Mirror Mirror

I kept on waiting for Mirror Mirror to really build into something special, but the movie never quite gets off the ground. All the elements for a great fantasy are up there on the screen. Director Tarsem Singh (Immortals) has given the film a beautiful look by mixing detailed sets, well-used CG, and even some stop motion animation. The costumes by the late Eiko Ishioka (Bram Stoker's Dracula) are nothing short of stunning. And the cast certainly seems to be having fun. So, why isn't the movie itself as fun as it should be?

I personally lay the blame at the screenplay level. It's a messy and muddled concoction that never seems to be able to settle on a single tone. It tries so many different angles on modernizing the Snow White story, it almost seems like the credited screenwriters were fighting amongst themselves as to what tone the movie should take. Sometimes, the movie wants to be witty and satirical, such as the sarcastic and self-aware narration that sets up the film. Sometimes, it seems to want to be a female empowerment story. (The Snow White in this story is pretty handy with a sword, and makes her living for a short while as a Robin Hood-like bandit.) And sometimes it wants to play things straight. Even the cast seem to be taking different approaches to the material. Julia Roberts hams it up as the Evil Queen. Nathan Lane shows up as a comic foil, and plays the part as if he's Nathan Lane, who just happened to wander into a costume drama, and doesn't know why he's here. And Lily Collins as the heroine plays Snow White as if this is an honest attempt to tell the classic fairy tale. Oh, and the Seven Dwarfs now have more in common with Larry, Moe, and Curly, then Happy, Dopey, and Grumpy.

With a tighter screenplay, I have no doubt this material could have worked. As it is, this movie is all over the place. It opens with a beautifully done stop motion animated sequence that tells how a good king (Sean Bean) raised his lovely daughter, Snow White (Collins), to be the ruler of the land, until he was bewitched by a cunning and vain evil Queen (Roberts). When the king disappeared in the dark woods on the outskirts of the kingdom, supposedly killed by a beast that lurks within them, the Queen took control of the castle, locked Snow White away in isolation within, and started taxing the villagers until they became poor, and the kingdom itself fell into ruin. With her fortunes dwindling, the Queen hopes to marry the handsome and wealthy Prince Alcott (Armie Hammer) from a neighboring kingdom. However, when the Prince meets the lovely Snow White (who escapes from her isolated room to dance with him at a palace ball), he falls for her, instead.

Because of this, the Queen orders her sniveling yes-man (Nathan Lane) to take Snow White out into the woods and kill her, but he cannot go through with the act, and abandons the young maiden instead. After only about a minute or two of being lost in the woods, she comes across the home of the Seven Dwarfs, who act as forest bandits, robbing from anyone who tries to cross through the woods. It seems that the Dwarfs have a grudge against the Queen as well, as they used to live within the kingdom, until she had them kicked out, due to the fact that she's anti-little people. This inspires Snow White to make them into noble bandits, who will steal from the Queen, and give the money back to the poor, suffering villagers. If the movie had focused on this idea, we might have had an interesting movie. Instead, we get forced slapstick when the Prince is turned into a dog with the aid of a magic spell, a battle with the evil beast that haunts the forest, and a romantic subplot between Snow White and the Prince that fails to generate any sparks.

I'm sure that the filmmakers behind Mirror Mirror thought they were being clever by adding fantasy adventure elements, and even a Bollywood-style musical number into the movie. But, I think a simpler or more focused approach would have worked better here. There are sporadic moments that work here. Julia Roberts and Nathan Lane get off a couple funny one liners as the two lead villains of the story, and I even kind of liked the idea of the Seven Dwarfs being exiled bandits. I have no problem with the idea of a revisionist take on the Snow White story. In fact, I welcome it. My problem lies in how this movie seems to try to take so many different approaches at once, while never quite settling on one. It spends so much time trying out different tones and art styles that it never quite finds the heart of the story.

This is a problem I seem to have with a lot of films directed by Tarsem Singh. He's certainly a master when it comes to the visual style, but he has a hard time telling stories we can care about. This trait once again raises its ugly head here. We marvel at his sets and the look of his fantasy world, but we could care less about who or what is inhabiting it. Because of this, the talented cast sometimes seem adrift. We have plenty to engage the eyes, but nothing for the heart or mind. While Mirror Mirror is certainly not a bad movie by any means, it sure can be frustrating at times. We see all the wasted potential, all the missed opportunities, and wonder why nobody stood up and took charge.

If anything, this movie is an ambitious failure. It tries really hard, and although I can't recommend it, it's not without its charms. I can easily see it becoming a favorite with young girls, who will probably enjoy the stronger take on the Snow White character. As for me, I think I liked this film more for what it tried to do, than for what it actually did.

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