Snow Wet

Continuing the "wife's away" filmfest, I watched The Huntsman: Winter's War (2016). I didn't really hate Snow White and the Huntsman, though mostly I liked the look, not so much the story. Still, the "sequel" (prequel? shared universe story?) looked like visual fun, and I knew Ms. Spenser would never stand for it, so I queued it up.

This one focuses on the sister of the Evil Queen Charlize Theron from the last movie (doing a better job of being sinister than last time, I thought). Queen Emily Blunt was disappointed in love, and discovered that she had ice powers. Goaded by evil sister, she founds her own kingdom in the North, where Love is forbidden and all children are orphaned and raised as warriors.

Two of these children, Chris Hemsworth and Jessica Chastain, fall in love and secretly plan to run away from this cold and sterile land. Blunt stops them and convinces each that the other has been untrue (or dead). Then, after the events of the first movie, with Theron dead, Blunt decides to go after the Magic Mirror. Of course, Hemsworth has to stop her.

He's aided by a couple of dwarves (or dwarfs, as my spllechecker prefers), Nick Frost and Rob Drydon, and some she-dwarves, Alexandra Roach and Sheridan Smith help out and provide comic relief - not badly, I thought.

But, really, it wasn't very good. It had a new director, first-timer Cedric Nicolas-Troyan, and lacked the visual charm of the first movie. It was mostly forgettable and soggy, even with all the ice imagery. Not planning to rewatch with Ms. Spenser. Her judgment here was correct.

Addendum: In the end, Ms. Spenser did want to watch this. I liked it better this time, for the visuals, although it still isn’t very good. I caught something I missed the first time around though: There’s an owl made of snow, a snake covered with grass and a hedge hog with little bushes growing out of its back. “Snowy owl”, “grass snake”, “hedge hog”. There were probably a couple more I failed to get. Cute.