Snow White is currently experiencing a renaissance as America's favorite princess. It started in the fall with ABC's fairytale drama Once Upon A Time. And 2012 brings us two very different Snow White movies. Snow White and the Huntsman is set to release next week and promises to be a gritty action drama with little room for laughs. While Mirror Mirror, which came out in March, is a hilarious re-telling of the classic tale, both mocking it and elevating it to a more entertaining story for the modern age. Like I said in my review of The Cabin in the Woods, it's difficult to make a movie that is faithful to its genre while simultaneously mocking that genre. Mirror Mirror accomplishes that feat spectacularly and makes you wish all fairytale franchises were this amusing.
The movie stars Julia Roberts as the Evil Queen and she is clearly having the time of her life being unreasonable and vain while flouncing around in outlandishly large gowns. After the death of the King, she has locked Snow up in the castle and proceeded to host a number of lavish parties that have rapidly depleted the Kingdom's coffers. She finds Snow deeply irritating as the girl refuses to be anything other than polite and chipper during her imprisonment. However, on Snow's 18th birthday, the servants convince her to leave the castle and explore the Kingdom. And then the fun begins.
As Snow walks through the woods, she hears some calls for help and happens upon Prince Alcott and his companion who have been robbed and tied up by bandits. Seven bandits. The Prince describes these bandits as giants, because who could believe he was bested by dwarves? Snow rescues him and then goes off to the town while the Prince heads for the castle to see if someone can give him a shirt. Both are blissfully unaware that the other is a member of royalty, but their brief encounter is enough to sow the seeds of young love.
While Snow gets to know the townspeople and hear how they've been mistreated by the Queen, the Prince gets acquainted with the Queen, who decides that she needs to marry him and use his wealth to fund her extravagant lifestyle. She throws a lavish ball, as is her wont, but when she discovers that all he wants to do is dance with Snow, she orders her manservant Brighton (played to sniveling perfection by Nathan Lane) to get rid of Snow White once and for all. As expected, Brighton leads her into the woods but can't kill her, so he just leaves her to her own devices and she meets the seven dwarves. Who have names like Chuck and Wolf and are decidedly more entertaining than your standard Disney dwarf. With their help, Snow hatches a plan to defeat the Queen and goes through extensive fight training sequences that would impress Rocky Balboa.
Unlike the other actors in this film, Lily Collins doesn't get much of a chance to be funny as Snow White, but she is fully convincing as she transitions from innocent Disney princess to a sword-wielding renegade who has to keep rescuing her Prince. Speaking of Prince Alcott, did I mention he's played by the rather delightful Armie Hammer? Hammer commits wholeheartedly to this character, who manages to be both an imperious goofball and a dashing royal laden with Charm with a capital C. He has no fear of appearing utterly ridiculous in the name of comedy, as evidenced by a hilarious sequence resulting from the Queen's use of a slightly botched love potion.
Mirror Mirror is a visual extravaganza with lavish sets, brilliant costumes, and eye-popping colors at every turn. Director Tarsem Singh has done a wonderful job of creating this world and letting the characters run riot. Without spoiling anything, let me just say that the final scene of this movie will definitely remind you that it was directed by an Indian. So if you feel like you need to escape from your humdrum world for an hour, watch this movie. Of all the versions of Snow White I've seen so far, this is the fairest of them all.
As Snow walks through the woods, she hears some calls for help and happens upon Prince Alcott and his companion who have been robbed and tied up by bandits. Seven bandits. The Prince describes these bandits as giants, because who could believe he was bested by dwarves? Snow rescues him and then goes off to the town while the Prince heads for the castle to see if someone can give him a shirt. Both are blissfully unaware that the other is a member of royalty, but their brief encounter is enough to sow the seeds of young love.
While Snow gets to know the townspeople and hear how they've been mistreated by the Queen, the Prince gets acquainted with the Queen, who decides that she needs to marry him and use his wealth to fund her extravagant lifestyle. She throws a lavish ball, as is her wont, but when she discovers that all he wants to do is dance with Snow, she orders her manservant Brighton (played to sniveling perfection by Nathan Lane) to get rid of Snow White once and for all. As expected, Brighton leads her into the woods but can't kill her, so he just leaves her to her own devices and she meets the seven dwarves. Who have names like Chuck and Wolf and are decidedly more entertaining than your standard Disney dwarf. With their help, Snow hatches a plan to defeat the Queen and goes through extensive fight training sequences that would impress Rocky Balboa.
Mirror Mirror is a visual extravaganza with lavish sets, brilliant costumes, and eye-popping colors at every turn. Director Tarsem Singh has done a wonderful job of creating this world and letting the characters run riot. Without spoiling anything, let me just say that the final scene of this movie will definitely remind you that it was directed by an Indian. So if you feel like you need to escape from your humdrum world for an hour, watch this movie. Of all the versions of Snow White I've seen so far, this is the fairest of them all.
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