The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell by Chris Colfer (Book Review)

The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell

by Chris Colfer

438 pages

Little Brown Books, July 2012

fairy tale/fantasy/magic

Read In: 3 ½ days

Another Review…

My Rating: ★★★★

Amazon.com or BN.com

My Review: Even though this book is geared towards young adults ranging from 8 - 12 years old, I read this 400+ page book for two reasons: 1. Chris Colfer wrote it & 2. Who doesn’t like a good fairy tale? You’re never too old to read fairy tales.

I found this book to be rather inventive. How he was able to intertwine all those fairy tales and still manage to leave himself room for several follow-up books in this made-for trilogy opener. While I feel the editing could have gone a bit deeper than I imagine it did considering it was left at over 400 pages! Then again, after Harry Potter I suppose there is no reason to shorten a book meant to be read by a younger audience. These kids devour books so quickly now!

The twins and main characters of the story are believable in their dialogue, except for the range of emotions the female character, Alex, goes through. I can’t say I remember what it was like when I was 12 but this girl would tear up over the littlest thing! The brother - sister relationship was spot on and I found a little bit of myself in each other them. There were lessons to be learned, as with any good fairy tale, and morals to be remembered. All in all, it’s a book any parent could and should read with their child and discuss as they go along.

I hear rumors of a possible movie being made out of this book? If so, I hope it’s completely animated. Some things are better depicted drawn and come off too corny when you take a children’s book and portray it with real people. Or if not completely then let it start with real people and when they fall into the book they become animated, like The Page Master or Rock-a-doodle.

Synopsis: Alex and Conner Bailey’s world is about to change, in this fast-paced adventure that uniquely combines our modern day world with the enchanting realm of classic fairy tales.

The Land of Stories tells the tale of twins Alex and Conner. Through the mysterious powers of a cherished book of stories, they leave their world behind and find themselves in a foreign land full of wonder and magic where they come face-to-face with the fairy tale characters they grew up reading about.

But after a series of encounters with witches, wolves, goblins, and trolls alike, getting back home is going to be harder than they thought.

Snow White and the Huntsman

Title: Snow White and the Huntsman

Director: Rupert Sanders

Screenwriter(s): Evan Daugherty & John Lee Hancock

Producer: Joe Roth

Distributor: Universal Pictures

Production Company: Roth Films

In Theaters: June 1st, 2012

Run Time: 127 minutes

Color: Technicolor

Starring: Kristen Stewart, Charlize Theron, Chris Hemsworth, Sam Claflin, & Ian McShane

Genre(s): action/adventure/drama/fantasy

Storyline: Snow White is the only person in the land fairer than the evil queen. Unable to tolerate the insult to her vanity, the evil queen decides that Snow White must die. The queen sends a huntsman to kill Snow White. However the huntsman finds himself unable to murder the innocent young woman, and instead ends up training her to become a warrior capable of threatening the queen’s reign. Written by WellardRockard

Movie Trailer: 

My Review: Kristen Stewart you have surely outdone yourself with your performance as Snow White! I thought the only movie of hers I’d love would be Panic Room, but I stand corrected. If you are wondering whether or not it’s worth going to see, wonder no further, because this movie is definitely a must see! From the very beginning you can see this will be as close as one can get to the accurate telling of the tale of Snow White. Charlize Theron was masterful as the wicked Queen.

There is plenty of action for the men in this movie as well. Yes there are fight scenes for days that would satisfy any guy (or girl) who’s looking for less sappy dialogue and more bloodshed. There was only one moment where the lines were as corny as you can get! **SPOILER ALERT** And if not for it turning out that William (during the scene out in the dead of winter) was in fact the wicked Queen tricking Snow White into taking a bite of the poisionous apple, that part would have truly irked me.

The 7 dwarfs were great and funny as well. One of them dies (which I’d have to go back to the book to find out if that is true) during battle. As usual their names are no where near those that we all assume are their names from the animated movie. I almost hate that movie for making me assume the story should be told a certain way when it’s simply a sugar-coated version. In fact, this movie is similar to the telling of Joan of Arc in “The Messenger” with Milla Jovovich (Fifth Element chick). It seems like nowadays there will always be a kiddie version to the true depiction of a story coming out. The more child friendly version for Snow White and the Huntsman would be Mirror Mirror.

Aside from Kristen Stewart and Charlize Theron, the two men deserve mention. Actually, the huntsman only deserves mention. I could have done without the Duke’s son, William, played by Sam Claflin (you may recognize him from the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean movie, he played the priest). I took an instant disliking to him. I’m just glad that he turns out NOT to be Snow White’s true love, although that is hinted at being a sure thing throughout the movie, until he plants “the kiss” on her and she does not come out of her coma. It isn’t until the huntsman, after an emotional plea for her to wake up, kisses her that it not just wakes her, but breathes new life into her.

This is definitely a movie I would not mind seeing in the theater again. I might even buy it on DVD when it’s released. Yes it was that damn good in my opinion. And I’ll stick to that opinion even after knowing she is the main character of those damned Twilight series!

My Rating: A

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