Rupert Sanders
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Snow White: A Tale of Terror (1997)
Directed by Michael Cohn
influenced Snow White and the Huntsman (2012), Ghost in the Shell (2017)
Plot
Sanders’ flawed but glitzy “Snow White” rehash positioned him as a facilitator of lavishly visualized, if faintly derivative, worlds.
It’s neither the kid-friendly take of 1937’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs or the two-month-old Mirror Mirror , nor the R-rated horror version offered by 1997’s Snow White: A Tale of Terror .
Blade Runner (1982)
Directed by Ridley Scott
influenced Ghost in the Shell (2017)
Plot Visuals Themes
It all feels too familiar by a half, from a premise which reminds at key junctures of Alex Proyas' superior 2004 thriller " I, Robot ," to a tone that recalls Steven Spielberg's 2002 pic " Minority Report ," to set design and art direction clearly inspired by?but far less vivid than?"Blade Runner."
The setting appears to be another neo-Tokyo, recalling that other anime classic “Akira” (1988), with almost everything about the visuals lifted from Ridley Scott’s 1982 landmark “Blade Runner,” including giant animated advertisements on the sides of high-rises.
Once again, echoes of other comparable fare — Blade Runner , which pre-dates the manga; The Matrix , which is widely regarded to have taken inspiration from it — remain evident, without overshadowing the end product thanks to the imagery’s all-round dazzling display.
But Masamune borrowed a lot from Blade Runner, and that movie seems to be the primary visual inspiration for this adaptation.
The film slavishly revisits not only the original inspiration but such other sci-fi landmarks as Blade Runner and Metropolis, creating an unsettling feeling not unlike the “uncanny valley” effect more common to photorealistic animation.
The movie never commits to itself, one way or the other, so it mostly just sits there, reminding you that you probably should have just watched Minority Report again, or just the original Ghost in the Shell.
The Matrix (1999)
Directed by Lana Wachowski
influenced Ghost in the Shell (2017), Snow White and the Huntsman (2012)
Visuals Themes Plot
Once again, echoes of other comparable fare — Blade Runner , which pre-dates the manga; The Matrix , which is widely regarded to have taken inspiration from it — remain evident, without overshadowing the end product thanks to the imagery’s all-round dazzling display.
There’s homage to the original anime, Christopher Nolan’s “Inception”, and of course there are inescapable comparisons to the canonical films of the cyber-punk genre such as “The Matrix” and “Blade Runner.”
The 1995 anime made an indelible mark on Hollywood cinema, most notably inspiring the Wachowkis’ The Matrix trilogy and the futurism of Minority Report.
So what you have is a mix of Lord of the Rings and Gladiator and a bit of The Matrix, and in between are vague tweaks of the Snow White story that you remember.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
Directed by James Cameron
influenced Snow White and the Huntsman (2012)
Visuals
This time, however, the mirror takes on a more eerie persona as part of it melts to the floor and then reshapes into cloaked, human-like form (as if the Harry Potteresque father of Robert Patrick's shape-shifting, liquid metal cyborg in "Terminator 2").
Years later, Ravenna learns from her magic mirror - a fabulous "Terminator 2"-style, molten metal concoction with a voice like Barry White in his prime - that Snow White's purity is the only thing that can destroy the queen.
It's a dynamic that hardly smacks of chance, any more than the sweeping vistas virtually plucked from the "Rings" trilogy; the magic mirror that morphs into an oozing mass seemingly culled from "Terminator 2;" or portentous dialogue in which it is pronounced, "She is the one," in reverent "Matrix"-like tones, regarding Snow's ability to end the Queen's evil reign.
The effects are, it must be noted, impressive--the queen's melting and reforming T2-style mirror is remarkable, and the visual effects in the fairy sanctuary are awe-inspiring--though that neat trick of seeing someone shape-shift after they get hit with a sword loses its novelty by the fifth or sixth time they trot it out.
The Lord of the Rings (1978)
Directed by Ralph Bakshi
influenced Snow White and the Huntsman (2012)
Visuals Themes
There isn’t a cohesive world here, as in The Lord of the Rings or Star Wars, both of which Huntsman desperately evokes: instead, there’s random bits of magic and landscapes that make no organic sense but are strung together because, hey, ya gots to have snowy mountains and swampy Pits of Despair and castles on the ocean all within easy walking distance of one another in a fantasy flick.
From the ambitious battle scenes to the grandiose monsters, Sanders is aiming for a scale of fantasy reminiscent of The Lord of the Rings.
English commercial director Rupert Sanders makes his feature debut with a splash, launching a fantasy-adventure franchise that probably isn’t as good as any of the things it references — the classic Walt Disney film, of course, but also “The Lord of the Rings,” the Narnia series, “Game of Thrones,” “Star Wars,” Shakespeare and countless other works besides — but comes close enough, I’d guess, to carve out its own niche and create its own fan base.
Taking its cue from Twilight, Red Riding Hood and The Lord of the Rings, Snow White and the Huntsman very, very much longs to be a dark fairy tale, the sort where the skies are always charcoal gray and the characters are forever uttering their dialogue with an air of heavy significance.
A full-force fairy tale that takes the Grimms' twisty yarn and adds heapings of The Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia, Joan of Arc, and Celtic myth, Snow White and the Huntsman - with Kristen Stewart and Chris Hemsworth in the title roles - is not your grandmother's Disney cartoon.
The setting appears to be another neo-Tokyo, recalling that other anime classic “Akira” (1988), with almost everything about the visuals lifted from Ridley Scott’s 1982 landmark “Blade Runner,” including giant animated advertisements on the sides of high-rises.
It was the Akira of the paranoid ‘90s – and perfectly timed for the advent of the connected world that was emerging around it.
Warner Bros. has been trying to make Akira for a few years now; this week’s announcement that the studio is courting Jordan Peele for the director’s chair seems to indicate that these films and shows are ripe for the plucking in Hollywood.
Maleficent (2014)
Directed by Robert Stromberg
influenced by Snow White and the Huntsman (2012)
Visuals Themes
There are elaborate battle sequences with Maleficent wiping out hordes of human soldiers that recall the dark-toned, blood-free slaughter of another recent fairy tale do-over, "Snow White and the Huntsman" (which I liked, actually).
Maleficent is a more mature iteration of the tale than Sleeping Beauty, with the story having been framed as a fantasy adventure rather than a traditional fairy tale (much in the same way that Snow White and the Huntsman expanded on the simplistic premise of that animated classic).
Instead of replicating classic Disney magic, Maleficent feels more like one of the CGI-cluttered fairy tale retellings of recent years, not much different from Mirror, Mirror or Snow White and the Huntsman or Jack the Giant Slayer or Red Riding Hood .
The films that Maleficent more closely resembles are Alice in Wonderland (2010), Snow White and the Huntsman (2012), and Oz: The Great and Powerful (2013).
Snow White And The Huntsman , Alice In Wonderland , Maleficent – what’s the difference?
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1938)
Directed by David Hand
influenced Snow White and the Huntsman (2012)
Plot
It’s neither the kid-friendly take of 1937’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs or the two-month-old Mirror Mirror , nor the R-rated horror version offered by 1997’s Snow White: A Tale of Terror .
'Snow White' — Disney's 1937 animated account of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" is based on Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm's violent folk tale.
Years, nay decades, have gone by without a film being made about the Grimm's fairy tale, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, after Walt Disney introduced it in his classic 1937 cartoon.
Because this is, indeed, a take-off on "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs"most indelibly made into Disney's 1937 animated classicscreenwriters Hossein Amini (2011's "…
Or maybe it’s Walt Disney, working his juju from beyond the grave, determined that no future film ever upstage his iconic, first full-length cel animated feature, the 1937 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
We are all familiar with the original Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Disney’s 75-year-old masterpiece.
Big Trouble in Little China (1986)
Directed by John Carpenter
influenced Snow White and the Huntsman (2012)
Music
Sanders uses a patchwork of shooting and aesthetic techniques inspired by Ridley Scott, Terrence Malick, Peter Jackson, Christopher Nolan, George Lucas, David Lean and even a musical queue that reminded me of John Carpenter’s Big Trouble in Little China – and for a cinefile it became a ‘spot’ the homage.
Cinderella (2015)
Directed by Kenneth Branagh
influenced by Snow White and the Huntsman (2012)
Themes Plot Characters
We've had action-hero fairytales in "Snow White and the Huntsman" and "Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters" and camped-up fairytales in "Mirror Mirror."
Where Maleficent struggled to find anyone to match Angelina Jolie’s dominating performance and Snow White and the Huntsman strayed too far from the path, Cinderella takes the seemingly obvious, but seldom-seen approach of taking a classic, carefully pulling it apart, lovingly polishing or even upgrading each component then putting it back together bigger, better and yet still recognisably familiar.
Though Lily James’ radiant Cinders knows how to stand up for herself, Chris Weitz’s screenplay is not a girlpower rewrite like Frozen , nor does it do a Snow White and the Huntsman , or a Mirror Mirror, and mess with a perfectly good story.
Nor is she a warrior like the heroine in Snow White and the Huntsman, some producer’s notion of what a fairy tale update should be.
We don't expect a rollicking fairy tale spoof like Enchanted or an abomination like Snow White and the Huntsman.
What's perhaps most startling about the film is that it's not a revisionist take on a beloved tale, a slant that's been all the rage thanks to the likes of Into the Woods, Snow White and the Huntsman, Oz the Great and Powerful and, of course, the Sleeping Beauty offshoot Maleficent.
Mommie Dearest (1981)
Directed by Frank Perry
influenced Snow White and the Huntsman (2012)
Characters
But without an experienced director brave enough to tell the Oscar-winner when to say when, she chews the scenery at a rate so voracious you can’t help recalling Faye Dunaway’s shameless vamping in “Mommie Dearest.”
When an actress goes this far out on a highly theatrical ledge—think Faye Dunaway in Mommie Dearest —critics are usually waiting with their penknives, ready to skewer the performance as camp.
Ghost in the Shell (1995)
Directed by Mamoru Oshii
influenced Ghost in the Shell (2017), Snow White and the Huntsman (2012)
Plot Themes Visuals
This week’s repackaged old idea is a live-action version of the classic Japanese comic book Ghost in the Shell , which itself inspired the 1995 anime film with the same name.
It isn’t a remake of Mamoru Oshii’s sci-fi animated feature , which is a classic of the genre, but a very studious homage; the plot is original (provided one has never played a video game influenced by Ghost In The Shell), though it draws ideas from later animated adaptations of Masamune Shirow’s manga series.
"Ghost in the Shell": From the potential blockbuster vein comes this Scarlett Johansson starrer, based on Mamoru Oshii's 1995 animated take on the same story and, apparently, some other quite nifty Japanese stuff that fans of this punky genre readily acknowledge and take very seriously.
In Ghost in the Shell, based on a Japanese manga comic of the early 1990s (which inspired a fascinating 1995 animated film), Johansson plays, inevitably, a full-on robot named Major.
If the "ghost" of anime classic Ghost in the Shell refers to the soul looming inside of its killer female cyborg, then this live-action reboot from director Rupert Sanders really only leaves us the shell: a heavily computer-generated enterprise with more body than brains, more visuals than ideas, as if the original movie’s hard drive had been wiped clean of all that was dark, poetic and mystifying.
Ghost in the Shell doesn’t have that mainstream pedigree, but Mamoru Oshii’s once-groundbreaking cyberpunk visual aesthetic — which inspired The Matrix — gives Snow White and the Huntsman director Rupert Sanders and his production team a blueprint to achieve some seriously eye-popping work.
Princess Mononoke (1997)
Directed by Hayao Miyazaki
influenced Snow White and the Huntsman (2012)
Characters Visuals Plot
Making considerably less sense is an interlude where Snow White goes into a magical, fairy-filled garden and encounters a spirit god directly lifted from Hayao Miyazaki's "Princess Mononoke" (a great, many-antlered deity).
That entire sequence feels like it's pulled directly out of " Princess Mononoke ."
This bizarre and seemingly pointless scene, which felt like it was straight out of Princess Mononoke, is immediately followed by yet another attack, of which we had already seen plenty of by that point.
The movie itself feels cobbled together from left over bits and pieces from Ladyhawke, Conan the Destroyer, Princess Mononoke (believe it or not) and, most importantly, Tangled.
Snow White and the Huntsman is a movie specifically designed for Stephenie Meyer's audience of lonesome illiterates, hoping they'll rip their sweaty bug-eyes away from Fifty Shades of Grey long enough to feast on a circa-1995 feminist fairytale update (watch it on a double-feature with Drew Barrymore's Ever After), complete with a Fabio-tastic hero and an inexplicable Princess Mononoke interlude.
While the film brings the futuristic city found within the anime and manga to life with intricate detail involving skyscraper-sized holograms, harsh fluorescent lighting, and tall buildings crammed so close together that the entire city feels crammed, you can’t help but be reminded of films like Blade Runner and The Fifth Element .
There are nods to “The Matrix,” HBO’s “Westworld,” “Enter the Void,” Björk album covers, “The Fifth Element,” “Lost in Translation,” you name it.
Anyone who has seen Ridley Scott’s “Blade Runner” or that film’s innumerable 2.0 follow-ups (“Strange Days,” “The Fifth Element”) will recognize this “Ghost” cityscape, with its jumbled forms, neo-noir shadows, patina of art-directed decay and its conspicuous Asian-Hollywood fusion touches.
I think I could hang in Blade Runner or The Fifth Element, but this is like Minority Report to an exponential degree.
The Seventh Seal (1957)
Directed by Ingmar Bergman
influenced Snow White and the Huntsman (2012)
Visuals
She tests her success with the proverbial mirror on the wall, which melts into molten metal and assumes a spectral form, not unlike Death in " The Seventh Seal ," although its metallic transformation process reminds us of "The Terminator."
Nightmarishly brutal, set against wintry landscapes and medieval battlements, and rife with hopeless, starving peasants, it’s practically a full-bore horror picture, reminiscent of Game of Thrones , Joan of Arc, and Countess Dracula?the one where the title character, inspired by Elizabeth Bathory, stays youthful by bathing in the blood of young women.
Countess Dracula (1971)
Directed by Peter Sasdy
influenced Snow White and the Huntsman (2012)
Themes
Nightmarishly brutal, set against wintry landscapes and medieval battlements, and rife with hopeless, starving peasants, it’s practically a full-bore horror picture, reminiscent of Game of Thrones , Joan of Arc, and Countess Dracula?the one where the title character, inspired by Elizabeth Bathory, stays youthful by bathing in the blood of young women.
The Terminator (1984)
Directed by James Cameron
influenced Snow White and the Huntsman (2012)
Visuals
She tests her success with the proverbial mirror on the wall, which melts into molten metal and assumes a spectral form, not unlike Death in " The Seventh Seal ," although its metallic transformation process reminds us of "The Terminator."
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991)
Directed by Kevin Reynolds
influenced Snow White and the Huntsman (2012)
Characters
Through about half of the film, she channels Kevin Costner from “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves,” attempting a British accent but never quite hitting the mark and then giving up.