I find it absolutely impossible not to be drawn in by Tarsem Singh’s visuals. The guy knows how to paint an optical feast and on the heels of Immortals, The Fall and The Cell, his kid-targeted Snow White tale, Mirror Mirror, is no different. And as far as general audiences are concerned, it may to be his most accessible feature yet.
Accompanying all its scenic splendor, Mirror Mirror is an innocent, farcical take on the story of Snow White without devolving into annoying slapstick. As far as I can tell it seems to hit most of the typical plot points of an evil queen attempting to kill the “fairer” princess who eventually falls in love with the dashing prince, enter the seven dwarfs and yadda, yadda, yadda… the end. When it comes to the story, you’re already lockstep and in line. Having never read the classic Grimm brothers’ fairy tale I can’t tell you where the story diverts from the source material, but I think it’s safe to say the comical twists in the narrative largely belong to screenwriters Melissa Wallack and Jason Keller and much of the darkness has been stripped away.
The film itself is rather tame and, in terms of the comedy, about one-third of the jokes hit their mark, but for the most part you should be smiling throughout. It does get off to a bit of a rough start in terms of dialogue as Julia Roberts, playing the evil queen, narrates the “how we got here” opening animated segment with some unexpected and ill-fitting sarcastic remarks, but the animation is a wonderful presentation of porcelain-esque dolls introducing us to Tarsem’s take on the tale.
While, at first, Julie Roberts doesn’t necessarily seem suited for the role of the evil queen, she gets better as the story moves along. Her nastiness, fortunately, becomes less forced later on as the character develops into the awful person she is, and her snide remarks land with better results.
Much of the comedy comes from the seven dwarfs with names Disney fans aren’t going to recognize. There’s Napoleon (Jordan Prentice), Half Pint (Mark Povinelli), Grub (Joe Gnoffo), Grimm (Danny Woodburn), Wolf (Sebastian Saraceno), Butcher (Martin Klebba) and Chuckles (Ronald Lee Clark). And while the names may be unfamiliar, most of the actors here you’ll recognize from the likes of Pirates of the Caribbean, In Bruges, “Seinfeld” or “Pit Boss” and for as goofy as much of it is, it actually is quite humorous in a “laughing quietly to yourself” kind of way, and will certainly appeal to younger audiences.
Lily Collins (The Blind Side) is sweet as can be as Snow and is even asked to swing a sword once or twice and Nathan Lane does his typical work as the queen’s bumbling servant Brighton.
Armie Hammer as Prince Alcott is probably the film’s hardest worker when it comes to selling the zaniness as he is initially strung up and shirtless after being attacked by the dwarfs in the woods. Later he’s placed under the influence of a “puppy love” potion and is forced to act like a dog for a good 10-12 minutes of the film. A lot of this has been featured in the film’s marketing, but out of context it looks entirely ridiculous, but within the confines of Mirror Mirror it all fits.
Even if you aren’t falling over laughing every minute (which you won’t be), you’re likely to at least have a smile on your face. The comedic moments are edited in such a way that they don’t take away from the overall story, Tarsem doesn’t dwell on any one particular punch-line for too long and the jokes, fortunately, don’t repeat themselves.
Mirror Mirror is a curious fit within the current cinematic landscape. The recipe for success at this time seems to be taking a dark and brooding look at most stories, but instead Tarsem turns the lights on and has fun with this fairy tale within a gorgeous and snowy landscape filled with brightly colored costumes. In order to appeal to today’s audience studios are selling dark and gritty, Mirror Mirror is anything but. While it may be a kids film with a very low body count, there is still enough here to have fun at the theater or at the very least keep your 10-year-olds entertained.
On the off-chance you find yourself completely uninterested in the story you can at least enjoy the visuals and stick around for the end credits where Tarsem tosses in a Bollywood dance scene with Collins actually doing the singing. That scene alone tells me how much Tarsem’s films count on mood, visuals and how they make you feel. As a result, sometimes it’s hard to explain why I like his stuff outside of saying… I just do. While Mirror Mirror isn’t his greatest achievement, it is a satisfying notch on his belt and a unique diversion from what we’re used to from him.
