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THE HUNTSMAN: WINTER’S WAR

By Joyce and Don Fowler
Posted 4/28/16

* * ½

(Fantasy prequel)

It takes more than good special effects to make a successful movie. While some of the effects are clever and even awesome, the muddled story is actually a sleep …

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See it at the Movies

THE HUNTSMAN: WINTER’S WAR

Posted

* * ½

(Fantasy prequel)

It takes more than good special effects to make a successful movie. While some of the effects are clever and even awesome, the muddled story is actually a sleep inducer.

Charlize Theron plays Queen Ravenna, the beautiful, powerful, nasty woman who looks in the magic mirror and wants to be the “fairest of them all.” Her sister, Freya (Emily Blunt) turns into the Ice Queen and relocates in a winter wonderland, where she kidnaps young children and turns them into her army.

Eric (Chris Hemsworth) and Sara (Jessica Chastain) grow up side by side in her kingdom, where they are carefully taught in the game of war, competing against each other.

Seven years pass and the kids have grown and fallen in love, a no-no in the Ice Queen’s domain. The lovers are separated, with one thinking the other is dead, only to be reunited and joined with more rebels to fight the evil queen.

The battles and one-on-one fights are done poorly in near darkness, where you can’t always tell who the bad guys and who are the good guys are.

Two dwarves are added for comic relief, and both given female companions.

The three couples go off to find the magic mirror, defeating an ugly monster and finally, after nearly two hours, confronting the Ice Queen and her sister. Ho-hum.

Rated PG-13, with violence.

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