Julia Roberts introduces the audience to the concept of Snow White in a refreshingly sarcastic way in Mirror Mirror, picking at the original plot with some brazenness. Note to the reader, not many witty moments happen after this so please enjoy. This land is certainly not full of dreams and singing animals. Skip forward to the future and Snow, as Mirror Mirror insists on referring to her, is the darling of the castle, however is kept away from the her people, knowing her only as a monster. Too ugly to venture into her Kingdom. Little do they know she is quite the opposite.
Since her father’s passing the not so lovely Step Mother and Queen (Roberts) has driven the once happy and prosperous Kingdom into the ground. With poverty and starvation reigning, her only option is to find someone rich to marry, supplementing her income. Enter the Prince Alcott of Valencia and his all American charm, which I found to be positively tacky. When finally seeing with her own eyes what has now become of her late father’s land, Snow decides to crash her latest party to pled help from the Prince. The Queen who on discovering the Princes attraction to Snow, and her treacherous gate crashing, decides she needs to be dealt with.
When falling under her charm, her right hand man Brighton cannot complete his mission and advises Snow to run and never return. The best advice she has ever received as her life begins to get exciting on coming across the famous 7 dwarfs. Their names, very much different to the originals, are not the only thing that’s changed. Their occupation “ thieves. The modern day take on their profession is a mixture of Robin Hood giving to the poor and selfishness. Mirror Mirror’s Snow does the only thing that’s left for her to do, joining them and making it her mission to bring the Queen down.
The film did not thrill, excite nor have the audience over the age of 13 on the edge of their seat. Flipping the story on its head, may not have been the most creative idea the production company had. Not only were the actors playing the part’s half heartedly, the plot was boring. The twists they had integrated were not fun, but merely annoying. Snow White has been carved into a vigilante and the dwarfs her sidekicks. It was extremely disappointing that this is what Hollywood serve up as worthwhile material, Xena Warrior Princess for the kids at best.
Julia Roberts embraced the stuck up and arrogant attitude in Mirror Mirror but I felt she could have taken it further. The Queen was mean and bitchy but not evil, evil is a whole different level compared to the end result she came up with. Lily Collins, credit to her, personified Snow White looks wise. She is exactly how I imagined her to be when I was a child watching and reading about the character. Collins tried to exhibit the vulnerable and intimidated child and succeeded but did not fulfil the hard ass warrior princess she wanted to be. The Prince “ was average, not dashing, or jaw dropingly handsome. In fact I found him tiresome and irritating, Panto’s could become his forte rather than feature films like Mirror Mirror.
Mirror Mirror had potential, if the casting was altered and the writing became challenging. Remarkable it was not and Tarsem Singh once again directed a flop, Immortals didn’t astound me and neither did this despite having every opportunity to.
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