Review - Mirror Mirror

Grade: B-

Yang: Roberts carries this flick on her smile; only Armie Hammer tries to keep up. Amazing set design and art direction contribute to a tangibly fantastical world.

Yin: Thin plot with uninspired twist on the Snow White character; pacing and entertainment value suffer when weaker actors ***coughLilyCollinscough*** take center stage

In-Between: A Bollywood number awaits those who stay for the credits. Take that as you will.

All I remember about Tarsem Singh’s last feature, the stunning slog that was Immortals, was fist-fighting with the sandman.

Singh has a great eye for visual design and a real talent for creating the type of dazzling eye candy that belongs in an art gallery as much as it does on the silver screen. The problem with his films are the flimsy stories meant to support his peculiar visions. In this respect, his latest, and the first volley in 2012 War of the Snow White adaptations, Mirror Mirror is not much different, but at least it has more than a few charming performances to make the proceedings more than bearable.

As is the trend these days, Mirror Mirror spins the classic tale of Snow White on its axis and flips the perspective to that of the evil Queen, this time played with snide infectiousness by Julia Roberts and her wide-tooth grin. Mirror Mirror starts just before the classic apple handoff with Snow White (Lily Collins) confined to her room for years in the wake of her father’s disappearance. In the absence of the king, the Queen has taken control of the magical no-name kingdom and run its finances into the ground, thanks to her penchant for unabashed luxury, while the working class denizens of the castle and the neighboring village struggle to eat and live indoors. Meanwhile, Snow White’s desperate desire to breathe fresh air leads her to escape the castle and journey into the forbidden woods just beyond the kingdom’s border where she runs afoul of and falls in love at first sight with the handsome, slightly pompous Prince Alcott (Armie Hammer), who has been upended by a gang of seven thieves on stilts. After an assist from the cute alabaster skinned princess, the Prince makes his way to the Queen’s castle where he again crosses paths with Snow, who is promptly banished for escaping her room again. Left to fend for herself in the forbidden woods, Snow falls in within seven dwarves, who may or may not be on the up and up, and sets out to usurp the Queen before she can romance the good Prince Alcott and tighten her grip on the kingdom.

One thing Singh absolutely nails with Mirror Mirror is, unsurprisingly, the visual sense of whimsy and the fantastic. From set design to cinematography, the snow-covered world of Mirror Mirror looks every inch a realm of slightly askew fantasy that could easily double as a new section in Islands of Adventure. The visual idiosyncrasy of the kingdom enlivens the admittedly thin story in a way that Singh’s similar approach to the world of Ancient Greece never did in Immortals. This is exactly what audiences would expect a storybook realm would look like, and for that achievement, Singh deserves a sincere tip of the hat.

The characters who exist in Singh’s off-kilter magical world are equally off-centre, displaying the sort of over-the-top, snarky, self-aware personalities that the cast of Once Upon a Time only wishes they could show off. Despite top billing, Julia Roberts steals the show with her haughty, quirky take on a Queen who is not so much evil but desperately vain. She chews so much scenery it’s a wonder any was left for the rest of the cast to stand on, but compared to most depictions of the Evil Queen, which revel in vacuous sneering, Roberts’ infectiously mischievous take is breath of fresh air.

The only member of the cast who seems in on the same joke as Roberts is Armie Hammer, whose Prince Alcott is so imperfectly pompous and pretentious that he’s clearly a better match for Roberts’ Queen than Collins’ innocent, cutesy Snow, who does little, even after taking a level in badass, to change any perceptions about Snow that haven’t been altered by works like Fables. Nathan Lane also flitters about in the background as the Queens’ right hand man, but he is clearly outmatched by Roberts overwhelming delirium. The seven dwarves--including veterans Martin Klebba, Mark Povinelli, and Danny Woodburn--are spritely and charming enough that the good people at Disney may need to file suit. Mirror Mirror may not host the greatest performances, but at least the actors keep things more interesting than the frowny cusses in Immortals ever did.

All things considered, Mirror Mirror is far more charming than it could have been, considering its pedigree. As the more kid-friendly of the two Snow White adaptations being released this year, the flick is upbeat and snarky to a fault, but it is colorful and charming enough to keep the audience, especially the little ones, enrapt for most of the runtime, with only minimal pacing issues n the middle. If Mirror Mirror was released before Immortals, I might have had more respect for his talents as a storyteller. As it is, I have gained a measure of respect, but I wonder if that is due more to the talent in front of or behind the camera.