Snow White and the Huntsman (PG-13) ★★

Maintaining the fantastical but dropping any semblance of whimsy, Snow White and the Huntsman transforms the classic fairy tale into a bleak, Lord of the Rings-esque hero's tale full of sword fights, monsters and forces of evil bent on wiping out humanity. Instead of creating a unique world or conflict for its revamped characters to explore, SWATH plays it safe and sticks to the familiar beats, coming off like an amalgamation of every fantasy film that's ever graced the silver screen. Director Rupert Sanders sticks to flashy special effects (some of which are truly stunning) over his greatest asset: the charismatic cast. Kristen Stewart, Charlize Theron, Chris Hemsworth, and eight familiar-faced dwarves try their best to elevate the thin material on display, but the film is under a sleeping spell — and no one steps in to wake it up.

Once again, an evil queen manipulates her way into the castle and heart of a widower king, only to cut his throat and throw his beautiful young daughter Snow into the tower to rot. Years later, a magic mirror reveals to the wicked Ravenna (Theron) that the now-of-age Snow White (Stewart) is the answer to her waning magic and wrinkly skin. But as Ravenna's slimy brother Finn comes knocking at Snow's door, the imprisoned princess pulls a fast one, escaping and opening the door for a large-scale adventure through the forests, mountains and swamps of the mystical kingdom.

SWATH's action feel particularly shoehorned in, each set piece drifting by without any weight or purpose. After fleeing the tower, Snow takes shelter in The Dark Forest (there wasn't a better name? or, a name at all?), where she's tracked by the Queen's freelancer The Huntsman (Hemsworth). A few fleeting character moments later, the two are on the run together, duking it out with otherworldly trolls and joining forces with a group of pint-sized ex-gold miners who believe Snow White is "the one." The epic speak commonplace in fantasy films plagues SWATH — without any details as to how or why the world works the way it does, most of the dialogue amounts to characters screaming about "destiny." The lack of specifics filters into the journey too: at one point, Snow White stumbles upon a forbidden forest bustling with fairies, moss-covered turtles and an antlered creature that's never been seen by humans. The beast is a sign that Snow is savior of their world. Why? Anyone's guess.

The generic quality brings down the talent on screen, namely Theron's delightfully wicked Ravenna, who goes full on Joan Crawford/Mommie Dearest as she pulls strings to entrap Snow White. Naysayers of Kristen Stewart will have plenty of fuel after SWATH, but it's the material that fails to serve the actress in this case. The actors in the film barely get to smile — the drab, overcast look of the movie clouding even the performances — but the moments when Stewart's Snow brightens up, things suddenly come alive. Hemsworth lightens the mood too, showing off a sliver of his comedic prowess from Thor. Between the movie's instance for doom and gloom, the patchwork script and Sanders' overuse of up-close-and-personal shakycam, there's rarely a moment for the actors to do their thing. It's barely worth mentioning the handful of British character actors who pop up as the Dwarves, who hobble around mumbling unintelligible quips. They quickly form a bond with Snow White — or so the movie strong-arms us into believing.

Snow White and the Huntsman is stuffed with imaginative spectacle, but the artistry is lost on a hollow story. Crystalline mirror shard warriors, the Queen's youth-sucking powers, or landscapes that look like live-action Miyazaki animation — it all looks amazing, but they're never more than spiffy special effects. The movie wants to be above the visuals, teasing a smart, tough Snow White, but the potential is squandered by never allowing the heroine to stride beyond the conventional world. If Snow White's tale is a shiny red apple, then modern tropes of fantasy are the poison.