Edgier characters still leave Snow White retelling flat

By David Bjorkgren 

Once upon a time there was the story of Snow White.  One day, a film production company, recognizing the marketing and profit margin potential of the popular Brothers Grimm  tale, took it upon themselves to rewrite the story with some hip dialogue and gags, populating  it with well-known faces like Julia Roberts, Nathan Lane and Armie Hammer.  They threw in some obligatory CGI and foisted it upon the unsuspecting children and parents that make up the core audience of “Mirror, Mirror.”

It will no doubt be a happy ending for the filmmakers as the movie profitably works its way from big screen to computer screen.  That happy ending may be more elusive for the audience, however, which will suffer through some badly written dialogue and an often flat retelling of the story.

Those looking for the innocent charm of the Disney “Snow White” will be disappointed.  Those wanting their Snow White and dwarfs to have more of an edge will definitely be appeased. The film drips with a cynicism that by the end of the movie infects even the innocent Snow White.In this version of the classic tale, the king vanishes mysteriously in the woods and the queen (Julia Roberts) takes over, bleeding the kingdom dry as she maintains her opulent life style.  Jealous of Snow White’s (Lily Collins)  beauty, she keeps her 18-year-old daughter  hidden in the palace. But after she sneaks out one night, Snow White comes across a prince (Armie Hammer) visiting the kingdom. The Queen, seeing the attention the prince gives Snow White, banishes the girl to the forest, where she meets up with a group of  (do I have to tell you?) dwarfs.  But these are not cuddly dwarfs. These guys have issues and attitude. 

They’ve set up shop stealing from the gentry that travel through the forest and they’re  bitter because the townspeople failed to act when the Queen had them banished for their “ugliness.”  Naturally, Snow White’s beauty and gentle ways start to have an impact on the group of highwaymen, who, in turn, offer Snow White a kind of ninja warrior training so she can face and defeat the evil Queen, reclaiming her birthright and returning the kingdom to its former glory days.

Julia Roberts does OK camping it up as the evil Queen but it’s a one-note performance. We may be witnessing a fairy tale world here but I’d still like my characters to have a little depth.  Evil on screen should be fun, not boring, but I found my mind wandering away throughout the film.

Not that I’m blaming the performers exclusively. They had very little to work with from a script that could use a bit of magic itself.  The quirkiest and most interesting  scenes (aside from the visual distractions of the Queen’s  magical world) revolve around the seven dwarves, whose unique personalities and interactions with Snow White make for some fun distractions.

But it’s not enough to save the film from its cynical banality and forced humor.  The movie’s producer, Bernie Goldman,  says he’s confident the film will resonate with audiences of all ages and would like to see it take its place beside other big screen adaptations of classic tales.

“Hopefully, this is a movie that will play for years as a perennial family favorite and redefine the story of Snow White.” Goldman says in a press release on the film.

Maybe. But I’ll stick with Disney’s “Snow White,” thank  you very much.   I give “Mirror, Mirror”  three dwarves out of seven.

Mirror, Mirror lacks charm and originality

By Arthur C. Ryan

Every once in a while I see a movie that leaves me perplexed afterwards as to what kind of review I will write. Such is the case with this past weekend’s release of “Mirror, Mirror,” starring Julia Roberts. A completely harmless film, that I’m sure will entertain most young and old kids alike. But for me, “Mirror, Mirror” was 95 minutes of routine movie making void of any real charm and only a few moments of originality.

“Mirror, Mirror” begins with an appealing computer animated sequence showing a beloved King’s disappearance, as his ruthless wife seizes control of the kingdom and keeps her beautiful 18-year-old stepdaughter, Snow White, hidden away in the palace. But as we all know from previous tellings, when the princess attracts the attention of a charming prince, the jealous Queen forces Snow to a nearby forest. Found by a band of rebellious but kindhearted dwarfs, Snow White becomes a brave young lady determined to save her country from the Queen.

“Mirror, Mirror’s” new twist on the fabled tale of old, is to tell the Snow White story from the perspective of the Evil Queen. And in this live-action version, the evil queen is played by Julia Roberts whose on-again-off-again faux British accent does nothing to disguise the fact that we are watching…Julia Roberts. Roberts does her best delivering dozens of witty asides that often seem misplaced in a kids film.

Snow White is portrayed here by Lily Collins along with Armie Hammer as her charming Prince. The duo first meet after Hammer’s Prince Alcott is robbed by a group of stilt-walking dwarfs who leave him hanging upside down in the forest. White, having run away from the Evil Queen, is often saving her prince from harms way in this post-feminist era’s retelling of the classic fairy tale.

Nathan Lane is on hand as the Queen’s bumbling servant, offering the sarcastic and cynical observations we’ve come to expect from him in these sorts of roles. But by far the most appealing and original aspect of this Snow White go around, are the seven dwarfs. Dopey, Sleepy, Bashful and the rest are nowhere to be seen in this version, but a new band of short stature men are on hand in the form of seven thieves with a soft spot for Snow White’s cooking. The relationship between the young princess and the dwarfs is by far the most compelling aspect to “Mirror, Mirror.” Each dwarf is a well drawn character with a unique take on his own relationship with Snow.

The humor and pathos that surround the dwarfs and Snow are reminiscent of the relationship between Princess Buttercup and the colorful cast of characters in 1987’s “The Princess Bride,” a film “Mirror, Mirror” tries to emulate but fails to in its attempt. What “Princess Bride” had in charm, “Mirror, Mirror” lacks most. And the magic that so envelopes the now classic Rob Reiner film, is nowhere to be found in this all too modern Julia Roberts vehicle. All of the CGI wizardry we’ve come to expect from modern big screen fairy tales coupled with a much too cynical take on the genre, can’t compare with the wholesome charm and brilliantly witty script that made “Princess Bride” the modern classic it’s become.

 I was perfectly willing by the film’s end to accept this take on Snow White as just another harmless Hollywood offering that at best passes the time pleasantly. But then just before the credits began to role, Snow White utters a line so out-of-character and so vindictive for even the most jaded of modern fairy tales, that it left me cold with a feeling of having been cheated.

“Mirror, Mirror” is a product of its time. More cynical and at times even violent, in an attempt to appeal to a generation of movie-goers thought to be too hip to go for an old fashioned fairy tale.

But ironically what the producers of this film failed to achieve is what the character of the Queen’s Mirror warns repeatedly throughout, that there is a cost to using magic, “a dangerous cost.” Well, the producers of “Mirror, Mirror” should have ignored that risky warning and tried to find a little magic to help this all too pat film along.