Even The Guardian's review, while generally a "thumbs up", is a bit sparse on details. But apparently there's a very successful franchise that this movie is a part of in Germany, so perhaps there's more to this than is immediately apparent.
The 7th Dwarf is the latest in the Snow White-inspired franchise created by German comedianOtto Waalkes. Two previous live-action versions of the series have together grossed around $75 million in Germany alone.
While it's difficult to truly assess trailers (what with the power of editing being able to transform a movie's story or genre), when I finally did view one I saw why it was initially thought to have a lot of potential.
Here's the trailer:
And the synopsis:
When Bobo, the youngest of the seven dwarves, accidentally pricks Princess Rose (a.k.a. Sleeping Beauty) and sends the kingdom into a century-long slumber, Bobo and the other six dwarves must travel into the future in order to revive Rose... and find that even the smallest dwarf can be a king.
A hilarious mash-up of the best classic fairy tales for young and old alike, featuring a suicidal dragon, a brave little dwarf, non-stop gags, and toe-tapping songs in Stereo 3-D.
Clearly, "the gang's all here" (ie. all your standard fairy tale characters are here) which, admittedly, isn't my favorite fairy tale genre to begin with. Taking the little reviews have said though, I'm not confident it's as little-kid-friendly as it's supposed to be (think German sensibilities/humor!). There are bound to be some interesting ideas in there but are they worth mining for?
Additional sources: HERE, HERE and HERE