My teen daughter Riley had a lot of questions before agreeing to see The Huntsman: Winter’s War. Is it a sequel? Is it a prequel? Were the filmmakers trying to make a follow-up to Snow White and the Huntsman without bringing back Snow White? Is it a princess movie aimed at teen girls? Or an action movie targeted to guys? The answer is: all of the above.  

Frankly, Riley wasn’t a fan of the first film, and was resistant to seeing this follow-up. Of course, when you’re a 15-year old tomboy, turning up your nose at anything girly – like a fairy tale about queens, magic, and love – it’s more about protecting your “brand.”

We discovered that The Huntsman is not girly, per se. It does feature ahhhhh-maaaazing hair, makeup, gowns and castles that should rightfully appeal to the girliest of girls. However, it’s actually more of a “Game of Thrones”-style action adventure that dropkicks what we know of fairy tales and includes some pretty brutal scenes. Danger: Spoilers ahead for those parents who want to know what they’re getting into before they hit the theater with younger kids.

First off, you should know that if your kid is still singing “Let It Go” at the top of her lungs, The Huntsman: Winter’s War may not be for her. The Huntsman seems to me to be loosely, loosely based on Hans Christian Anderson’s “The Snow Queen” mixed with Frozen (which is even more loosely based on that same parable).  It’s a story of two sisters who are enchanted in the worst way. Older sis Ravenna uses her magic to marry and consequently kill kings to gain power, land and riches. Younger sis Freya is, according to the radio ad, “The Frozen Queen” with the ability to freeze people and conjure ice creations, like walls and castles… you know, like that other Frozen Queen, Elsa. Freya was originally good hearted and not particularly ambitious, but her powers are triggered by her rage when her baby is intentionally burned alive by the baby’s father. So, yeah. There’s that. These sisters do NOT wanna build a snowman.

All of this takes place well before Ravenna marries Snow White’s father, so the film begins as a prequel. Freya, in all her anguish, works through her grief by taking her act solo, taking over a kingdom and kidnapping the children, raising them as her own and training them to be child soldiers – one of whom is Eric, our “Huntsman.”

The story turns into an anti-love story: Freya tells “her children” that love is bad, and bans it from her kingdom. Freya is new to parenting and doesn’t know what we more experienced mothers could’ve told her: as soon as you tell a kid they CAN’T do something, they then want nothing more. Once Freya learns two of her top soldiers are in love, she teaches them a violent and tragic lesson, and Eric winds up banished.

The story then picks up AFTER the events of Snow White and the Huntsman occur and Eric is given the mission of locating that pesky magic mirror – therefore, this film is both a prequel AND a sequel , which is a most impressive cinematic trick. While it’s not necessary because this is truly a standalone story, I recommend watching Snow White and the Huntsman before seeing this film to avoid any confusion.

My concern is that the film feels unnecessarily gruesome. These sisters are absolutely evil, much more Joker than Cruella de Ville. Bloody bodies are stacked up, stabbing is par for the course, and one person’s arm even gets chopped off on camera. One child’s face is permanently marred by a queen just for missing his mommy. It definitely lives up to its PG-13 rating.

Several sexual scenes occur, although all between couples who are (or will soon be) married. Two characters have implied sex in what you might call a medieval hot tub. The scene I didn’t appreciate is one that delivers a mixed message: the girl tells the guy she does not want to be with him, he persists, and not one minute later, they’re ripping each other’s clothes off. No sometimes means yes? What, are we in the Dark Ages?

Well, of course we are in this film, so maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised to hear the “ugly” language the dwarves use to describe each other. A gender war exists in the dwarf community, with male dwarves attacking the appearance of female dwarves in a very mean way.

Now, about the girly stuff. Even my tomboy admitted the style in this film is gorgeous and, one can only hope, imitable. We are both rooting that this film will succeed so that Emily Blunt’s purple eyeshadow look will become trendy and that some Queen Freya DIY braiding videos come up on YouTube so that we can get her beautiful hairstyle. She also sports white-grey hair…and how many of us could save a fortune if that trend would grow beyond Lady Gaga and Kelly Osbourne?  

The loveliest part of the film, though, is that The Huntsman: Winter’s War is about strong, capable women. Yes, it’s technically Chris Hemsworth’s movie, and yes, two of those women are also calculating and murderous, but this film is totally different than Snow White – women do NOT need a man to rescue them and a man does NOT need a woman to take care of his cooking and cleaning. There’s your fairy tale ending.