I have to admit I did not expect this to be as good as it ultimately was. Not that it reaches Pixar level of awesomeness, but it is quite the good movie. Having said that, there are issues with how it deals with optics - or what we would call beauty standards. It deals with those as good as it can, but I do imagine that some may have problems with that.

But this is aimed at kids and I do not think this will lead any kid down the wrong road. Again, I am not a psychologist and you may feel different, but then again there are many other movies who have similar issues - even those for adults. So try not to overthink and enjoy with the little ones if you can.

On Fairytale Island, celebrated heroes, the Fearless Seven, defeat a witch who turns out to be a fairy princess. The fairy curses the heroes turning them into adorable trolls. Meanwhile, a real witch has married the king and twisting the kingdom to achieve her goal of magical beauty. Princess Snow White fears for her missing father and manages to steal a magical pair of red shoes from the witch. The shoes turn her into a beautiful girl and she finds help from the seven adorably cursed trolls.

The movie rushes a ton of exposition early on. It really needs more time to breathe especially the Fearless Seven. Quite frankly, the movie could have started with an exciting action sequence. It could introduce the vain Merlin and the rest of the gang in a more naturalistic manner. I do love the central theme of inner beauty but Merlin's vanity should be highlighted much more from the start and the trolls should not be so adorable. The point is that Merlin is an ugly vain pretty boy who learns that beauty is not just skin deep. It needs more careful planning and better writing. The adorable trolls don't help the theme either. That brings up the premise with respect to Snow White. In this movie, ugling her up means fattening her up. It co-mingles with the earlier problem of skimming over Merlin's vanity. If Merlin has an early scene of ridiculing a fat girl, it would make the whole premise run so much more smoother. Then the premise would be a damnation of fat shaming. Instead, the premise gets a bit muddy due to the muddled story presentation.

Overall, the general idea of reworking Snow White with an inner beauty premise holds some good promise. The Korean animation is basically Ice Age level. It looks good enough. The writing is where the movie falters. I'm not sure if it's the cultural differences but they need to hire a veteran western writing group to go over this movie a few more times. There are a few obvious mistakes and some questionable turns that need fixing.

One of the best animated stories to come out of Korea. Positive message storyline that beauty in a person is not in their appearance. Good modeling; good compositing; good animation; good voicing; fun dialogue. Ten years in production from initial concept to fruition. Like w/Disney it takes a week of studio time to make 3 sec. of animation. Note: Producers say that one of their goals is to have Korean animation better than Disney. I disagree with that attitude. It should not be about competing with another company, but doing your best for the audience. Note 2: Chloë in video special features is shown w/excessive very bright red, very heavily applied (looked like plastic) lipstick which not only is unhealthy, but counters her role model message of females not selling their bodies.