Blu-ray

This post-Lord of the Rings take on Snow White pushes many of the more familiar story elements (like the seven dwarves) into the background, in favour of a two-hour saga of fantastical creatures and armies at war.

If this all sounds a little odd, it's worth noting that this revisionist approach is a much better fit here than it was in Tim Burton's misguided Alice in Wonderland. It also helps that director Rupert Sanders unleashes some truly startling imagery (some seemingly lifted straight out of a Miyazaki movie) and Charlize Theron is fantastic as the life-sucking evil queen. What holds it back from real success is Kristen Stewart's lifeless performance (she's in full Twilight mode for much of the film) and the way that this negatively impacts on any sense of romance in the story – which is a bit of a problem when a major plot point revolves around her being awoken by 'true love's kiss'.

Picture: It might offer a darker take on the story, but this version of Snow White is still the fairest of them all on Blu-ray. The AVC 2.40:1 1080p encode serves up a jaw-dropping array of fine detailing and a clarity that has to be seen to be believed. Best of all, there's nothing in the way of digital flaws such as banding, artefacting or edge enhancement to spoil your enjoyment of the image.
Picture rating: 5/5

Audio: The film hits Blu-ray with a convincingly expansive DTS-HD MA 7.1 soundtrack that will have the neighbours thinking that an army of knights has invaded your home. Use of the surrounds is thrilling in its complexity, bass packs a seriously heavy punch and there's a precision to every audio cue that really comes into its own during scenes such as the fight with the glass monsters in Chapter 19.
Audio rating: 5/5

Extras: Not only does it deliver spectacular audio-visual performance, but this Blu-ray release also features an impressive array of bonus features.

Not only is there the choice of watching the 127-min theatrical or 132-min extended cut of the movie, but the former version also gets a U-Control picture-in-picture mode (with content on 12 out of the film's 20 chapters). Director Rupert Sanders, visual effects supervisor Cedric Nicolas-Troyan and co-editor Neil Smith are also on hand with an audio commentary for the film. Following on from that is a 21-min Making of…, interactive 360-degree tours of five of the film's sets (with links to on-set footage), visual effects breakdowns, character featurettes and a piece about re-inventing the original fairy tale.
Extras rating: 4/5

We say: A spectacular Blu-ray release for this revisionist take on the fairy tale

Universal Pictures, All-region BD, £25 Approx, On sale now
HCC VERDICT: 4/5