Entry 7: RE: "Snow White" - (Scratching Head)

Posted by: Bradley Redder

Hm.

"There's a lot of CGI here."

Hmm.

"There's so much damn CGI here that at times it actually starts to bother me."

Hmmmmm.

"What I saw was a film loaded with CGI in virtually every background and every scene."

Umm... ... ...Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

"If you're looking for a movie that's limited on the CGI and instead focuses more on set design and actors..."

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

"...I may have some examples (wink, wink)."

Hm.

So let me get this straight... I ask for a legitimate complaint against something in Snow White, rather than an unnecessary comparison to Lord of the Rings, which you clearly see as a better film (I, again, may or may not), and you choose to attack it for having too much CGI? CGI that you find visually appealing, even! I am going to do something uncharacteristic here and not launch into a long-winded diatribe on the topic, because I'm confident that even your Lord of the Rings cosplay lackeys will see the absurdity in your approach. However, I will address your complaint against Snow White.

I never said that there was no CGI in the film. Of course there's CGI in it... it's a film produced in 2012! Isn't it contractually obligated to have CGI? What I did say was that it was used only when necessary, and that it elects smaller moments over huge, long, drawn-out, tireless CGI action spectacles. Instead it uses its CGI to create a world, and an atmosphere, which it does quite beautifully, as you say so yourself. How many times did someone get hit with a sword, only to shatter into glass?  We saw this maybe eight or ten times... Ravenna used those glass beings as misdirection, and that's exactly how the film treats them. There could have been a huge battle with them scaling walls on ladders while their buddies attack from behind with catapults and flaming arrows, but instead we get a few to give us an idea of what they are, and what Ravenna is capable of. And most of them are hit as background action to a more present, a more flesh-and-blood dramatic event: the showdown between Snow White and Ravenna. How many times did someone turn into butterflies? I don't remember seeing that, so I'll say once? How many times did someone turn into a flock of birds? Ravenna did this a few times, maybe three? Either way, I say CGI was used when needed, and more importantly, the real sets, the real costumes, make-up, props... The entirety of Snow White's production design were carefully created to seamlessly incorporate its CG elements... When something isn't real, it still looks good... I'm still drawn into the world of the film by whatever it is, be it glass soldier, flock of birds, or apple (though I don't remember that as CG, maybe when it decays over twelve years to show the passage of time and transformation of the landscape under Ravenna's evil, hopeless reign?).

Given that our time is running low, I'd like to hear what you have to say about the dwarves. I spent a good portion of my review raving about this, and am curious to know what you thought of them. I say they looked exquisite, and were also good characters. And boy, that list of adjectives must be getting pretty long if you're spending so much time on it. You can post it in installments if you want... It doesn't have to be all at once.