Red Shoes and the Seven Dwarfs

Red Shoes and the Seven Dwarfs
South Korean theatrical release poster
Directed by	Sung-ho Hong
Written by	Sung-ho Hong
Produced by	SuJin Hwang HyungSoon Kim
Starring	Chloë Grace Moretz Sam Claflin Gina Gershon Patrick Warburton Jim Rash
Music by	Geoff Zanelli
Production company	Locus Corporation
Distributed by	Next Entertainment World
Release date	July 25, 2019 (2019-07-25)
Running time	93 minutes
Country	South Korea
Language	English
Box office	$9.7 million

Red Shoes and the Seven Dwarfs, known in Korean as simply Red Shoes (레드슈즈, Redeu Syujeu) is a 2019 South Korean computer-animated fantasy film produced by Locus Corporation. It is based on the German language fairy tale "Snow White" by the Brothers Grimm, and its name is derived from the Danish fairy tale The Red Shoes by Hans Christian Andersen. The film features the voices of Chloë Grace Moretz, Sam Claflin, Gina Gershon, Patrick Warburton, and Jim Rash.

Plot

On Fairy Tale Island, a group of heroic princes called the Fearless Seven (F7) - Merlin, Arthur, Jack, Hans, and triplets Pino, Noki and Kio - save a Fairy Princess from a dragon. However, after seeing her green face, they assume she is a witch and attack her. To teach them a lesson, she curses them to transform into green dwarves whenever people look at them. The curse can only be broken by a kiss from "the most beautiful woman in the world", which they believe is impossible.

Seven years later, Princess Snow White, the overweight but strong and kind daughter of King White, sets out to find her missing father. She returns to her parents' castle, where her stepmother, Queen Regina, has taken over. She finds a message from her father telling her to find the seven and not to trust apples. She finds a pair of red shoes growing on a tree, which grant eternal life and beauty. Snow puts on the shoes and they transform her into a beautiful slim woman. Regina suddenly attacks, unaware that the slender woman is Snow White. Snow escapes on a broomstick and crashes at the dwarves' house, alerting the seven nearby. They prepare to attack, thinking Snow White is the Fairy Princess, but welcome her into their home upon seeing her. Snow is shocked at seeing herself in the mirror and renames herself "Red Shoes". The seven are all immediately smitten and strive to impress her so she might kiss them.

Regina hires the selfish Prince Average of a neighbouring kingdom. Average's soldiers chase Red Shoes to try and kidnap her, but Merlin saves her. That night, Red Shoes and Merlin grow closer to each other. Regina gives Average and his bodyguards apples and turns them into monstrous wooden bears. In a secluded forest, Red Shoes tries to give Merlin a hint about her real self but instead confesses her feelings for him, and they kiss. Merlin is shocked to see that the kiss did not undo his curse as he still thinks Red Shoes is the prophetic woman. Merlin fights off an attack by Average and his bodyguards, but as Average falls into a river, he takes Merlin with him. Red Shoes saves Merlin by removing the shoes and regaining her strength, exposing herself as Snow White. She pointedly asks Merlin if he would have helped her real self, and Merlin leaves, ashamed. She then puts the shoes back on, thinking Merlin still likes her for her looks more than herself. Merlin imagines a conversation with his dwarf self and, realizing that Snow White likes him for who he is on the inside, decides to help her. In the forest, Regina disguises herself as Merlin and asks Red Shoes to eat an apple to help remove her shoes, but the real Merlin arrives and the exposed witch abducts her stepdaughter.

In her castle, Regina again tries to force Snow White to eat an apple by threatening to kill a captured Merlin. Snow eats the apple and transforms into a new apple tree. Merlin fails to escape from Regina's magic mirror until the other dwarves save him. Merlin sacrifices himself by falling down the castle with Regina to save Snow. With Regina dead, the wooden animals they befriended change back into humans, including King White. Pino, Noki, and Kio save Merlin and take him to Snow. He tells her she is the most beautiful woman whether his eyes are open or closed. After he dies in her arms, she revives him with a kiss, transforming him back into a prince. Merlin and Snow White happily accept each other's appearances, while Arthur remains confused by Snow's true identity.

In the end credits, Snow and Merlin marry, while the other princes find their own unusual-looking girlfriends. The Fairy Princess fishes Prince Average out of a river and turns him into another green dwarf after he makes a rude remark.

Cast

• Chloë Grace Moretz as Princess Snow White/Red Shoes; a rewritten version of the classic fairy tale character Snow White, who is more overweight than the original character by the Brothers Grimm. Kind and selfless, she compensates for her plump figure by being a strong fighter. Her alias, "Red Shoes" is based on a Hans Christian Andersen story of the same name.
• Sam Claflin as Merlin; a handsome prince and the leader of the Fearless Seven. He is kind-hearted but slightly vain, as he believes that physical appearance is what really defines a person, although he learns about inner beauty and genuinely falls in love with Snow White. He is very athletic and his main weapon is magical lightning.
• Gina Gershon as Queen Regina; Snow White's stepmother and an evil witch seeking to steal back Snow White's shoes to achieve immortality and eternal youth, but she cannot gain either due to her diabolical intentions.
• Patrick Warburton as the Magic Mirror; a snarky, talking mirror based on the Evil Queen's mirror of the original Snow White story. He is part of a magical tree and controls its branches.
• Jim Rash as Prince Average; a selfish, weak-willed prince who tries to force Snow White to be his birthday date. He corrects people that his name is pronounced differently from the actual word "average," which indicates his bland nature.
• Simon Kassianides as Arthur; Merlin's closest friend and second-in-command of the Fearless Seven. Arthur is Merlin's main rival for Snow White's affection. His main weapons are swords and he aims to pull out Excalibur.
• Frederik Hamel as Jack; an arrogant, French-accented prince and member of the Fearless Seven whose main weapon is an invisibility cloak. He has a habit of looking at himself in a hand-held mirror and believes that women are mostly interested in diamonds. He is most likely named after Jack from the classic fairy tale "Jack and the Beanstalk".
• Nolan North as Hans, the Twin Guards, and King White.
  • Hans is a pastry chef and one of the Fearless Seven, whose main weapon is a shield that can also be used as a frying pan and believes women can be won over with confectionery. Hans's name is most likely named after Hans Christian Andersen.
  • The Twin Guards are two muscular but dim bodyguards of Prince Average.
  • King White is Snow White's slightly overweight but loving father and Regina's husband.
• Frank Todaro as Pino, Noki, and Kio; identical triplets who make up more of themselves than the more-so individuals of the Fearless Seven Princes. They are inventors and are usually building machines and weapons; their main weapon is a giant robot. The three are always together, so they are never seen in human form after the curse. They are named after Pinocchio from The Adventures of Pinocchio.
• Brian T. Delaney as Big Bunny and Sculptor. The Big Bunny may be based on the White Rabbit from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll and the Sculptor may be based on Geppetto from The Adventures of Pinocchio.
• Piotr Michael and Benjamin Diskin as Soldier A and Soldier B; fellow soldiers dressed in knight's armor and Prince Average's servants sent by Regina to find the "Wanted" girl known as the "woman with the red shoes". They might be based on the White Knight from Through the Looking-Glass.

Ava Kolker, Asher Blinkoff, and Juju Journey Brener have voice roles as the Wooden Bear Cubs. Their story origin or what story they were inspired by could be a mixture of both the "Swan Queen" from Swan Lake by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Baby Bear from the third version of The Story of the Three Bears, which is Goldilocks and the Three Bears, the second version replaced with Goldilocks but originally trio of bears replaced with Mama Bear, Papa Bear, and Baby Bear. Additional voices by Brian T. Delaney, Benjamin Diskin, Terri Douglas, Piotr Michael, Amanda Troop, and Kari Wahlgren.

Reception

Critical reception

The reaction to the film was mixed to positive.

Fat shaming controversy

A marketing campaign for the film revealed at the 2017 Cannes Marche du Film was criticized by critics and audiences for alleged fat shaming. Chloë Grace Moretz, who portrayed Snow/Red Shoes, stated she was "appalled" by the marketing that she felt it did not reflect the actual film's message. The production company immediately terminated the campaign and issued an apology, stating:

As the producer of the theatrical animated film "Red Shoes and the 7 Dwarfs," now in production, Locus Corporation wishes to apologize regarding the first elements of our marketing campaign (in the form of a Cannes billboard and a trailer) which we realize has had the opposite effect from that which was intended. That advertising campaign is being terminated. Our film, a family comedy, carries a message designed to challenge social prejudices related to standards of physical beauty in society by emphasizing the importance of inner beauty. We appreciate and are grateful for the constructive criticism of those who brought this to our attention. We sincerely regret any embarrassment or dissatisfaction this mistaken advertising has caused to any of the individual artists or companies involved with the production of future distribution of the film, none of whom had any involvement with creating or approving the now discontinued advertising campaign.

Later sources, including organizations aimed at promoting good messaging in family entertainment, would be more sympathetic to the film, noting that Red Shoes and the Seven Dwarfs is "loaded with valuable lessons for children and adults" and "promotes body image and self-acceptance, while confronting stereotypes."

External links

• Red Shoes and the Seven Dwarfs at IMDb