; but the odyssey from darkness to light is unduly long and sloggy, and Stewart, with her contemporary edge, seems to be acting in the wrong era. Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanMay 30, 2012
A tastefully overbearing franchise fairy tale with a handful of ravishing touches. Read full review
50
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallMay 31, 2012
I spent several minutes not caring what was happening with the story but just observing the patchwork illusion of oversized props, short stunt doubles and computer grafting of big faces on small bodies. Nice work. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyMay 31, 2012
A bold rethinking of a familiar old story and striking design elements are undercut by a draggy midsection and undeveloped characters in Snow White and the Huntsman. Read full review
50
VarietyBrian LowryMay 31, 2012
Handsome but hollow, Snow White & the Huntsman is easily among the stranger additions to a roster of rebooted fairy tales. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineEd GonzalezMay 30, 2012
As feminist fantasy, the film is non-committal, and as a reimagining of the fairy tale, it's at best expensive-looking without seeming wantonly so. Read full review
50
Village VoiceNick PinkertonMay 29, 2012
For all this Snow White's visual ornamentation, there's no sense of narrative priority - the filmmakers can't see the Dark Forest for the trees. Read full review
45
NPRLinda HolmesJun 1, 2012
What dooms Snow White and the Huntsman is ultimately not how over the top it is, but how dull it is. Read full review
42
The A.V. ClubTasha RobinsonMay 30, 2012
There are complicated elements at work here, with threads of curdled vengeance, victim entitlement, and insanity bound together in ways it would take a much smarter film to unravel. Snow White And The Huntsman doesn't try, and the film just keeps getting dumber as it goes along. Read full review
40
The GuardianPeter BradshawMay 31, 2012
The result is tangled and overblown. Read full review
38
Miami HeraldRene RodriguezMay 31, 2012
In Snow White and the Huntsman, this talented but woefully miscast actress (Stewart) is expected to rally an entire army of soldiers, even though she usually looks like she forgot the combination to her locker. Read full review
30
SlateDana StevensMay 31, 2012
Snow White and the Huntsman, the first feature from British commercial director Rupert Sanders, has its work cut out for it if it wants to be a truly dull piece of junk - but it manages. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleMay 31, 2012
Suffers from a problem in its rhythm. It's not that its pace is too slow, but that it's too regular, and this lack of syncopation makes it feel slow. Read full review
25
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanMay 31, 2012
Overlong, overcrowded, overstimulating and with an over-the-top performance by Charlize Theron as the evil queen Ravenna, the movie is a virtual orchard of toxic excess, starting with the unnecessarily sprawling cast of characters. Read full review
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