Thursday Movie Picks #11: Live Action Fairy Tale Adaptations

I missed the last week Thursday Movie Pick, but now I return to this series with a new theme. Still powered by Wandering through the Shelves Blog, the theme for this week is Live Action Fairy Tale Adaptations. If you, fellow bloggers, want to join this event, please visit the series main page here; you’ll never get too late.

Actually, live action fairy tale adaptations, especially the loyal adaptations, are really not my type of movie. I prefer some movies that “loosely based on a fairy tale” or “inspired by a fairy tale”, because they usually gave more insight to the narratives and they do not device poetical justice not even deus ex machina to end the story. Therefore, I mix some loyal adaptations of fairy tale and some movies that loosely based on a fairy tale for this entry. Shoot!

01. La Belle et La Bête (2014)

Starting from the latest one, it’s a live action adaptation of French most sensational fairy tale Beauty and the Beast—which has been adapted to many kinds of features. This French movie directed by Christophe Gans gave nothing new to the narrative of the titular story; even the main protagonists portrayed by Vincent Cassel and Léa Seydoux cannot quite live up the story. However, the CGI-induced visuals (that somehow reminds me to Maleficent) are, obviously, mesmerizing; resembling some paintings from the 16th century. Filled up with ample of visual spectacles with all the ‘fairy tale’ colors, La Belle et La Bête still makes a good fairy tale adaptation to follow (visually).

02. A Tale of Two Sisters (2003)

A Tale of Two Sisters a.k.a Two Sisters is a psychological thriller, a courtesy of I Saw the Devil‘s director, Kim Jee-won. It’s not a loyal adaptation of a known fairy tale; it’s a loose adaptation of Korean folktale, Janghwa, Hongryeon, presented in modern situation with psychological thriller frame. If you ever heard the adapted folktale, you will understand that this is exactly the same story with Kim Jee-won’s visions: it’s dark, bleak, and merciless.

03. Sleepy Hollow (1999)

A horror fairy tale about a headless horseman can still be a fancy adaptation. Back to the moment when I was little, I could feel that Sleepy Hollow—instead of it is visually stunning—is atmospheric. It’s a typical Tim Burton’s cinematic spectacle—somehow quirky but feels so fancy; therefore, it’s never been a mistake in Burton’s universe.

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So, that’s my pick. I know they do not quite live up the theme, but those are the best I could find. Care to comment?