I had no desire to see this film, but when I saw it on DVD I was pleasantly surprised. I enjoyed it, and was engrossed. Whilst a good film, it was far from original (and I'm not talking about it being an adaptation of the Grimm Fairy Tale), in that it was reminiscent of so many other films; swashbucklers like Robin Hood (especially the old Errol Flynn type versions), The Court Jester, Lord of the Rings, The Princess Bride and anything set in Narnia to name but a few. Whilst the comparison made for unoriginal watching and a feeling that I'd seen it all before, it didn't detract from the cinematographic event and time passing pleasantly in watching the film. The SFX were very good though nothing original (very LOTR), the acting was good and I disagree with other reviewers that say that Kristen Stewart was no good... I liked her performance, certainly better than Twilight, so she's not gregarious but I think she pitched the character well and she didn't write it! Chris Hemsworth was Thor-tastic, he's an incredible physical presence and I really liked his character and he was central to the modern take on the story. Of course Charlize Theron stole the show - she was sublime; beautiful, devious, broken, cunning, cruel, magnificently evil and absolutely barking mad, and the CGI surrounding her person and character were brilliant. The Dwarfs were played hobbit-style by various actors including the wonderful Nick Frost who had some good one-liners. The Dwarfs were a lot of the comedy of the story.
There were gripping moments throughout the film, lots of humour and fantasy and a great deal of daring-do-type action and overall It was very watchable. Snow White (the Disney version) was the first film I ever saw at the cinema, and I apparently was very frightened by some of the more psychologically disturbing imagery, which I question for children even now. Whilst I wouldn't recommend this for children, especially as it's live action rather than animation, the mental images - the psychological impact - aren't that different. A good family film if the children are a little older and there's certainly something in it for everyone.
