Mirror Mirror (Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy)

This movie is great for a Snow White live action film.

Once upon a time, in a land not so far away, there was a director named Tarsem Singh. Tarsem had magical abilities to create spellbindingly lovely sets and costumes, in a way that few other directors could. But Tarsem was constantly plagued by an evil force: mediocre scripts that didn't do justice to his spellbinding visuals and direction.Yes, "Mirror Mirror" is yet another movie in the series that I like to call "Movies That Let Tarsem Singh Down Because He Didn't Write Them." This comedic retelling of the Grimm fairy tale "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves" is not actually a bad movie, mostly due to Tarsem's focus on the dwarves and the prince -- but the excessive wackiness and the wooden acting of Lily Collins don't do the story justice.I won't bother summing up the origins of Snow White, because everyone probably already knows it. In this version, the evil queen (Julia Roberts) has been ruling the kingdom for ten years, ever since the king (Sean Bean) was presumed dead because of a monstrous beast in the woods. His daughter Snow White (Collins) has practically been a prisoner for that decade, not realizing that the queen's expensive tastes are grinding the commonfolk into poverty.Now that the queen has bankrupted her whole country, she's on the prowl for a rich guy to refill the coffers -- and when the wealthy young prince Andrew (Armie Hammer) turns up, having been robbed and stripped by bandits, she decides he's her next husband.When Snow White finally figures out how cruel the queen is, she ends up fleeing into the snowy woods, where she is taken in by a group of dwarf bandits with... accordion legs. She soon becomes one of them after a training montage, gets a costume change, and manages to rescue a bespelled, puppy-like Prince Andrew from a wedding. But unfortunately her stepmother has figured out that Snow White isn't dead, and is determined to fix that problem.I am not sure whose brilliant idea it was to make the story of Snow White a wacky comedy. Seriously, it's not something that comes to mind when I think of Grimm's fairy tales. But the resulting movie is... not terrible. It's not that good either, especially since it seems acutely aware of its own arch humour. But it does have an airy, artificially-flavoured charm, especially when it veers away from the traditional fairy tale and tries to do its own thing.The story itself moves along at a brisk pace, with lots of wacky jokes (the dwarves keep getting locked in their own house), modern dialogue ("There's 'I'm in the same room as a prince' crazy, and then there's good old fashioned plain traditional psycho crazy") and the queen constantly saying not-witty "funny" things that seem to be winking at the audience. It's pretty pedestrian until Prince Andrew and the dwarves enter the story, when it suddenly gets an injection of life, and the story feels less pristinely Disneyesque and more like a well-rounded comedy.And as usual, the story kind of pales beside Tarsem's direction. There are some missteps (the forest seems to be about an acre square and filled with fake trees), but he brings a genuinely spellbinding aesthetic to the magic and costuming -- for instance, the "mirror mirror" actually involves the queen walking through a portal, and emerging from the sea in a mirror dimension where she can speak to her suppressed "good side."In fact, the entire aesthetic feels very fairy-tale -- the snow-draped castle that seems to be made of marble and spun sugar, with glittering balls and sweeping gowns. But since this is Tarsem, he brings a slightly eccentric, hallucinatory element to his design. Consider the accordion-legs that the dwarves use when robbing people, or the Bollywood musical number that closes out the movie.One problem is that Lily Collins is.... bad. She is worthy of many cringes throughout the movie's first half, playing another oh-so-pure-hearted, ineffectual princess who talks in a floaty voice and is so wooden you could drill holes in her. She does thankfully improve when the dwarves give Snow White an action-chick makeover, and suddenly she becomes a stronger, more independent heroine who decides SHE wants to save the day. She doesn't become GOOD, but she becomes tolerable.And while Julia Roberts is quite well-cast as a vain, evil queen, she's miscast in the sense that... it's hard to be upset about someone else being "the fairest" when you weren't that pretty to start with.The real scene-stealers here are Hammer and the dwarves, played by Danny Woodburn, Martin Klebba, Sebastian Saraceno, Jordan Prentice, Mark Povinelli, Joe Gnoffo, Ronald Lee Clark. Hammer's prince is a rather clueless but nice guy who spends a lot of time having bad, wacky things happen to him, and he's a fairly likable person. And the dwarf actors -- despite each having a single defining character trait a la Disney -- are absolutely delightful, with perfect comic timing and plenty of personality."Mirror Mirror" is a movie that teeters back and forth between the sublime and the ridiculous -- and if they had toned down on Roberts' one-liners ("They're just... crinkles!") and gotten a lead actress who can act, it would have been quite good. As it is, watch it for the seven dwarves.

There are only so many ways one can expect to have the tale of "Snow White" retold without it just becoming a retread."Sydney White" was one remarkable example of outside-the-box thinking, but here, "Mirror Mirror" chooses to stick with the period instead of modernizing the setting, and veers off the familiar path through the woods to explore some other aspects of the characters involved.Without any spoilers, the Queen's vanity-driven blood lust becomes more understandable (if no less unforgivable); Snow White's cruel domestic treatment leads not to her devolving into a mindless nymph who is happy to set up house with seven strange little forest-dwellers, but rather a young woman of remarkable strength and tenacity; and the Prince... well, while he still remains a pretty face with a great body for stylish clothes, he does for once become an actual human with passions and foibles, making him more than just eye candy but another hero to root on in this comic saga.The cinematography is top-notch, as is the acting and writing. The Dwarfs -- each one proving to be a skilled comic actor -- easily run off with huge chunks of their scenes.This is not inappropriate for family viewing by any stretch, but this caters to a higher sense of humor. It's Grimm Grows Up, and I'd rank this as palatable and a very pleasant choice for a popcorn-and-comedy night at home.The film loses one star in my rating for overuse of the mountain of gold fabric that was obviously bought in bulk, a swatch or several yards of which were shoe-horned ("Blue Ball Gown? White portrait collar? STICK A FIVE-FOOT GOLD BOW ON THE BACK, WE STILL HAVE HUNDREDS OF BOLTS OF THAT GODDAMNED SHINY GOLD CRAP TO USE UP!") into every single costume...

MAN! What a great little film this turned out to be!I was happy that it had a powerful female lead for my two girls, but I was also super impressed by the writing, style, and humor. Julia Roberts makes a fantastic baddie and the whole cast is in 100% to make this a highly enjoyable family film!

Mirror, Mirror. An incredibly funny film full of surprises to the end. Another version of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which is really top. Hilariously funny, Julia Roberts who I always find exquisite, surprising, and loving, is so talented, that she can play anything!!! She is simply terrific, and terrifically funny as the horrible step-mum. The whole cast is first class, what a talented Snow White, and what a gloriously looking prince, 6 foot 5!! and an excellent actor too! The dwarfs were hilarious. Being a film fanatic and watching literally hundred of films, it was a privilege to buy Mirror, Mirror. We watched it twice the same evening, and watched the added "Making of Mirror Mirror" also twice, and were just enthralled. The director, a total genious, used every film tool to entertain us to the maximum. Can't understand why wasn't a hit at the cinemas. If I had the chance of giving 6 Stars I'll do it.

My daughter loves these sort of films and got Cinderella for Christmas but prefers this! Looks stunning. Beautiful costumes and sets and plenty of laughs. Even got my son to watch it - he particularly like the "breaking the spell" part with the Prince and the dwarves. The leads are all great, Lily Collins is a beautiful Snow White, Armie Hammer, a charming and likeable Prince, and Julia Roberts, a scheming gold digger (rather than an out and out nasty). Lovely to look at and with enough humour to keep the kids happy. A good old fashioned family film with a bit more to it than the recent Cinderella. Definitely worth a watch.

Loved this film with Julia Roberts you dont often see her in funny films she played a great baddy in this film,a very light hearted film lots going on and its good for everyone to watch,thanks for the quick delivery and the condition of the film was brilliant and for the price I couldnt have asked for more.Regards Mrs Jefcoate

Oh dear ,although I am a bit disappointed with this film,it being a modern version of the Snow White story,it didn’t have the same feeling for the fairy tale for me,a bit ott,with the costumes and scenery, and the film,why change the seven dwarfs from theOriginal characters,not much too smile about, it missed the magic , of the story, but that’s just my feeling ,I love watching theOriginals,

I'm not a nit picky reviewer. I just really love this film and it makes me smile. It's a quirky feel good movie with a HEA and I really love the dance at the end. Julia Roberts surprised me in this film. Funny lady. Lily Collins and Armie Hammer (sigh) and the 7 actors who played the Dwarfs were brilliant. What can I say. It takes me away from the mundane things in life for a few hours and makes me smile. It's fairy tale and I love it.