THE HUNTSMAND: WINTER’S WAR (Rated PG-13)

The legend of Snow White, a nineteenth century German fairy tale popularized by the storytellers of folk tales known collectively as the Brothers Grimm, arguably gained the most public attention, at least on this side of the Atlantic, because of a 1937 Disney animated film.

“Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” told the compelling story of the beautiful, lonely princess living with her stepmother, a vain and wicked Queen, whose jealousy resulted in the order for her Huntsman to take Snow White into the forest and kill her.

No need to rehash the story in exquisite detail, as we know she survives and finds allies with lovable adult dwarfs named Doc, Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy, Bashful, Sneezy and Dopey. We know the happy ending with the Prince.

“The Huntsman: Winter’s War” reveals no good outcome with a charming Prince kissing the sleeping Snow White. In fact, unlike “Snow White and the Huntsman,” for which the new film is apparently a prequel of sorts, “The Huntsman: Winter’s War” finds that Snow White is referenced without tangible, visible appearance.

The one constant factor for “The Huntsman” and the film that preceded it four years ago is that Chris Hemsworth comfortably fills the role of Eric the Huntsman again and Charlize Theron, dripping with ice in her veins, is still fittingly the evil Queen Ravenna.

New to the scene is Emily Blunt’s Freya, the good (well, relatively speaking) sister of Queen Ravenna who runs afoul of her coldhearted sibling by finding love and happiness with a newborn.

A nasty buzzkill, the Queen turns on her own blood relation for finding the kind of joy and ecstasy that eludes a narcissistic monarch who accepts only one answer to the question of “Who’s the fairest of them all?” posed to the Magic Mirror.

And so it happens that Freya’s baby is murdered in its crib, an unforgivable act that serves to freeze Freya’s heart to love and unleashing in her an icy power she never knew she possessed.

Retreating to a kingdom far to the north, Freya’s newfound callous mission is to abduct the young children of her subjects so as to create an army of unforgiving, pitiless killers impervious to compassion and love.

Queen Freya’s cardinal rule is that no one can fall in love in her ice kingdom, where even indoors the room temperature is never about the freezing level (sounds like “Frozen” but without any musical numbers). Freya can turn anyone into an icicle with the flip of her hand.

Two of the abducted children stand out as daunting warriors, growing up to be Eric the Huntsman and Sara (Jessica Chastain). Though love is forbidden in Freya’s kingdom, the Huntsman and Sara fall in love, and they are both banished, with Sara supposedly killed.

Seven years later, the Huntsman is wandering through forest lands for reasons not readily apparent. At least for the benefit of the audience, he teams up with two dwarves, Nion (Nick Frost) and Gryff (Rob Brydon), who bring much-needed comic relief.

Things improve even more on the road when the Huntsman and his two sidekicks meet up with two female dwarves, Mrs. Bromwyn (Sheridan Smith) and Doreena (Alexandra Roach), whose acerbic banter belies the fact the dwarves have now met their soul-mates.

It’s not really much of a spoiler to tell you that Sara turns up very much alive after all these years, and the question is whether she and the Huntsman can rekindle their romantic chemistry, which quite frankly wasn’t all that obvious in the first place.

As implied so far, there are confusing elements to this fantasy story that make it rather challenging to string the various sub-plots into a coherent whole. Is this story mainly about the rivalry of Ravenna and Freya, or is it focused on the Huntsman and Sara?

One gets the feeling that the absence of Kristen Stewart’s Snow White has scrambled the narrative equation. Still, the pursuit of the Magic Mirror, hidden in the forest and guarded by gorillas, is an essential element.

“The Huntsman” is a confounding exercise in storytelling. Confusion is so rampant that when the malevolent Queen Ravenna returns, slithering around as liquid gold oozes from her apparel, interest in the royal sibling rivalry is a ho-hum affair.

Things could have been far more interesting if Snow White had been in the picture, and the four dwarves that provide the greatness amount of fun and levity in an otherwise gloomy story could have been joined by three more of their kind. 

For all its breathtaking visual effects, “The Huntsman: Winter’s War,” which drifts aimlessly, poses a question that can’t be answered by the Magic Mirror: “What’s the target audience for a film that’s a mish-mash of action, revenge, romance and fantasy?”

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.