Disc Details
Special Features:	Full-screen format. Chapter selection. Cast and crew Bios and filmographies. A Look Behind The Scenes. Kristin Kreuk's Neutrogena Commercial. Trailers for other Hallmark DVDs.
Video Format:	Full Frame (1.33:1) [SS-DL]
Languages:	English (Dolby Digital 5.0) English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)
Subtitles:	None.
Captions:	Yes
Casing:	1-Disc Keep Case

John (Tom Irwin) and Josephine (Vera Farmiga) are a poor married couple living in a modest cottage in the woods. Josephine is expecting her first child. One day she pricks her finger on a rose thorn. He blood falls to the snow covered ground. Josephine immediately knows what she will name her unborn child. The day of the child's birth arrives. Josephine tells John to name the child Snow White (Kristin Kruek as a teenager)and then dies. After burying his wife, John leaves the cottage with his daughter to find a wet-nurse. Trapped in a blizzard, John falls to the ground. He weeps, knowing that the infant will die. His tear lands on the icy ground and frees the Green-Eyed One (Clancy Brown). The Green-Eyed One is a horrifying looking being that has been imprisoned in the ice. Out of gratitude, the Green-Eyed One grants John a wish. While John only wishes for food and shelter for his daughter, the Green-eyed One talks him into wishing to marry a Queen. You see, the Green-Eyed One has an ugly sister that he wants to marry off. Before you can say hocus-pocus, John has been set up in a lavish castle with the formerly hideous, but now beautiful Elspeth (Miranda Richardson).

A lot of what follows will be familiar to fans of the earlier Disney movie, but there are enough differences to cause me to delve no further into the plot. As I said before there are only six dwarfs. The seven woodsmen are named after the days of the week. Wednesday (Vincent Schiavelli from "Ghost" and "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest")is quite a bit taller than the rest!

The production values and special effects for this movie are outstanding, especially considering it is a made for TV movie. Clancy Brown's make-up as the Green-Eyed One is almost as scary as his make-up in "Highlander." The acting is also quite good. Kristin Kruek is appropriately virginal and good-hearted for the role. She is a perfect physical choice for the role also. Miranda Richardson steals the show as the evil Queen Elspeth. She surpasses her great performance as Queen Mabe in that other outstanding made for TV fantasy film, "Merlin." Warwick Davis (Willow) has little to do as Saturday, one of the dwarfs. Michael J. Anderson is the standout among the little people. His Sunday was imprisoned by Queen Elspeth as a statue in the castle Garden. Snow White would often talks to the statue, saying he was her only friend. He is partially released when Elspeth goes into a fit of rage when her attempt to seduce Snow White's suitor fails. He becomes a half man/half statue being. The costume and make-up used to achieve this effect is excellent.

Everyone in my family enjoyed this one. It was a little dark for the 4 year old, but she still enjoyed it. My 15 year-old Goth girl daughter wanted to trade make-up secrets with Clancy Brown.

Picture Quality: 6/10
Some pixilation. There are some major delineation problems with dark scenes. Many times, objects that should be black are purple or undiscernible as to their form. During some nighttime scenes it almost seemed as if the movie was filmed through a gauze filter. For the most part the picture is excellent though. The scene in which Queen Elspeth sends her flying magic mirror on a reconnaissance mission to locate Snow White is a standout.

Sound Quality: 10/10
Excellent sound. Great sound effects when necessary. The sound which accompanies the flying magic mirror reminded me of one of the pod racers from "Episode 1."

Menu: 8/10
Enchanting animated design on the main menu. Nice use of images from the movie. Easy to navigate.

Extra Features: 7/10
The cast and crew bios are indepth. There are bios for 13 cast and crew members.

The 10 minute behind the scenes featurette is OK. It includes interviews with most of the major players in the movie.

The Final Word:
A nice family film. Reasonably priced product. Slim on the extras, but this is a DVD that folks will buy for the movie alone. Worth the price of admission.

Rusty White