At the beginning of “Mirror Mirror,” we’re promised a revisionist version of the story of Snow White. This, says the queen (Julia Roberts), is “my story.”
So you might be expecting a naughty tale along the lines of “Wicked,” the successful Broadway show based on the retelling of L. Frank Baum’s “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.”
In fact, “Mirror Mirror” is certainly Snow White’s story, as the queen admits at the end. That’s not to say it hasn’t been modernized, though: As Snow (Lily Collins) herself says, she’s tired of tales in which victimized girls are saved by handsome princes. She’d like to save herself.
| Onstage |
| ‘Mirror Mirror’ |
| 2 out of 4 stars |
| Stars: Lily Collins, Julia Roberts, Armie Hammer |
| Director: Tarsem Singh |
| Rated: PG for some fantasy action and mild rude humor |
| Running time: 106 minutes |
And so “Mirror Mirror” tells a slightly didactic narrative about a strong and capable young woman — who still cooks and cleans for dwarves, though, in between learning the art of war from them.
“You need to believe,” one character tells Snow near the beginning of the film, when she’s kept a shut-in at her own palace by her evil stepmother, who took over the kingdom after Snow’s father’s disappearance a decade before. Believe what? It’s never stated. But the implication is clearly the cliche that one must believe in oneself to succeed.
Despite that thread running through the film, “Mirror Mirror” still manages to entertain its target audience, tween and teen girls and the parents who take them to the movies. It’s just too bad the sly humor that starts the film disappears as the action takes over the plot. The queen tells us of the birth and christening of Snow White and her own admitted desire to remain not only the kingdom’s monarch, but its fairest citizen.
Good luck. Collins’ virginal beauty and delicate voice bring the character made most famous by the 1937 Disney film back to life, and is certainly the reason to catch the film. Armie Hammer comes off a bit rough in comparison, though it’s easy to see why the queen is immediately taken with him and plots to marry him herself. (Besides being good-looking and built, he’s also rich.) The dwarves too aren’t the lovable little creatures you remember from the animated film: They’re rogues and bandits. And played by a fun group — one, the Canadian actor Jordan Prentice, was memorable in “In Bruges.”
Everyone’s got a different accent here. Roberts pulls off an English-style one, while Collins, though the daughter of Phil Collins, was raised in America. Her screen father is British, and sounds it. The prince’s companion also has an English accent, while the prince himself sounds American.
But the girls to which the film is targeted are unlikely to notice. They’ll be too busy cheering for Snow to learn the art of fencing, so she can take back the kingdom that’s rightly hers. And they’ll get to see even more action this summer, when the competing “Snow White and the Huntsman” is released.
