On a trip home, Lord and Lady Hoffman's coach turns over and is attacked by wolves. Lady Hoffman gives birth to her child in the midst of death and Lord Hoffman brings her up alone. Years later Hoffman remarries to Claudia but his daughter Lilly and her fail to hit it off. Claudia blames Lilly for keeping the memory of his first wife alive and for the death of her own child at birth. She tries to kill her but she flees into the forest where she is taken in by a gang of miners. However Claudia uses magic under the guidance of her all seeing mirror to strike at Lilly again.
I wasn't sure if this film had ever even seen the inside of an UK cinema but I decided to give it a go anyway and I found it to be enjoyable even if it felt like a pantomime without the comedy dame and a really big budget. The plot was quite intriguing to one who has only ever know the cartoon version, but it is close enough to that tale to be instantly recognisable. The dark, adult edge to it adds in some ways but at times it feels like it's trying too hard to be nasty. The film isn't too long which helps it have a brisk pace about it and it tries to skip from one reasonable exciting scene to another.
What really makes it worth watching is Weaver giving a really good performance as Claudia. She portrays a human face gradually being led into worse deeds by the lies of her mirror. She avoids hamming it up and is very enjoyable to watch. Neill is very much on the sidelines but another familiar face doesn't hurt. Keena isn't quite up to the role for me. She is good but when the danger comes she is really only a scream and not a character. The miners (7 dwarves) hold a few faces in Bellows and Glover but really they are either monsters or wear their "good guy really" badges on their sleeves from the start.
Overall this darker version is worth watching just to see a tale closer to the original version rather than the cartoon from Disney. Some of it feels like it doesn't have a good plot (the action scenes after the middle tended to blur together for me) but it holds together pretty well. The main reason for watching is a strong central role for Weaver.
I wasn't sure if this film had ever even seen the inside of an UK cinema but I decided to give it a go anyway and I found it to be enjoyable even if it felt like a pantomime without the comedy dame and a really big budget. The plot was quite intriguing to one who has only ever know the cartoon version, but it is close enough to that tale to be instantly recognisable. The dark, adult edge to it adds in some ways but at times it feels like it's trying too hard to be nasty. The film isn't too long which helps it have a brisk pace about it and it tries to skip from one reasonable exciting scene to another.
What really makes it worth watching is Weaver giving a really good performance as Claudia. She portrays a human face gradually being led into worse deeds by the lies of her mirror. She avoids hamming it up and is very enjoyable to watch. Neill is very much on the sidelines but another familiar face doesn't hurt. Keena isn't quite up to the role for me. She is good but when the danger comes she is really only a scream and not a character. The miners (7 dwarves) hold a few faces in Bellows and Glover but really they are either monsters or wear their "good guy really" badges on their sleeves from the start.
Overall this darker version is worth watching just to see a tale closer to the original version rather than the cartoon from Disney. Some of it feels like it doesn't have a good plot (the action scenes after the middle tended to blur together for me) but it holds together pretty well. The main reason for watching is a strong central role for Weaver.