Movie Review: Snow White and the Huntsman

Snow White and the Huntsman was a good adult twist on the original "Snow White" fairytale. The idea was a good one but I thought that the screenwriter could have put in some more lines for Kristen Stewart, Snow White, to work with. Maybe that's why people didn't like her performance but unlike live-theatre the lines in films are always recorded the way they are written in the script unless the director changes it at the last minute which is frowned upon by most film people because you can do so many takes of one scene to get it right, although that does get more and more expensive with each take. So I think that Stewart played Snow White well with what she was given. I know everyone will not agree with me but that's not my problem. This is my review, if you don't agree with it or like it, I do not care and will continue to annoy you with as much purpose as before so get over it. Anyways, the movie had nice names to put on their list of actors in the credits. Charlize Theron was amazing as the evil queen and Chris Hemsworth was a good Huntsman. Throwing in an equally evil brother, Finn, for the evil queen played by Sam Spruell was a twist I didn't expect but it had nice qualities and pulled more elements from the evil queen's side of the story and why she wanted to kill Snow White, (and eat her heart). The Duke's son, William, was played very nicely by Sam Claflin and he was obviously the character with whom you would identify as the prince in other versions but then again things are not always what they appear, more on that later. The music was well written by James Newton Howard and the film was directed by Rupert Sanders.

Scene Shots from "Snow White and the Huntsman"

Snow White's Mother during the opening narration

Young Snow White

The film starts off with a narration by the Huntsman (Hemsworth) on how much a queen wanted a child that was "as white as snow, with lips as red as blood, hair as black as a raven's wings and with all the strength of [the] rose." And soon after a daughter was born to her and she named her Snow White. Snow White grew to a young girl (Raffey Cassidy) who brought an injured bird to her mother.
She and the young William (Xavier Atkins) went and played in an apple tree where William tricked Snow White by saying that he picked the apple for her only to pull it away and take a big bite of it himself. He dropped the apple and Snow White chased him off screen and there was a slow fade out on the apple. The next winter Snow White's mother, the Queen, died. The King's mind was affected by grief and an enemy was able to lure him out into battle while in that state of mind. He and his men rushed up to fight an army of men all dressed in black armor who stood so still on the battlefield that one might think they were statues until the King's army ran into them and they started to fight. But all was not what it appeared. The King's men were able to hit them with sword blows that seemed to turn them into thousands of black glass fragments. The army of "phantom" men were defeated and a "prisoner" was found in a black carriage with chains around her wrists and ankles.

Charlize Theron as the Evil Queen Ravenna in her wedding dress

 Her name was Ravenna (Theron) and the King was so enthralled by her beauty that he married her the next day and that night she took his life and his throne from him. She welcomed a real army into the castle led by her brother, Finn (Spruell), and a fight ensued in which the Duke (Vincent Regan) and his son William were able to escape but as they tried to bring Snow White with them the man holding her on the horse was shot with an arrow and he and Snow White fell in the courtyard and the Queen's men captured her while she was screaming at William to save her and he was in turn yelling at his father to go back for her but the portcullis was shut and there was nothing that the duke could do and so they fled. (Note: this following part is only in the Extended edition.) The Queen ordered everyone that remained to be killed except Snow White for "one never knows when royal blood will be of value." In the theatrical version this is implied and later confirmed except that Snow White was alive. Back to the Theatrical Version.

The Evil Queen and the Mirror Man

 The Queen goes up into a room in which a mirror, which is the shape and color of a cymbal/gong, is brought and hung up on the wall. The evil Queen speaks the words "Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is fairest of them all?" She looks at the mirror and it sort of melts onto the floor and forms the shape of a man under a sheet except it's all in gold colored metal, this Mirror Man (Christopher Obi) tells the Queen that yes, she is the fairest of them all. The camera goes back to where the apple fell below the tree where William and Snow White played and Eric, the Huntsman, continues his narration while we watch the apple and its surroundings slowly die; "So poisonous was the reign of Ravenna that nature turned on itself and people turned on each other. The land died and with it, hope. And all that time, she kept Snow White imprisoned high up in the north tower."

Snow White imprisoned in the North Tower

Evil Queen in Beauty substance

The narration ends and we are in the cell at the top of the north tower where Snow White (Stewart) is kept imprisoned. A woman is brought and locked into a cell opposite of Snow White with whom Snow White speaks with. Meanwhile, the Queen is down in a chamber with a large tub being filled with a watery clay-like milk colored substance. While she waits for it to be full she speaks with her brother about how they were once wretches begging in the streets for scraps. When the tub is full she takes off her robe with the camera behind her so that we can only see her from the waist up as she wades and then sinks into this substance over her head which still has her crown on. She emerges coated in this substance that looks like it is making a plaster cast of her body with her arms crossed over her breast so that they are not revealed. This was obviously suppose to be some sort of beauty treatment but I don't think the writer thought that out enough for the audience to understand. She sort of looks like a white Statue of Liberty without holding the torch or the book. We do not see her emerge farther than her waist before we cut to a scene in the throne room where Ravenna is presented with two prisoners who have been captured leading a raid on one of her supply trains. They are a father and son. The Queen walks over to the son who is kneeling on the floor and he grabs a knife from the guard(who is next to him)'s waist and plunges it into the Queen's side in an attempt to kill her. She pulls it out of her side and there is no blood on it. She then kills the son by only putting her hand on his chest over his heart and you heard the blood pounding and then he is dead on the floor. The guards move to kill the father but the Queen stops them and says to "Let him return to the Duke and speak of the generosity of his queen." We go with the camera and see the waves beating on the cliffs by the castle as an indication of time passage and then we are in the mirror room with the Queen staring at herself in it and using her claw-like finger ring traces the shape of a wrinkle that has appeared under her eyes and she is almost fearful of it as her brother comes to console her and to tell her that he brought her something to help take the wrinkle away. It is the prisoner who was put in the tower opposite Snow White and she is obviously scared and almost sobs as the Queen comes toward her. The Queen lifts her up with her magic and consumes her youth and beauty turning the prisoner into an old woman. We see the wrinkles go away and her face is perfect again.

Evil Queen consumes beauty and youth

The guards then throw the prisoner back into the tower where Snow White calls to her and gets no response. Back in the mirror room the Queen is talking with the Mirror Man who tells her that the reason her powers are fading is because Snow White has come of age, (It's her birthday! in other words), and is more fairer than she. He tells her that to gain immortality and never need again to consume youth or beauty she must eat Snow White's heart. So the Queen sends her brother to fetch Snow White out of her prison cell. We jump to Snow White who sees a bird calling on her prison barred open window. She goes to the window and he hops onto a lose nail in the casement and then flies away. Snow White tugs and finally pulls out the nail only to hear the queen's brother coming up the tower. She rushes to her bed and lies down on it while concealing the hand holding the nail. The brother comes in and tries to almost feel her up but when he gets close enough she slashes his face with it and runs out of the cell closing and locking the door behind her. She goes to try and unlock the other prisoner's door when she sees the old woman that that girl had become. She tells Snow White to go without her and Snow White runs.

She almost gets captured by guards before she escapes through the sewer that leads out to drain in the ocean with a very long drop to actually reach the water however, only after a slight hesitation does Snow White jump in and washes ashore on the beach near the castle entrance. The same bird as before shows her the way to a beautiful white horse on which she gets on and escapes into the Dark Forest only for the horse to get pulled into a muddy bog on the edge of it. She is forced to abandon the horse as the queen's men get closer and then their horses balk at going into the bog and they lose her. Snow White runs into the Dark Forest with really creepy things and branches around her. She accidentally falls into some sort of plant that releases a hallucinogenic gas causing Snow White to see monsters where there are none. She runs and runs until she falls down and passes out. We return to the severely unhappy evil queen berating her brother for betraying her. She tells him to find her someone who can hunt Snow White. Cue quick camera change to a very dirty man getting thrown out of a pub and beat up by a man to whom he owes money. He passes out and is woken up by being dumped into a water trough by the queen's men who take him, clean him up a bit but not too much, and bring him before the queen who tells him to go hunt an escaped prisoner in the Dark Forest. After some "haggling" she promises to bring his wife back from the dead if he brings her Snow White but she does not tell him who she is or why she's valuable.

So the Huntsman leads the queen's brother and his men into the Dark Forest. We move to Snow White who is still passed out on the ground in the forest but then she wakes up and appears to hear the men moving towards where she is. She starts to run again but the Huntsman quickly finds her trail and within a minute or two has caught her by the arm and Finn and his men approach them. As they approach Snow White tries to convince the Huntsman to help her because the Queen is going to kill her. He doesn't  believe her but does a double take when he sees her beauty and this makes him hesitate to give Snow White to Finn and his men. So he asks them what they intend to do with her and Finn says it's none of his concern and that he should keep his word and hand the girl over. This angers the Huntsman and he demands that the Queen keep her side of the bargain before he'll hand over Snow White. Finn stops and makes fun of the Huntsman for actually believing that the Queen could bring back his wife from the dead and that causes the Huntsman to let Snow White's arm go and instead attack Finn and his men with his axe. Snow White runs while this takes place and the Huntsman quickly gets rid of the 2 men Finn brought with him and hits Finn in the stomach with his axe. However, this does no good and he pulls it out of his side and continues to fight. He almost wins but gets knocked down onto the same plants that Snow White hit and they release their hallucinogenic gases which cause Finn to see things and he calls out to the Huntsman or Snow White or both saying "I will find you!" before he passes out. The Huntsman covers his nose and mouth and runs away from the fumes and catches up to Snow White. She starts to scream but he covers her mouth and tells her to stay calm and he releases her. She quickly steals a knife off of him and holds it between them so she is ready to fight if necessary. The Huntsman wants to know who she is and why the Queen wants her. Snow White replies "You should know, you're the one hunting me." The Huntsman winces and feels his chest and finds a bleeding wound so he walks away from Snow White and she goes after him. She finally convinces him to help her get to Duke Hammond's castle without revealing who she really is.

We leave them and find ourselves at Duke Hammond's castle where the man who's son tried to kill the evil queen is reporting what happened to the Duke and telling them the very bad news that the Queen cannot be killed. He adds one more thing that they did not expect. He revealed that instead of dying all those years ago, as previously thought, Snow White is alive. The Duke immediately asks "Where's my son?" Cut to a supply train led by the queen's men traveling through the woods and an ambush occurs led by the Duke's son William (Clafin). They ambush succeeds and we cut back to the Duke's castle and see William and his men bringing in the spoils. The Duke tells him that Snow White is alive and had been kept prisoner by the queen for all these years but she has now escaped from the castle into the Dark Forest. William declares that he's going after her, his father tries and fails to stop him with William telling him that he "Will not abandon her a second time" so he will find someone to help him in his search through the Dark Forest since he does not know it well.

We cut back to Snow White and the Huntsman as they travel through the Dark Forest. Snow White gets caught between to fallen tree limbs that suddenly turn to snakes and she starts to yell and the Huntsman comes and cuts one of the branches in half with his axe which shows her that there weren't really any snakes there and he says "The forest gains its strength from your weakness." He pauses to take a drink from his drinking bag and Snow White asks him why he drinks but he doesn't tell her and instead comes up to her and starts to rip her skirt off of her dress. This causes a bit of stress for Snow White and she tries to keep her skirt and backs away from the Huntsman afraid that he's going to take advantage of her but he only ripped the skirt so that it wouldn't get in the way while they are traveling and she has pants on underneath. When he sees the look on her face he remarks, "don't flatter yourself."

Do you need a bowman?

We go now to one of the villages between the Queen's castle and the Dark Forest where Finn is leading a group of men through the middles of town in the pouring down rain. This is a hunting party. They are stopped by a hooded man who asks if they need a bowman. Finn does not like being stopped and tells his bowman to kill the one blocking their way but the other bowman misses and the one blocking their way shoots two arrows into the current bowman who falls off of his horse and dies. Then the hooded man, whom we now see is William, repeats his previous question. "I said, do you need a bowman?" We see Finn's mouth give a twitch that plainly says umm yes... now we do.

We go back to Snow White and the Huntsman as they travel on through the forest a bit more before he stops her and shows her how to use a knife to kill someone. Snow White says she doesn't think she could do that and the Huntsman tells her that she may have no choice.

Cut to a shot of the evil Queen in the castle garden pulling a small flower (the only flower) off of a tree. She curls it into her fist and opens her hand again as we see black ash/dust fall out of her hand where the flower had been.
Back to Snow White and the Huntsman who have reached the edge of the Dark Forest. There is what looks like a small stone bridge over a ditch filled with water and bones and armor. They pause and the Huntsman pulls a large knife/dagger into a hand where he can quickly use it before starting to go over the stone bridge. They go cautiously and with good reason. Once they reach the middle of the "bridge" it moves and we see it has been the back of a troll they were crossing who now attacks them. The Huntsman tells Snow White to run and turns to battle the troll while Snow White actually stays behind a tree stump and watches the fight and sees that the Huntsman has lost and as the troll raises his fist to kill the now unconscious Huntsman she runs out screaming a sort of imitation roar back at the troll. He stops and his focus changes to Snow White who backs up and falls when the troll roars back at her. However, a curious thing happens and she and the troll stare at each other as the troll calms down and then lumbers away from them just as the Huntsman regains consciousness. He sees she didn't run like he told her to so he repeats it saying "I told you to run." She replies, "If I had, you would be dead."

Snow White and the Troll

We go forward a few hours or so and Snow White and the Huntsman are wading through reeds on the edge of a large lake when they encounter women in boats with bows and arrows aimed towards them. The leader of them says "Only demons or spirits pass through the Dark Forest. Which are you?" and Snow White and the Huntsman tell her they are fugitives of the Queen and the women take them to their village for the night by boat. When they arrive at the village the Huntsman notices that there are no men present and they are told the men are all at war. We also notice as the boat pulls up to the dock that all of the women have scars on their faces resembling tear tracks on their cheeks. Later we find out that they scar their faces on purpose so that they can raise their children in peace without the fear of the Queen taking their girls away to use as beauty victims. After they get to the village Snow White plays with one of the young girls and helps her make a doll while the head woman treats the Huntsman's injury. She finds out that the Huntsman still does not know who Snow White really is and then it is implied that she old him because he comes over to Snow White and the girl and after the girl leaves he confronts her about it and asks why she didn't tell him before. Snow White simply says "I didn't trust you." Later that night when everyone is going to sleep for the night the head woman sees the Huntsman leaving the village and she goes after him to ask him why he is abandoning Snow White now that he knows the truth. He believes that Snow White is safer with the woman and then continues to leave. We go back to the room in a the thatched hut where Snow White is sleeping and an arrow suddenly shoots through the roof and hits one of the supporting posts in the hut but it is a fire arrow and the whole house soon goes up in smoke. Finn and his men have finally come to the village to get Snow White and so they try to burn her out so that they can get her. Snow White quickly helps all of the women and children evacuate into boats that they row away from the burning village. The Huntsman turns around where he is and sees the glow of fire coming from the village. He automatically starts running towards it and when he gets there he tries to find Snow White meanwhile William is in the group of Finn's men while pretending to be a helper to them. He is also looking for Snow White and at one point he sees her and runs after her but she sees him and runs faster then a burning tree branch falls in between them and for a moment their eyes lock on each other's and we see that William recognizes Snow White but she doesn't recognize him and she turns and runs off. As she is getting in the boat to leave with the others one of Finn's men grabs her and starts to take her away but he is stopped when the Huntsman comes and saves Snow White and he takes her and they wade through the edges of the lake away from the burning village and from the scarred women.

We leave that seen and return to the castle where the evil Queen is in her room alone. She has aged and no longer looks very young or beautiful. We see her back with the bones visible as we start the scene and most of the scene is a memory of the queen's own mother being capture and taken away from her and of the spell that her mother put upon her. She made beauty her daughters power and protection by using fairest blood and she warns her daughter that the spell can only be undone with fairest blood and that she should be wary. We leave the Queen with a tear running down her cheek.

We arrive back with the Huntsman and Snow White crossing a small river in between mountains. They fall down in exhaustion when they reach the other side and the Huntsman tries to apologize for leaving Snow White but she keeps saying "You left us!" and she is greatly distressed. Finally the Huntsman promises to take her to the Duke's castle and strokes her face but then they are greeted by the eight dwarves (Yes EIGHT dwarves not seven) in the fashion of being strung up by their ankles and beaten while the dwarves look for valuables on their persons.

The Eight Dwarves

Now this is a moment where I want to say when you look at this movie and you want to find the gems in the cast look at the dwarves and you'll find buried treasure there. There are eight of them, not seven as most people assume since the Disney version is named Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. I will start with Muir the sort of Seer/Priest/Soothsayer. He is played by Bob Hoskins who has played many roles but the one i recognized the most was the character of "Winston" in Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties. Coll is played by Toby Jones whose most recognizable and very famous character played was the character of "Dobby" in the Harry Potter movies! Beith is played by Ian McShane who was "Blackbeard" in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. Gort is played by Ray Winstone who was "Mr. Beaver" in The Chronicles of Narnia. Nion is played by Nick Frost who was "Flynn" in  Ice Age: Continental Drift. Duir is played by Eddie Marsan who was "Sgt. Fry" in War Horse and "Etheridge" in V for Vendetta. Quert is played by Johnny Harris who was also in War Horse playing the recruiter. And last but not least is Gus played by Brian Gleeson the son of Brendan Gleeson who was "Mad-Eye Moody" in the Harry Potter movies. So all in all, a very nice line up of dwarves that, unlike most movies with dwarves, were played by normal sized people made to look like dwarves.

Ok now back to my summary. Snow White and the Huntsman are captured by the dwarves and strung up by thier heels whilst the dwarves talk about them and beat them. After Snow White tells them not only who she is but that she's being hunted the dwarves take her and the Huntsman to a place called "Sanctuary," it is the home of the fairies. Now this set and set dressing are the best out of all of the ones in the movie. You have to see it to believe it. They settle in there for the night and they have a peaceful evening and go to sleep. In the morning, Snow White wakes up first and finds out that 2 fairies were the influencers of the birds who helped her out of the castle. They beckon to her to come with them and then head into more of the sanctuary. The dwarves slowly wake up as she gets closer to the tree in the middle of sanctuary where an extremely large white deer waits for her to come to him. His rack of antlers is not only huge but also looks like actual tree limbs instead of antlers. He is extremely large and putting two and two together you will find that he was the horse that helped her escape into the Dark Forest. The dwarves and the Huntsman stand and watch with awe as the deer blesses Snow White in an antler embrace sort of. This moment is so beautiful and then the deer is shot with an arrow meant for Snow White by one of Finn's men. They have found her again. A chase sequence ensues with everyone running in opposite directions to confuse the men. Each man falls eventually to one of the dwarves or the Huntsman or William who reveals his true identity to Snow White and helps her defeat the rest of Finn's men. As this happens the Huntsman goes straight for Finn and they have a fight where in Finn tells the Huntsman that he was the killer of his wife. Finn is about to win when suddenly the Huntsman shoves and holds him onto the sharp root end of a tree. Finn's sister, the Queen, is affected by what is happening to her brother who asks her to heal him but the Huntsman shoves Finn harder onto the tree and the Queen can't do anything without losing her beauty and youth and so she asks his forgiveness before pulling his youth out of him as he dies. Back in the castle the Queen crumples onto the floor crying. Back with Snow White, William, and the dwarf Gus we are startled as one of Finn's men who is somewhat injured come and shots an arrow at Snow White but Gus leaps between them and takes the arrow instead whilst William shoots the other man with his bow. Snow White cries and sobs as Gus dies making the eight dwarves only seven. That night they burn him on a funeral pyre and they promise to stay with Snow White and accompany her to the Duke's. During a celtic sounding song they show a series of shots of the company traveling through mountains and hills in the mist and rain. They eventually reach a forested area with snow everywhere. We see everyone asleep in a circle except for Snow White who is walking through the woods alone. She hears a twig snap and looks up startled to see William walking behind her. They talk a bit about what will happen when she's queen but when she asks him a question and his answer does not match her memory then she kisses him and pulls away to see him holding an apple, like he did when they were very young. Snow White grabs the apple from him saying "I remember that trick." William says in an odd sounding voice and with an odd expression "What trick?" Snow White just smiles at him smells the apple and then suddenly takes a big bite out of it. Then Snow White realizes that this apple is not right, it is poisoned and she can't believe that William would do this to her but as she is coughing and gagging and trying to breathe William takes on a different persona and talks to her while she stumbles through the woods. The camera cuts back to the fire pit where everyone is sleeping aoundand the Huntsman wakes up and sees Snow White isn't there he then turns and shakes William's shoulders to wake him up.

The Evil Queen appearing after giving Snow White the poisoned apple

We cut back to Snow White and when she falls for the last time William comes closer and turns into the evil Queen who brought the poisoned apple to the princess. The Queen gloats to Snow White that she ws the only person in the world that could have destroyed her for good but now Snow White shall be the Queen's deliverance to immortality. And just as she pulls her knife to stab Snow White William and the Huntsman race up and William shoots at her with a arrow but she turns in to a flock of crows when the arrow hits and eventually flies way. Then the men see Snow White on the ground, she's still breathing but only just. William falls to his knees and cradles her head and begs her to stay but it is in vain for she stops breathing and all the forest is silent in a state of disbelief. William is crying and sobbing but he finally holds her head softly and kisses her. Nothing happens.

Snow White while the Huntsman talks to her "dead" body

The dwarves and men decide to keep their promise and they take Snow White's body to the Duke's castle where she is cleaned up, put in an ivory dress and lies on  white fur covered bed-like platform in the center of a room filled with candles. Here, the Huntsman sits against a pillar drinking from a wineskin as he looks at Snow White's dead body in despair. He gets up and speaks to her telling her about his deceased wife and how he loved her and when she died he became a person he didn't like until he met Snow White. He walks over to her body and tells her that she reminds him of his wife and that they both deserved better than him and better than the deaths they died and he is so sorry that he couldn't save her.  His tears are flowing down his cheeks as he speaks to her and tells her that like his wife she, too, has gone. "You both deserved better and I'm so sorry I failed you. I'm so sorry. But you'll be a queen in heaven now and sit among the angels." He leans over and gives her a short kiss during which his tears fall down upon her cheeks and then he turns and walks away leaving Snow White's body alone. Almost one second after he is gone does she start breathing again and she reopens her eyes.
We cut to William arguing with his father in one of the military tents outside the castle saying "She died for us! For our cause! We cannot just hide behind these walls and watch this land die with her!" but his father says "You grief clouds your judgement, my son." and walks outside of the tent. William follows and begins to try to again convince him to go and battle the queen and her forces. The Duke starts to reply but there is some sort of commotion coming from the center of the yard and the Duke goes to investigate followed by William and they see Snow White in her burial clothes walk out of the open door. Of course everyone is shocked by this and William walks towards her and she takes his hand for a moment before going before the Duke and requesting help to defeat the evil Queen and basically do what William was trying to convince him to do but she has a better reason. She knows how to kill the queen and she is the only one who can do so. She makes a stirring speech to the soldiers during which the Huntsman hears her and rushes over to the crowd and listens with everyone to her and they all agree to help her.

We go back to the evil queen's room where she has landed after placing the spell on Snow White. Female bodies lie around the center of her room drained of their youth and beauty and we see the Queen looking as young and as beautiful as she was in the beginning of the movie.

Snow White's Army heading for the Queen's Castle

Back to Snow White and her army as they ride out of the Duke's castle and head for the Queen's. The dwarves went ahead of them to try and infiltrate through the very sewer through which Snow White herself escaped. They manage to get in the sewer and Beith says "Hi-ho lads, its off to work!" Quert says to the others "If he starts whistling, I'll smash his face in." This of cousre is a refernce to the Disney version of this fairytale. Anyways the dwarves mangae to get into the gaehouse and are almost successful in raising the gate before the army gets there but a queen's soldier comes up and cuts one of the ewieghts loose and this makes the gate close again so that Snow White's army is stuck there under a barrage of arrows and other deadly items. Finally, the dwarves get the gate up and everyone rushes in. Snow White manages to see where the Queen is and goes hunting for her. William and the Huntsman son follow. Snow White gets to the queen's room in which the Queen is standing alone with no weapons visible as if she were not dangerous. Snow White marches up to her and as she gets closer some of her men make it upstairs to back her and the Queen uses her magic to make characters out of black glass that fight the men as Snow White tries to kill the queen but she is no match for the queen and is quickly caught and held so that she watches the men die one by one. Then when almost everyone is dead the queen goes to kill Snow White for good and knocks her sword way out of the way and draws a knife to stab Snow White with. Just as she is about to stab Snow White uses a knife she has hidden in her hand to stab the Queen in the move that the huntsman taught her. The queen dies and Snow White is crowned Queen.

Snow White's Coronation

The actors played the key roles very convincingly given what they had to work with. I was very upset with the writer who left too many loose ends at the end and did not give Snow White much to work with for character development. The role of the queen was probably the best played character in the movie. Charlize Theron truly brought the evil queen to life and made her 3 dimensional. My expectations were not as filled as I would like that to be but I believe that to be the fault of the screen writer and not the actors. he scene between the Huntsman and Snow White as she lays as if dead is very moving and sad. Chris Hemsworth made that scene perfect. The speech Snow White gives to the men when she asks for help is also very moving but where did it come from? The writer suddenly gave a good piece of work for Snow White but had not built up to it so that it was not very normal sounding. It seemed a bit surreal instead of life like given the lack of character development written in the script. I think the actors did well given what they had to work with.

In Sanctuary

I liked the scene in the fairytale forest the best. It had such awesome detail and attention paid to it that everything that happened there seemed magical. All of the sets for this film were amazing and built to scale for he actors which isn't the normal thing they do when using castles and haunted forests. Normally miniatures are used but they aren't in this film. I like the use of light when Snow White wakes up in "Sanctuary," it makes her green eyes glow. The phantom army in the beginning made of black glass that shatters was visually dynamic as were the black glass figures during the fight between Snow White and the Queen. I liked the slow motion when the first black soldier if fractured in the very beginning. It made sure you saw what happened. The music was fitted to the mood of the movie and had both Celtic influences and modern influences in it.

The King fighting the Phantom Army

I like Snow White and the Huntsman and I think everyone should see it but just don't expect much from the writer. Watch the movie to see the awesome sets and costumes, hear the good music and ambient sounds, and Charlize Theron's portrayal of the evil Queen. I really think that the screenwriter is the cause of everyone's problems, NOT the fact that Kristen Stewart was cast as Snow White because if she were given a better script, Snow White would have more to her. So go see the show but you only really need to see it once or twice. Don't buy the movie, rent it. That's the better deal.

Beautiful Green Eyes of Snow White

Media Topic #2 Reading a Film: A Scene from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi

Scene from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi

1. Describe what happened in the scene you watched.

Luke told Leia that Vader was there on the moon they are on and that he can sense his presence. So he must leave so that the Rebel Alliance will have a better chance at succeeding to disarm the Death Star's shields so that their fighters could successfully attack and destroy the Death Star and the evil Emperor. He told that he has to confront him because he's his father. Then he tells her that she's the only chance for the alliance if he doesn't come back. She starts to protest that he has a power she could never have but he interrupts her and tells her that she does indeed have it too. And one day she'll learn how to use it. Then he tells her his last secret. They are brother and sister. Leia replies after a moment of hesitation that somehow she's always known that. Then he tells her that he has to go find Vader because there is some good left in him and Luke believes he can turn him back to the good side. He has to try after all, he's their father. Then he leaves after giving her a goodbye kiss on the cheek.

Luke tells Leia that they are siblings

Han holds Leia after Luke leaves the village

Just as he exits Han comes up and sees that Leia is upset. He asks her what's wrong and she replies that she can't tell him. Han immediately gets offensive and says, "Could you tell Luke? Is that who you could tell?" Leia turns away from him with tears in her voice. Han starts to leave but turns around and apologizes. Leia looks at him and goes into his arms and says, "Hold me. Just hold me."

2. How does the scene make you feel?

Sad but happy in the sense that Luke finally told Leia they were brother and sister but in doing so he also revealed that their father was Vader. It's also for of happy in that Leia turns to Han for comfort and Han lets her and doesn't make fun of her.

3. What techniques did the filmmakers use to make you feel that way?

 The music was soft and sweet but with a sad lingering to it.
All of the lights and colors around them were dark blues and purples.
They spoke softly without yelling at new discoveries.

4. How did the pacing of the scene (fast or slow) or the movement of the camera affect your reactions?

The slow pacing helped the truth of the scene gradually sink into us. There was no rush or hurry despite the fact that there was a need for them to be in a hurry. The slow pans of the camera and cuts between faces were not abrupt or jerky and that helped make the scene feel soft.

5. List all the visual qualities such as framing, camera angles, colors, setting, costumes, decor, and lighting.

Framing: Often it was a close up of one or the other's face with their heads not only off centered but also opposite from the other character. There were very few full body shots and there was more usage of tight two shots to help create a sense of togetherness.

Camera Angles: almost on the same level for each character there wasn't a lot of differences between each character which sent out a sense of equality.

Colors: The dark blues and purples and browns and blacks gave a sense of closeness along with a sense of sadness.

Setting: They were up high in the trees on a bridge between two separate trees and yet with all the colors around it seemed almost as if they were barely above the ground and possibly looking into a dark lake. The moonlight filtering softly through the trees helped give a sense of being cocooned with everyone in a good sense. Almost like the darkness of a mother's womb.

Costumes: They were simple yet elegant. Luke wore an all black pilot outfit. Leia wore a soft light brown dress and Han wore a cobbled together pilot outfit with a black vest and brown pants.

Decor: Simple wooden bridge with softly hanging tree branches and leaves framing the scene.

Lighting: Very soft. Moonlight filtered between tree branches and leaves. A few lanterns that were far enough away that they were not totally intrusive to the sense of togetherness.

6. What was the mood of the scene?

Sad but more like bittersweet and tender at the same time.

7. How did the colors used in the scene contribute to the mood?

The dark blues and purples lent a sense of softness and sadness hold the scene.

Luke kisses Leia on the cheek before leaving her on Endor

8. What did the costumes tell you about the characters?

Luke was wearing all black  which gave him a somber but determined air.
Leia was wearing a light brown dress the Ewoks gave her and had her long hair flowing down her back without being tightly twisted up like normal. So she seemed somehow more vulnerable and more approachable than Princess Leia.
Han was wearing the same outfit he wears throughout the whole series. His pilot outfit. Black vest, brown pants with a white/cream colored shirt under the vest. So he seemed the same as he always does but at the end he apologizes to Leia which is not the norm.

9. How did music contribute to the mood?

It contributed greatly to the sense of sadness yet sweet memories. I love the French horn and the solo it has here is breathtaking. The music is so poignant that I almost want to cry whenever I hear it because it sounds so sweet and that's all by itself. When added to the movie it helped me identify with the characters.

Go to this link to listen to the music. It is beautiful. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z52K7iVvh08

10. What did the music tell you about the characters?

That they were family and that Luke didn't want t leave her but he had to try and save their father which was bittersweet since Leia just found out that they were officially related.

11. What did you learn about the characters from the dialogue?

They were more related to each other than previously thought. They all shared a somewhat common bond somewhere in their life. Leia isn't always so formal and defensive. She can be soft and vulnerable too. Han can learn how to be nice and not as cocky as before. Everyone can help each other out.

12. What were the values and opinions expressed in this scene?

Family is very important and no matter what you have to protect your friends and family even if it means doing something difficult. Everyone shares a common bond somewhere in their life.

Story Boards & Shot Lists & More

Well, our production book is due tomorrow and I'm having a bit of trouble. To my knowledge, we still haven't found a location to shoot at. That is not good. I would like to have it so I can make the blocking notes and make a light plot though technically that's the DoP's responsibility. But my biggest challenge to do for this is the Storyboarding. I mean I know exactly what I want to have in each scene but umm... I can't draw at all. My figures barely resemble something like human beings and the thing is I don't know if it will help at all to give someone something like that to use as a basis to see my story when I am such a bad artist. Oh, well, I don't exactly have a choice in the matter so I hope my stick figures and bug like furniture drawing will be acceptable to turn in. Well, I shall give it my best shot and hopefully that will be enough. Well it's time to start doing and stop talking. So ttyl.

Pre-Producton notes on "A Poker Hand"

Wow, I never knew that pre-production took such a long time. Casting was difficult but I finally have a cast and now I just need to set up a read-through/rehearsal sometime this week. Juggling schedules is going to be a chore and I am glad that that is not technically my job, as far as gathering information from everyone and putting it into a chart that says when we will have time to work together and when we won't. That's my producer, Christina Harper's, job; however, I will be helping out because I don't think it's fair to put that all down on only one person when your whole Pre-producion team is only made up of 3 people, one of whom was not in class today. That was a very bad thing considering what we learned today was suppose to be his responsibility since he volunteered to be our DP, (Director of Photography/Cinematographer), and lights and camera operating are part of the DP's job description. I'm sorry he was ill but this places an enormous burden on Christina and I to fill him in and get him up to speed. I hope he's a fast learner. Regarding casting, I went into class with only 4 out of the 5 characters cast but I did come out with them all cast even though Kelly still has the option to back out since I sort of drafted her. Worse case scenario I can play the part of Brie but I'd rather not be a director/actor in the very first film I've written. I just want to be the Director/Screenwriter and concentrate on those and the other responsibilities I have taken on for this film including but not limited to the following:

Director
Screenwriter
Editor
Costumer
Makeup Artist
Properties Mistress

I may also have to do the following if our DP can't come to shoots:

Camera Operating
Lighting Set-up

And at least Christina has volunteered to do more than her share which I greatly appreciate. I also appreciate Fatima for volunteering to help with Sound even though she's not in our group and Kelly who has agreed to try and be Brie for the show, as I said earlier she can still opt out but I hope she doesn't because I have faith that she will do well in that part. And just in case you're wondering here is the cast list for "A Poker Hand":

MAN: Andrew John
ALICE: Paige Newman
BRIE: Kelly Towles
CAROL: Shea Lee
NARRATOR: Travis Spangenburg

I can't wait to start working with them and shooting the film. This is going to be hard work but I'm sure it will be fun, too.

Disney's "Hercules" Movie Review

Disney's 35th Animated Feature Film Hercules is animated wonder that crosses over into areas other than fairytales, a place no animated Disney feature had gone before. Instead of fairytales, Hercules is loosely based off of Greek Mythology and the mighty divine hero Heracles, his name was changed to Hercules after the Romans came in and adopted the Greeks' many heroic legends and made it fit their own culture. Directed by Ron Clements and John Musker, directors of The Little Mermaid and Aladdin, and featuring the voice talents of Tate Donovan (Hercules), Danny DeVito (Phil), James Woods (Hades), Susan Egan (Meg), Rip Torn (Zeus), and Samantha Eggar (Hera),  Hercules joins the collection of Disney movies whose music was composed by Academy Award winning Alan Menken,  famed composer of Beauty and the Beast and many other Disney classics. This film is an interesting must-see for anyone who loves Disney classics and/or who love the wonderful music composed by Alan Menken.

Hercules starts off with a majestic sounding narrator, (Charlton Heston!), beginning to tell the story of Hercules, however he is soon interrupted by the 5 Muses, Goddesses of the Arts and Proclaimers of Heroes, who claim that the narrator is making the story sound like "a Greek tragedy" and that he needs to lighten up. They take over the narration of the story of Hercules and take us back to the beginning of the world way before Hercules was even born in the opening number song "The Gospel Truth I." They begin by telling the story of the god, Zeus taking control of the world and saving the people of Greece from the gigantic and menacing Titans by locking them in a vault under the ocean. Zeus was the king of all gods and traps the Titans by throwing thunderbolts that chain them into their prison. "Zeus tamed the globe while still in his youth. Though, honey it may seem impossible, that's the gospel truth!" sing the Muses. They continue to explain how the Greek gods lived on Mt. Olympus and we head away from the narration at that point and go to the "present day" on Mt. Olympus where Hercules has just been born and the gods are having a party to celebrate his birth. They almost immediately show one of Hercules' identifying traits, his enormous strength, when Zeus (Torn) wiggles his finger at the baby and Hercules grabs his dad's finger and lifts him over the cradle.

Zeus also proves that Hercules is impervious to getting hurt since the little baby grabs a thunderbolt from his dad's toga and starts to play with it and then chew on it. Of course, he gets zapped but since he's a god he's okay. Zeus and Hera (Eggar) then give Hercules their gift. It is the flying horse Pegasus, but right now he's just a foal. Hercules then bangs his forehead against the head of Pegasus to sort of claim him as his own. They are so cute together!

Everything is going perfectly, everyone is oohing and sighing over the beautiful baby boy and his baby horse, everyone's happy and then Hades (Woods) arrives to spoil the mood. Of course he's upset because Zeus made him the lord of the underworld, which is a full time job that serves to punish Hades by demeaning him and therefore he plots to overthrow Zeus and claim Mt. Olympus for himself. This new addition to Zeus's family does not sit well with Hades' plans and after getting humiliated by Zeus again, he leaves and travels back to the underworld where the dead are. The Muses narrate this with the song "The Gospel Truth II." When he gets down there he meets his 2 minions Pain, (voiced by Bobcat Goldthwait), and Panic, (voiced by Matt Frewer). He has important plans to discuss with the Three Fates and orders them to tell him the instant they get there. Panic then says "Oh. They're here." and then Hades blows up (figuratively but with red fire all over his arms and shoulders) at them and then gives himself a memo to maim them after his meeting with the Fates. He goes to join the Fates in his main meeting area with his map of the world table with pieces (different gods and goddesses) scattered over the surface in specific areas. None are important at the moment and Hades arrives just after the Fates cut a woman's Thread of Life thereby killing her and her soul comes down to the underworld entering a specific tunnel that has a sign over it saying "OVER 5,000,000,000 SERVED" as her soul enters the number changes to 5,000,000,001. Hades begins by apologizing for being late however before he finishes the sentence the Fates interrupt him and say "We knew you would be. We know everything. Past. Present. And Future, (aside to Panic: indoor plumbing-- it's gonna be big)." Hades then starts to explain that he lost track of time while he was at the party but the Fates interrupt him again  and say "We know!" Hades replies "Yeah. I know... you know. So here's the deal: Zeus, Mr. High And Mighty, Mr. "Hey, You, Get Off Of My Cloud," now he has--" interrupted yet again by the Fates who join him in saying "-- A bouncing baby brat." Then one of the Fates loudly says "We know!" Hades has finally lost patience with the Three Fates and yells as his shoulders and arms spout fire "I know... you know. I know. I got it. I got the concept."(That's one of my favorite movie lines to quote.) Hades proceeds to ask if the new baby Hercules will interfere with his hostile takeover of Mt. Olympus and he has to flatter the Fates a bit before they agree to tell him. They begin speaking in verse and what they say means Hades takeover of Mt. Olympus will work! Of course Hades is all but jumping for joy until one Fate says "A word of caution to this tale. Should Hercules fight, you will fail." And the Fates disappear leaving Hades screaming "WHAT?!" So he comes up with a plan to kill Hercules but first he has to have Pain and Panic give the little baby a formula that will turn the infant into a mortal (and make him killable) then he tells Pain and Panic to kill Hercules after he drinks EVERY last drop of the potion. That is extremely important. He must drink EVERY last drop before Hades' minions can kill him. 

Pain and Panic leave and they kidnap Hercules and force him to drink the potion. As Hercules drinks, you can see the godhood leaving him and turning him into a mortal. But right before he finishes the bottle two people hear the commotion and come over. Pain and Panic drop the bottle, we see it break and one tiny drop of formula hits the ground and disappears. Pain and Panic hide behind a rock as Amphitryon and Alcmene come around the corner and see the little baby all alone crying on the ground. Alcmene goes over and picks the baby up and tells hers husband Amphitryon that the gods have finally answered their prayers for a child. While she's talking Pain and Panic turn into snakes and come over to kill Hercules but Hercules sees them and grabs them and ties them into a knot. Then he twirls them over his head and throws them away. This of course shocks Hercule's new parents. And at this point in time the Muses come in and do another narration song to tell how Hercules grew to a young man and kept his awesome strength since he did not drink the last drop of potion in the song "The Gospel Truth III."

We jump ahead to when Hercules is a teenager who can't control his strength and in this scene he destroys the Agora building where all the Grecians come to trade simply by accident. However, it is implied that this kind of thing has happened before when someone says that "This is the last straw!" Other people jeer and call him a freak and tell him to go away and not come back. Back near his home his father tries to comfort him but Hercules only tells him that he feels like he doesn't belong here and that he is suppose to be somewhere else. This leads into the Academy Award nominated song "Go the Distance."

This is during the song "Go the Distance"

It is a beautiful song about how Hercules wants to find the place where he belongs where people will be glad to see him and cheer for him. During a music only piece of the song Hercules parents tell him that they found him and that they found the pendant with the gods' symbol on it around his neck with his name "Hercules" carved on the back. Hercules thinks that this is the answer. He should go to the Temple of Zeus and ask the gods where he belongs. His foster parents send him off and Hercules sings some more as he travels to the temple. He ends the song as he reaches the temple. It is very big with a huge statue of Zeus at the end of the room. He prays to Zeus and asks "Who am I?" and then lightning hits the statue and it comes to life and reaches to pick Hercules up. Hercules screams and tries to run away, even when Zeus has him in his hands he still tries to escape until he hears Zeus say that he is his father. Hercules stops trying to escape and listens as Zeus tells him what happened back when he was a baby. He finishes by telling Hercules that the only way he can restore his godhood is if he becomes a true hero. Zeus sends for Pegasus who remembers Hercules and after a head bang Hercules remembers Pegasus and Zeus sends them off to find the trainer of heroes Philoctetes (DeVito).  Hercules flight on Pegasus to find Phil's island has him singing a "Go the Distance" Reprise.

He reaches the island but it is very dark and dreary and not what he expected from the great trainer of heroes. He walks around looking for a man and on the way he sees what looks like a trapped goat. Hercules, thinking to be nice gently pulls the goat out of the bush only to find out that it wasn't a goat it was a satyr (half-goat and half-man)  who did not want to be freed. He was spying on some female nymphs who quickly run away from him. Finally Hercules asks the satyr where he might find Philoctetes and the satyr replies, "Call me Phil." Hercules is overjoyed at finding him but then dismayed when Phil refuses to train him. He begs and pleads and tries to convince him to no avail. He finally asks Phil "Haven't you ever had a dream, something you wanted so bad you'd do anything?" This makes Phil pause and he brings Hercules inside to show him some stuff. He shows him statues, pottery, and his dream. "I dreamed I was gonna train the greatest hero there ever was. So great, the gods would hang a picture of him in the stars... all across the sky, and people would say 'That's Phil's boy.' That's right. Eh, but dreams are for rookies."Hercules goes to prove Phil that he can go the distance by flinging a humungous saucer across the ocean. Phil thinks about it for a minute then tries to snap out of it. Hercules begs to be trained because "if [he] doesn't become a true hero, [he] can never rejoin [his] father, Zeus." At this point Phil thinks he's lying and this leads into the song "One Last Hope" in which at the beginning Phil basically says I'm not a fool so don't both but his answer to Hercules request for training is "Two words..." then he gets struck by lightning and changes his mind to "O.K." Next comes a montage during the song of Hercules' training starting off very badly but by the end of the song he is fully trained and grown up. 

Then he and Phil (and Pegasus) leave to go start building his reputation as a hero in Thebes but on the way they come across a D.I.D (Damsel in distress). So Hercules goes to save her from the river guardian Nessus however she tells him to keep moving causing him to say "But you-- Are-Aren't you... a damsel in distress?" She replies "I'm a damsel, I'm in distress. I can handle this. Have a nice day." Well Hercules decides to save her anyways but even though he succeeds he doesn't do things perfectly. He dropped his weapon and instead picked up a fish and defeated the river guardian but in the process go the damsel thrown into the river. So it was a very clumsy rescue and gets scolded for it by Phil. In the process of scolding Hercules, Phil reminds him of the damsel he saved and Hercules gets sidetracked and goes over to her to clumsily introduce himself and ask who she is. She's Megara but "My friends call me Meg. At least, they would if I had any friends. So did they give you a name along with all those rippling pectorals?" Hercules: "Uh, I'm, um, uh--" Meg: "Are you always this articulate?" Hercules: "Hercules. My-- My name is Hercules." Meg: "Hercules, huh. I think I prefer Wonderboy." And that's what she calls him most of the time throughout the movie. He leaves with Phil and Pegasus after failing to get her to agree to come with him on the unwilling Pegasus. So she's in the woods alone and comes across 2 woodland creatures who turn out to be Pain and Panic. Meg was in the woods talking to the River Guardian to try and get him on Hades' side for the uprising. When Hades shows up she has to tell it was unsuccessful but "I gave it my best shot, but he made me an offer I had to refuse." Hades: "Fine. So, instead of subtracting 2 years from your sentence, hey, I'm gonna add 2 on, okay? Give that your best shot." Meg pleads "Look, it wasn't my fault. It was this wonderboy, Hercules." Panic (to Pain): "Hercules? Why does that name ring a bell?" Pain: "I don't know. Um, maybe we owe him money?" Hades (to Meg): "What was that name again?" Meg: "Hercules. He comes on with this big innocent farm boy routine, but i can see through that in a Peloponnesian minute." Pain (to Panic): "Wait a minute. Wasn't Hercules the name of that kid we were supposed to-- (Together): Oh, my gods! Run for it!" Hades grabs Pain and Panic by the throats. "So you took care of him, huh? Dead as a door nail. Weren't those your exact words?"  Pain and Panic protest while Hades is choking them. He says "I'm about to rearrange the cosmos, and the one schlemiel who can louse it up is waltzing around in the woods!" Hades blows up with fire coming out of his head and shoulders and his arm sockets and burns down the tops of all the trees around in in one second. Hades then starts to make plans on how to kill Hercules, again.

We go back to Hercules and Phil who have now reached Thebes "The Big Olive itself. If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere."Hercules overhears some townspeople complaining about monsters and natural disasters and then offers his services as a hero but no one will take him seriously or give him a chance. Then Meg comes running in and tells him that 2 boys were playing in the gorge when they got trapped by a rockslide and Hercules needs to go save them. Hercules is ecstatic to have a chance to prove himself and grabs Meg, puts her on Pegasus (who heard her say she had a terrible fear of heights and proceeds to make the flight she's on a terrible one) and they for the gorge. He gets there, followed by townspeople and lifts the huge rock trapping the 2 boys over his head and they run out, the townspeople sort of clap for him and Hercules throws the boulder off to the side. The kids run off and up the side of the gorge until they reach Hades. Then they turn back into Pain and Panic. Now this boulder had in fact been plugged into the opening of a cave in which a terrible monster lives and Hades plan was for Hercules to get killed by the monster within. It is the home of the Hydra, a huge reptilian, dragon-like monster with 2 legs, a tail, and a really long neck holding up a mouth with tons of sharp fangs who comes out to ready to fight. This scene has some amazing cg and animation effects built into it. Hercules tries to fight it but loses his sword and has to get it while he is holding the hydra back by the teeth. He finally succeeds but when he prepares to swing the sword the Hydra sticks out its long tongue like a frog and grabs Hercules and swallows him. Just when the Hydra turns to attack the townspeople he stops suddenly and looks at his throat as Hercules cuts through it all the way around and beheads the creature. He then falls down in the slimy goo around him. Phil comes over, the audience applauds and Hercules gets up to go get cleaned up. Meanwhile Pain and Panic are terrified that Hercules beat the Hydra until Hades tells them to clam down "It's only halftime." As Hercules and Phil are heading toward the people they hear movement behind them. It's the Hydra and out of it's neck come 3 heads where there use to be only one. Suddenly Hercules has to fight again and does so with all his strength. He calls Pegasus to help him. He goes overboard with slicing heads off because by the end the Hydra has 30 heads. (I did the research and heard the animators say this in the behind the scenes bonus stuff.) 

As he's flying by one of the heads, he gets knocked off of Pegasus and falls down between the many necks until he hits the cliffside. He starts to slide down until one of the monster's clawed hand/foot stops him and holds him against the cliff. As they all prepare to eat him, Hercules hits the cliff as hard as he can. This causes a huge rockslide that effectively kills and buries the Hydra but in doing so it also buried Hercules with it. Everyone is sad and somber except for Hades who thinks he's won. But then the paw of the Hydra that is trailing outside of he rocks starts to open and Hercules appears and the crowd goes wild and Hades gets mad! Meg is actually happy that Hercules is alive and gives him some applause too. The crowd carries Hercules off and as he passes Phil, Phil says, "You did it kid! You won by a landslide!" The pun was intended I'm sure. This is where the 5 Muses come back in as they sing the song "Zero to Hero" to a montage of Hercules beating/killing monsters and becoming famous, signing autographs by chipping them into rock, earning tons of money, statues are built plays are written and Hades is floundering. "I can't believe this guy. I throw everything I've got at him and it doesn't even--" you hear rubber squeaking and then see a close up on Pain's new sandals. They are Air Hercs. Hercules' brand shoes. Hades sees them and asks dangerously "What are... those?" Pain: "Um, I don't know. I-I thought they looked kinda dashing." He grins sheepishly up at Hades who is not happy and this next line increases in volume and pace until Hades turns red and fire is all over him and he says, "I've got 24 hours to get rid of this bozo, or the entire scheme I've been setting up for 18 years goes up in smoke, and you are wearing HIS MERCHANDISE!" 

Pain cringes as Hades starts in towards him and they both hear a slurping noise from a straw in a drink that's almost finished. Hades turns blue again and Pain has a brief respite but Hades still has fire all over him and we see that Panic is drinking the Hercules brand of drink. Panic looks at Hades then looks at the Hercules trademark on his cup then back at Hades and holds out the drink towards him as he says, "Thirsty?" Hades anger is beyond words as he screams and blows fire at Pain and Panic who are burnt to a crisp, (but as in most cartoons they are fine in the next minute). Meg has been watching this and says to Hades, "Looks like your game's over. Wonderboy is hitting every curve you throw at him." Hades sees Meg saunter over to watch Hercules playing to the crowd below with her hips swishing side to side and says "I wonder if maybe I haven't been throwing the right curves at him, Meg, my sweet." She automatically realizes what he means and says "Don't even go there." Hades: "See, he's gotta have a weakness because everybody's got a weakness. I mean for what? Pandora, it was the box thing. For the Trojans, hey. They bet on the wrong horse, okay? We simply need to find out Wonderboy's." Meg is not happy with this and says "I've done my part. Get your little imps--" "They couldn't handle him as a baby. I need someone who can... handle him as a man." "Hey, I've sworn off manhandling." Hades replies "Well, you know, That's good because that's what got you into this jam in the first place, isn't it? You sold your soul to me to save your boyfriend's life. And how does this creep thank you? By running off with some babe. He hurt you real bad, didn't he, Meg? Huh?" Meg: "Look, I learned my lesson, okay?" Hades: Which is exactly why I got a feelin' you're gonna leap at my new offer. You give me the key to bringing down Wonder Breath, and I give you the thing that you crave most in the entire cosmos: your freedom." 

The scene cuts to Hercules at the Temple of Zeus telling his dad how he fought off some monsters and other stuff he's done. Zeus is laughing and agreeing and tells Hercules that he is making him proud. When Hercules hears that he thinks Zeus means he can come home and rejoin the gods. Zeus stops him and says he's not quite there yet. He hasn't proven himself a true hero. Hercules doesn't understand. "But, Father, I've beaten every single monster I've come up against. I'm-I'm the most famous person in all of Greece. I'm-I'm an action figure!" Zeus say that's isn't what a true hero is and that Hercules must look inside his heart. Then Zeus leaves and Hercules is frustrated and upset.  

We cut to the next day where Hercules is posing for a painting in his humongous Villa. He is posing holding a club and wearing a lion pelt (a cameo for The Lion King's Scar) while a grecian artist is painting him onto and urn. Phil is telling Hercules what his schedule will be for that day. He has to go meet King Augeas and then get a girdle from some Amazons. While he's spouting off this list Hercules is trying to get Phil's attention without moving. It doesn't work and the artist gets mad and leaves after Hercules throws off the lion pelt and his shield hits the urn that the artist was painting causing him to mess up and ruin the picture. Hercules is mad because none of the things he's doing seem to be working towards making him a TRUE hero and he pauses to think about why he's continuing to do this. "What's the point?!" he yells at Phil. Phil gives him a short pep talk and by the end of it he says "there is nothing you can't do, kid." The door opens and in run five teenage girls intent on touching Hercules and taking pieces of his outfit for themselves. Hercules is crushed and pushed to the floor by the girls where he whispers for help from Phil who distracts the girls so Hercules can escape and hide behind a curtain while Phil leads the girls on a wild goose chase out the door. As he leaves someone closes the door behind him and it's Meg, who proceeds to try to persuade Hercules to play hooky with her and escape his pressured life for awhile. When Hercules mention the Phil has the day pretty much book Meg replies as she pulls him closer to her by his tunic "Ah, Phil, schmill. Just follow me. Out the window, round the dumbbells, you lift up the back wall and we're gone."

So we skip to later that night where it is apparent that he and Meg played hooky all afternoon. They had dinner and went to see the play Oedipus on which Hercules comments "Man! I thought I had problems." They are now walking through a beautiful garden just after sunset in beautiful colored twilight light. It is obvious that Meg has enjoyed being with Hercules and has not yet tried to get the info that Hades wants her to so the two cute little birds bathing in the birdbath briefly have the heads of Pain and Panic and remind her to "Get the goods, sister." This is such a nice romantic scene and it's hard to put into words without writing out the entire conversation down word for word. Suffice it to say that Meg eventually does try to find out what Hercules' weakness is by using her womanly charms but Hercules replies that he is as fit as a fiddle and gets off of the bench they were on because Meg has gotten a bit too close for comfort. So he walks over to a small pool of water that has as statue of a woman in the far end of it. Hercules skips a rock off the water with so much force (accidentally) that it knocks off the statues arms and the camera turns to face it and to reveal to us that Hercules was the one who cut off the Venus de Milo's arms. Meg tells him that it looks better that way.

A star shoots across the sky and Hercules tells Meg that when he was younger he would have given anything to be like everyone else. "You wanted to be petty and dishonest?" asks Meg. Hercules: "Everybody's not like that." Meg, sounding and feeling sadder replies, "Yes, they are." Hercules: "You're not like that." Hercules walks over to Meg and she turns around to face him and says "How do you know what I'm like?" They step closer to each other and Hercules replies "All I know is you're the most amazing person with... weak ankles I've ever met." Meg steps back only to have a certain statue's arrow hit her and she does a double take hen she sees that the statue is Cupid. Hercules tells her  "Meg, when I'm with you... I-I don't feel so... alone." Meg steps away and goes to sit on the edge of the fountain as she says "Sometimes its better to be alone." Hercules: "What do you mean?" Meg: "Nobody can hurt you." Hercules realizes that Meg's been hurt before and goes over, puts her hands in his and sits beside her on the edge of the fountain. "Meg? I would never, ever hurt you." Meg: "And I don't wanna hurt you, so..let's both do ourselves a favor and..." Hercules starts to move in and kiss her and right before their lips meet Phil and Pegasus show up, police in helicopter style. 

Phil manages to get Hercules to agree to leave and he gives Meg a flower and a swift peck on the cheek before getting on Pegasus and waving goodbye and he doesn't turn and face forward as they fly until physically turns Hercules' head causing Phil to get knocked off of the horse, hit the ground and pass out. Pegasus and Hercules continue to fly off and as soon as they're gone Meg tries to convince herself that she isn't in love by singing the next song called "I Won't Say I'm in Love."

Just after Meg finishes the song, Hades shows up and wants Meg to tell him Hercules' weakness. She refuses and Hades pretends to be confused for a moment and says he didn't hear correctly and she tells him to read her lips. Then Hades says "Meg, Meg, Meg, my sweet deluded little minion. Aren't we forgetting one teensy-weensy, but ever so crucial little, tiny detail? I OWN YOU!"

This yell wakes Phil up to discover that he's got another horn growing on his head and he overhears Meg and Hades at precisely the wrong moment. He overhears Meg telling Hades that if he asks for Hercules head on a plate she should say "Medium or well done?" So Phil's convinced she doesn't love Hercules and never has and he goes to tell Hercules this. He doesn't hear Meg refuse to tell Hades Hercules' weakness and protests that he's different from the other guys she's known and he wont hurt her and then and she gloats that Hercules, in fact, doesn't have a weakness and he's gonna... But she gets cut off as Hades tells her that he's sure Hercules does and although he doesn't say it, it is implied that his weakness is in fact Meg. Hades does say he can't believe she's so worked up about a guy.

So we leave and go back to Hercules at the stadium where Phil tries to tell Hercules that Meg's a liar and has been playing him for a sap and that she doesn't love him. While this goes on Pegasus is lured off by Pain and Panic formed as a female winged horse and caught in a trap but neither Phil nor Hercules notices it. Phil continues to argue with Hercules about Meg. This finally enrages Hercules enough that he actually hits Phil with enough force to throw him into a pile of dumbbells and chains. So Phil leaves since Hercules won't believe him. Right after he leaves, Hades shows up and asks Hercules to give up his strength for 24 hours and take a day off from being a hero. Hercules says no until Hades reveals that he has Meg as a captive. When Hercules sees that he agrees and Hades takes all his strength away on the condition that he will get it back in 24 hours or if Meg gets hurt he gets it back immediately. Then he releases Meg and then reveals that Meg's been working for him the whole time. Then Pain and Panic yell at Hercules that "A hero's a zero!" before everyone leaves but meg and Hercules who are on their knees far away from each other bent and broken in heartache. 

We follow Hades as he goes and releases the Titans from their prison so they can go attack Mt. Olympus and help Hades get rid of Zeus so that Hades can rule all. So they head off to do so but Hades stops them.

The Titans turn around and head to Mt. Olympus but Hades stops the Cyclops to send him back to Thebes to get rid of Hercules forever. The Titans invade Mt. Olympus and capture Zeus while the Cyclops goes and searches out Hercules who, even without his strength, goes to fight him. Meg tries to stop him by saying that he'll be killed. He replies with a accusing glance that "There are worse things," and moves on. Meg has to save him so she finds and frees Pegasus and they go after Phil to try and get him to come and talk some sense into Hercules. Phil returns after Meg tells him that Hercules will die without his help. They come back and Hercules is bruised black and blue and basically has lost the will to fight back even to save his own life and he tells Phil, "You were right all along, Phil. Dreams are for rookies." But Phil says "No, no, no, no, kid. Givin' up is for rookies. I came back 'cause I'm not quittin' on ya. I'm willing to go the distance. How 'bout you?" Hercules looks like he's going to agree but then the cyclops grabs him and says he's gonna bite off his head but as he brings Hercules up to his mouth Hercules grabs a flaming torch and shoves it towards the cyclops' only eye causing him to drop Hercules who lands in a wagon, grabs some rope and twists and twines it around the cyclops' ankles causing the titan to fall off the cliff never to be heard from again. However, as Hercules watches him fall a column behind him broke when the cyclops fell and falls down toward Hercules who will be crushed under it except that Meg jumps and pushes him out of the way and instead the pillar crushes her under it. Hercules screams no and tries to lift the pillar despite having no super strength however he gets it back as he's lifting because Hades' deal was broken and Meg got hurt.  He asks her why and she responds, "People always do crazy things... when they're in love."

He ries to find words for his feelings but stumbles over them and Meg tells him he still can beat Hades but he needs to hurry up. Phil says he'll watch over her while Hercules stops Hades. So he leaves after promising Meg that she will be all right. 

Meanwhile Hades' takeover of Mt. Olympus has gone well. Everyone is captured and Zeus is buried under lava and ice (i.e. rock). Hades has just conjured himself a martini when Hercules arrives to save the day. Hercules releases Zeus from his rock prison and together they get rid of the Titans. Hades knows he's been beaten because of what the Fates said at the beginning of the movie but he has his last laugh as he tells Hercules, "Thanks a ton, Wonderboy. But at least I've got one swell consolation prize-- a friend of yours who's dying to see me." Hercules rushes as fast as he can to get back to Meg before her thread of life is cut but he is too late and she is dead. Hercules is devastated and sobs while holding Meg's body and Phil tries to comfort him but "There's some things you just can't change." The music changes tone and Hercules looks up "Yes, I can."

We go back to Hades who is in the underworld yelling at Pain and Panic about how Meg ruined his plans when he hears a noise and it's Hercules bursting in riding on the three headed dog Cerberus. He demands that Hades gives Meg back her life but Hades say hold on and let me show you around. He takes Hercules to the place where the river of death is and Hercules sees Meg's soul floating by and reaches for her through the "water" which shrivels his hands up. Hades tells him nothing can be done now and he can't touch the River of Death. Hercules then offers to make a deal with Hades. He volunteers to give his own life to Hades in trade for Meg's. Hades thinks about it for a moment but decides ok and tells Hercules "You get her out. She goes; you stay." So Hercules jumps into the River of Death and then Hades says "Oh, you know what slipped my mind? You'll be dead before you can get to her. That's not a problem, is it?" So we see the Fates bring out Hercules' Thread of Life and get ready to cut it. We see in their eye portal Hercules swimming to get to Meg and aging drastically as he does so. He reaches for her hand as we see the Fates start to close the scissors but before the scissors can cut the thread it turns gold and won't cut. Cut back to Hades standing up near the river of death happy he has trapped Hercules only to see gold light shining and his glorious shining body coming onto the rock with Meg's soul in his arms. Hades is flabbergasted and stammers "This is-- This is impossible! You, you, you can't be alive! You'd have to be a, a--" Pain and Panic finish the sentence together and say "a god?" And Hades anger is beyond words now as he screams incomprehensibly. Then he tries to yell at Hercules, "Hercules, stop! You can't do this to me. You can't--" Hercules punches his face so hard that all the flames go out and all of Hades' facial features are shoved inside his head.Hades fixes his face saying "Fine. Okay. Listen. Hah! Okay. Well, I deserved that. Herc, Herc, Herc. Can we talk? Y-Your dad, he's a fun guy, right? So maybe you could put in a word with him, and he'd kinda blow this whole thing off, you know?" Hades then grabs Meg's Soul's face and says "Meg, Meg, talk to him. A little schmooze--" and this is going way beyond wrong and Hercules hits Hades so hard that he is thrown into the river of death and grabbed and mobbed by all the souls in there. Hercules leaves with Meg's soul as Pain and Panic look down into the River of Death. Panic says "He's not gonna be happy when he gets outta there." Pain responds "You mean, IF he gets outta there." Panic: "If. If is good."

Then we cut back to Phil and Pegasus by Meg's dead body and we see Hercules arrive with her soul and he gently puts it back into her body. At first nothing happens but then her color comes back and she breathes. She doesn't understand why Hercules did that for her and he responds with his voice echoing like the gods' voices do "People always do crazy things... when they're in love." She smiles then and they lean into kiss when a cloud is suddenly zapped under them and it takes them to Mt. Olympus with Pegasus flying behind them with Phil holding onto his tail. They arrive up there and all of the gods are cheering for Hercules as he walks up to his father and mother while Meg stays down where they landed. His mother, Hera says "Hercules, we're so proud of you." Hercules greets her for the first time, "Mother." Zeus steps up and slaps him on the back. "Hah! Fine work, my boy! You've done it! You're a true hero." Hera: "You were willing to give your life to rescue this young woman." Zeus: "For a true hero isn't measured by the size of his strength, but by the strength of his heart. Now, at last, my son, you can come home." And with that the gate to the gods' dwelling place on Mt. Olympus opens up to reveal all the majesty that's there while all the gods cheer for Hercules. Meg is down at the bottom of the stairs alone and sad because she believes that Hercules is going to be a god now and she'll have to live on earth alone. However, Hercules looks back and sees her then he turns to his father and mother, "Father, this is the moment I've always dreamed of. But..." he turns around and is suddenly behind Meg reaches out and takes her into his arms and says "...a life without Meg, even an immortal life,would be... empty. I--I wish to stay on earth with her. I finally know where I belong." As Hercules embraces Meg, Zeus and Hera look at each other and Zeus nods and Hercules becomes a mortal once more and he and Meg finally get to kiss. All the gods cheer and Hermes says to the Muses, "Hit it, ladies!" Which starts the final song "A Star is Born." Everyone is happy and Pegasus gives Meg a head butt of welcome and a big feather hug, Phil sees another beautiful woman, in this case the goddess Aphrodite, starts to come up to her the way he came onto everyone on earth who always rejected him but before he even starts talking she grabs him and kisses him until Hercules has to pull Phil onto Pegasus with him and Meg so they can go back to earth. There they meet up with his mortal family in Thebes and have a big group hug. Meg looks up at the sky and sees a constellation in the sky forming and tells the others to look up. Phil turns around and sees the picture in the stars of the greatest hero there ever was, trained by him just like he dreamed and then you see one of the Thebians close by nudge his neighbor and say while pointing at the stars,  "That's Phil's boy!" Another group hug with Phil over his dream come true and the whole movie ends with the celebration and we see the constellation sort of melt onto a Grecian urn where the Muses are singing and when they sing the last word they jump up onto the urn to take their place on it and roll credits.

Now here's a secret. Make sure you watch the credits until the end because you'll hear the voice of Hades saying "What d'ya say? It's happy ending time! Everybody's got a little taste of something' but me. I got nothin'. I'm here with nothin'. Anybody listenin'? It's like I'm-- What am I, an echo or something? Hello? Hello? Am I talking to, what? Hyperspace? Hello, it's me. Nobody listens."

Now, the actors and animators more than met my expectations for this film, they exceeded it by miles and miles. The voices were perfectly emphasized and utilized in all the right ways. The animation itself was astounding. Disney Animation Department tried out a whole different look for this film and it worked. It hailed back to what you see on the Grecian Urns from that time period and the carving and the paintings. Hercules was a new leap in innovation. You'll see below a picture of the different backgrounds used in Hercules and you'll notice how much the differ from other disney movies. Even the major crowd scenes were leaps and bounds beyond the wonderful crowd scenes in The Hunchback of Notre Dame. And the Hydra battle's cg integrated animation was better even, in parts, than the ballroom scene in Beauty and the Beast. You have to watch it. I'm inserting a video from Youtube containing it and it also has the song "Zero to Hero" at the end of it. Some of the quality of animation got a bit fuzzy in places at on the Youtube version because my DVD copy is much better than what this Youtube video shows. However, if you haven't seen the movie this will still look amazing to you. So watch it and see what I'm talking about. I can't get the video to load onto my page so go to the address below and you'll see it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8xo0OP4y_0&feature=related

These layouts are much simpler than in other Disney movies.

Some more great animation shots are these:

This is from when Hercules visits the Temple of Zeus and the large statue of Zeus comes to life.

This is when Hercules gets his strength back after Meg gets hurt.

Hercules reaching for Meg's soul in the River of Death.

Here Hercules has just had his godhood restored after saving Meg's soul from the River of Death. This is one of my personal favorites.

The music was awesome, (I mean it's Alan Menken, of course it's awesome.) and it fit very well with the action taking place onscreen. The story flowed which is a difficult thing to do when not making a movie that already has the plot and storyline pretty much ready to use. The collaborative efforts of all the writers definitely showed in the way that the story was easy to follow and easy to identify with. One of my favorite things was the transfer from majestic narration by the amazing Charlton Heston to the animation and gospel style voices of the Muses. This transfer is made during the very beginning when we are being shown around a room of sorts kind of like in a museum full of statues and urns from Ancient Greece. We hear the voice of the first Muse interrupt the narrator and the camera zooms in on part of one of the Grecian Urns in the room we're in and then they bring the story to life on the pottery before we ever get to the story of Hercules. I was not sure how to explain this in my summary so I just told what the narration said but in this the Muses are going up to urns and the paintings on them come to life and help them tell the story. It really is amazing and definitely a major factor in how you see and listen to the whole film. The music is a mixture of gospel style music, hence the names of the first 3 songs. "The Gospel Truth I, II, & III," and Disney musical songs. The mix is nice to hear.

See the Grecian resemblance?

Another film technique I particularly enjoyed was the witty banter of the dialogue in the different scenes. One of my favorite lines is when we first meet Meg and she says -->


















Another one of my favorite Disney trademarks is when they insert characters from other films in a non-disruppting way. It's also kind of funny to see one disney movie's prediction come true in another as what happens between this movie and The Lion King.

And Scar is now a throw rug.

See what I mean?
The references to real life events and other movie quotes used in context are favorite Disney techniques for me. They reference a lot of Greek mythological events that not everyone would notice but those who have learn about it will and it's a nice inside joke.

This is a reference to the Trojan Horse used to disguise fighters as a gift in actual history.

This is a reference the the movie The Karate Kid.

During the part of the movie where we go inside Phil's house there are Greek references everywhere. Hercules hits his head on part of the mast of the famed ship called the Argo. Even though, technically, the Argo had not sailed yet because Hercules was one of the people who sailed on it. Phil lists a lot of the heroes he's trained including but not limited to Achilles, Odysseus, Perseus, Theseus in other words see Phil's quote below.

 

Definitely go see this movie. It is awesome. And I'll let one quote from this movie end my review after I rearrange a few words:

"Two thumbs way, way up for [the movie Hercules]!"