Seven-year-old Snow White (Raffey Cassidy) was living happily with her loving parents, King Magnus (Noah Huntley) and Queen Eleanor (Liberty Ross) of Tabor, until her mother died and the King remarried. His new wife Ravenna (Charlize Theron), a vain and powerful sorceress, killed him on their wedding night and imprisoned Snow White in a tower room for the next ten years. When Ravenna's magic mirror informs her that grownup Snow White (Kristen Stewart) is more beautiful, she orders that Snow White be slain. However, Snow White escapes into the Dark Forest, so Queen Ravenna sends a huntsman (Chris Hemsworth) to find her, but the huntsman has other ideas.
The movie is based on the German fairy tale "Snow White" (German "Schneewittchen"), written by the Brothers Grimm and first published in 1812 as tale 53 in the first edition of their collection titled Grimms' Fairy Tales. The story was adapted for the movie by American screenwriters Evan Daugherty and John Lee Hancock along with Iranian-British screenwriter Hossein Amini.
As "royal blood" could prove useful when Snow White becomes a woman, Ravenna decides to keep her imprisoned so that she could 'steal' her youth in the future. It is also possible that Ravenna empathized with Snow White at the time because the young princess reminded Ravenna of herself as a child.
Snow White, William (Sam Claflin), the huntsman, and their army storm the Queen's castle. While William and the Huntsman fight the Queen's army, Snow White climbs to the top of the castle tower where Ravenna is waiting for her. William and the huntsman follow, along with a small band of soldiers, but Ravenna rains shards of black glass upon them, the shards turning into monstrous creatures. With her soldiers engaged in fighting the shard creatures, Snow White rushes alone at Ravenna, but Ravenna easily overpowers her. Just as Ravenna is about to kill her and eat her heart, Snow White stabs Ravenna in the heart using the counterattack strategy the huntsman taught her, causing Ravenna to fall to the floor where she gasps in pain. As she dies, Ravenna withers and ages. In the final scene, Snow White is crowned Queen of Tabor.
Universal decided to release Snow White and the Huntsman in an Extended Edition featuring more than four minutes of new footage. These extensions are not more than some insignificant plot scenes that should not be seen as more than a nice goodie.
The story of "Snow White" is in the public domain, and various English translations from the original German are available.
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