Wednesday 11 July 2012

Mirror, Mirror: Not Entirely the Fairest of Them All.

Mirror, Mirror is by no stretch of the imagination bad. It is surprisingly good. Yes, I was surprised. I went into this film anticipating Julia Roberts' The Queen to be ridiculously over-characterised and to ruin any form of antagonist in the plot. To my pleasant surprise, Roberts was just the right recipe of charm, arrogance and seduction. Her portrayal greatly adds to the comedic effect desired by the PG film which was clearly aimed at a family-orientated audience rather than the more recent Snow White and the Huntsman. The plot of Snow White remains the same, it just appears to be toned down and much more like a live-action version of Disney original, minus the Queen turning all evil on everybodies asses.


Newcomer Lily Collins plays Snow White and for the first quarter of the film, I found her portrayal to be naive and irritable. Luckily for the film, and the viewers, she grows on you. She too, has been given a somewhat female empowered spin and one is led to wonder where Germaine Greer and Emmalene Pankhurst were hiding on the set of this and every other fairytale rework in the last couple of years. I do wish, however, that at least one Snow White movie or even television show (see ABC's Once Upon A Time) would cease taking creative liberty and changing the characters of the dwarves. There are seven, they have names which are based on emotions, they are to represent humanity and interaction. They are not meant to be called Napoleon and want to be a hairstylist. I appreciate appropriation, but there is an extent to which it is acceptable.


The other main protagonist is the Prince which is effectively played by Armie Hammer (although I much preferred his serious acting debut in J. Edgar). Hammer acts a very convincing prince, and one you could understand both the Queen and Snow's infatuation with. I am left wondering how much he was paid though to act the 'Puppy Love' sequence because I can already tell you; it was not enough. The special effects and CGI are not as advanced as that seen in Huntsman, but the costume design is handsome and well appropriated to the family-friendly film. Mirror, Mirror is thoroughly enjoyable and whilst it does not stick with you too long after the film has concluded, it has enough charm to allow you get lost during it.

Mirror, Mirror gets 4 mirrors.

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