I told you how excited I was for Mirror, Mirror, didn’t I? I had another excellent time at the movies this weekend! Whatever’s going on in Hollywood lately, they have put out excellent movies this past month.
Mirror, Mirror is a very funny retelling of Snow White, putting it squarely on the track for the Once Upon a Time Challenge‘s Quest on Screen. As the original story has it, Snow White has grown up under the control of her wicked stepmother, who is desperately jealous of Snow White’s beauty. The Queen is inspired to take more drastic steps when a handsome prince arrives and is a little too interested in beautiful Snow White. The Queen sends Snow off to the woods to be killed–and sets about to marry the prince herself. Snow meets up with seven dwarfs who turn out to be bandits, reads them a lecture on not robbing poor people, then bands forces with them to fight the Queen instead.
From the beginning, what drew me to this movie the most was Julia Roberts as the wicked queen. She was delightful–one of those terribly sweet and poisonous villains. And oh-so-campy! She looked like she was having enormous fun with the part. She gets some snarky lines and occasionally brings a note of practicality to the fantasy world. For instance, when the prince goes on about Snow White’s ivory skin, the Queen points out that Snow is eighteen and has never been outside, so of course she has good skin! She’s not an epic fantasy villain evil queen, but she’s a very funny one–vain, condescending, self-absorbed, insulting, and utterly unable to concentrate while looking at Prince Charming’s bare chest.
Actually, it was Prince Alcott (which just made me think of Louisa May–anyone else?), played by Armie Hammer. You might know him as the Winklevoss twins in The Social Network. Only one of him this time, but still very attractive, and shirtless more than once (he keeps having unfortunate run-ins with those bandits…so it’s all very plot-relevant, really). As a character, he’s a bit of a boor at times, but seems to have a good heart.
Lily Collins played Snow White (utterly unrecognizable from her role in The Blind Side), and she was a refreshing take on the character. This was a sweet but also smart and scrappy Snow White. And the dwarfs, while not as entertaining as their counterparts in Once Upon a Time, were nevertheless quite amusing.
And of course, no proper Wicked Queen would be without a down-trodden flunky, played in this movie by Nathan Lane. He’s squirmy, devoted and lacking in all self-respect, as a down-trodden flunky should be.
Another fun side to this movie were the visuals. I loved the set-design–the Wicked Queen has this gorgeous open-air bedroom with breathtaking views that I really want (aside from the practicalities of it). The dwarfs apparently had the same architect as Peter Pan, with an underground home that you can reach through a hollow-tree, which looked both cosy and claustrophobic.
Then there were the costumes. Oh, the costumes. So many hoop skirts and massive bows and mounds of fabrics and headpieces that must have required special training in balancing. Utterly fantastic. There’s a masquerade at one point, and there are so many wonderful headpieces–and the prince has incredibly amusing bunny ears.
This is not a deep movie or a terribly complex movie and it doesn’t have terribly complex characters, but if you want some light-hearted fun with attractive costumes and an attractive leading man, it’s a good day at the movies!
Movie site: http://mirrormirrorfilm.com/
Tales of the Marvelous 
It’s the Huntress one that I’ve been anxiously awaiting, but I do think that I’d like this one, just that I’d be content to wait for the smaller screen version (if I have to choose, and I do have to choose, unfortunately- heheh). Your thoughts on it do make me want to watch it sooner rather than later though…so I’ll be watching the shelves for it as a new release to get a taste of it for myself. Sounds like quite a romp!
This sounds really good fun. Is there another film out that’s fairly similar to this at the moment (or maybe not out yet but soon?) The Hunter??
They’ve release all these things just in time for Carl’s challenge – very considerate I say!
Thanks
Lynn 😀
There is another film, I think coming out this summer, Snow White and the Huntsman. It looks like a much darker take on the story. I’ll probably see it at some point, but I was much more excited for Mirror, Mirror. And I agree, the timing is perfect!
I can’t wait to see this!
I hope you get a chance to see it soon. 🙂
I’m excited to see this! And I could tell from the trailer that Julia Roberts was probably going to steal the show (seems like she did, I’m already more interested in her than Snow White).
Julia really does steal the show. The other characters are good too, but she’s the most entertaining!
I really hadn’t heard anything about this film until posters started going up everywhere! Everytime I’ve been to the cinema recently there was never a trailer for this, they only seem to be showing trailers for Snow White and the Huntsman instead. So thank you for the review this film sounds like a lot of fun, something I would definitely enjoy.
That’s funny, I kept seeing trailers for this one at the movies! I’ve seen the trailer for Snow White and the Huntsman online–looks much darker, not as much fun.
what a great review! I had heard this one was going to be more of light-hearted version while the one coming out with Charlize Theron as the wicked queen is supposed to be much darker…i’m dying to see the Theron version and now that I’ve read your review I want to see Mirror Mirror!
I was mostly excited for the funny one, though I’ll probably see the darker, Theron version some time too!
I just have one comment to make about the costumes. I don’t expect this movie to get much attention at Oscar time, but there’s one category where I hope the Academy will take note. The costumes are at least as good as, probably better than, what typically wins the top prize. It deserves to be a contender for Best Costume Design.
If it does get nominated, I’ll be rooting for it!
I saw it, too, recently. Julie Roberts was the “hook” to get me in the theater for this one – otherwise I probably would’ve passed it by. As a woman who is closer to Julia’s age than Lily Collins’, I found myself rooting for the evil queen to a certain degree. I mean, how evil can Julia Roberts be, anyway? 🙂 I loved her line when she was trying to cosy up to the prince, “We’re roughly the same age.” She could carry that off, even though she’s probably 20 years older than Armie Hammer. It was a fun movie if you’re looking for a diversion from reality!
Yes, Julia got the best lines! And in a different context, she can still very much play the leading lady, and her interest in the prince added a wonderful dimension to the story.
super review! I hope to see the movie before it leaves the theaters here!
I hope you get a chance to see it! It was great fun.
Great review, glad to hear enthusiastic things about this as it really looked like a fun movie. I’m hoping to get out to see it myself. The casting looked really good in the trailers and am happy to hear that they don’t disappoint in their roles. Not every film has to be deep, but for me they have to be at least entertaining and that is what I expect from this one.
I agree–I like deep movies, but the light, fun ones are good too. As long as they’re entertaining! (which sometimes the “deep” ones are not…)