Mirror Mirror (Singh, 2012)

Last updated on: July 26, 2014 at 2:41 pm by Kenneth R. Morefield

Mirror Mirror (Singh, 2012) 2014-07-26T14:41:42-05:00 Kenneth R. Morefield

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Mirror Mirror was better than I anticipated based on some groan inducing trailers and commercials. It was mildly diverting although deeply flawed.Warning! There is a major plot spoiler in this review. (Yes, I know, it is Snow White, but don’t say you weren’t warned.)

Here’s the painful thing for me to concede about the film. Where it doesn’t work, it seems like it’s mostly scenes with Julia Roberts in it. Lily Collins has some nice chemistry with Armie Hammer (as a prince) and with the seven dwarves (who fight on stilts in some stylized action sequences). In a scene where she has to save love with love’s first kiss, there is a wonderful mix of bashfulness, excitement, and fear all rolled into one. In another scene where she fights to save the dwarves from some black magic, the film does a nice job of making her a hero with agency rather than a princess to be rescued (but without making her just a woman berserker). Had Mirror Mirror been a Lily Collins movie, it would have been a pleasant Saturday morning alternative, something with a heroine one could get behind and respect.

But Mirror Mirror has Julia Roberts in it, so it must be a Julia Roberts movie. I like Julia Roberts. I found her charming in Notting Hill and I respect her work in other places. I think, however, her persona is wrong for the material. Her evil queen has neither the icy malevolence to be truly scary, nor the whiff of desperation to be at all sympathetic.

Take for example a seen in which The Queen gets a fairy tale makeover. As her face gets smeared with pigeon shit (I am not making that up), lips stung by bees (to emulate Botox or collagen injections) and cuticles chewed on by maggots, the none too subtle allusion to modern indignities that actresses of a certain age are inferentially railed against, and Roberts is held up, I suppose, as a good sport for playing along (and poking fun at herself?) The Queen is not supposed to be a good sport, however, and its hard to really be afraid of someone while you are invited to laugh at her.

The other really big reservation I have about Mirror Mirror is that it basically ends with what looks to all the world like Snow White forcing the Queen to commit suicide at knife point while reciting a Rambo/Schwarzennegeresque “gotcha” sound bite and then cutting to a Bollywood style dance. I’ve complained elsewhere about the modern tendency in what are otherwise kids’ movies to insist that the villain must not just be defeated but killed. I get all the arguments about the death penalty and the philosophical problem of unrepentant evil, it’s just that…I guess I long for the days where, in a movie for kids, there could remain a space where winning didn’t mean just conquering your enemy but also overcoming your instinct to revel in his or her demise.

That said, part of the reason Snow’s gleeful kicking of The Queen while she is down and on her way out is that Collins did such a nice job of making me really like her and care about her, of turning the film into a true bildungsroman about a girl who has grown emotionally as well as physically into maturity.

I enjoyed the music by Alan Menken. I enjoyed the costumes and art design. I just felt like every time the film got a little momentum it cut back to the castle and just grounded to a halt.

Previous Post

March 25, 2012

Miss Representation (Newsom, 2011)

Next Post

April 1, 2012 Surviving Progress (Roy & Crooks, 2012)

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 10 Years Later 1999 Top 5 2007 Top 10 2008 Favorite Discoveries 2008 Top 10 2009 Favorite Discoveries 2009 Top 10 2010 Favorite Discoveries 2010 Top 10 2011 Top 10 2012 Top Ten 2013 Top Ten 2014 Top Ten Best Picture Winners Christian Spotlight on Entertainment Christianity Today Coming Soon Disclosure Disclosure--AS Disclosure--Book Disclosure--DVDS Disclosure--SEOL Disclosure--Travel Dissenting Opinion Elsewhere Emergenetics Essays Featured Film Fest DC--2014 Film Festivals Full Frame Documentary Film Festival 2010 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival 2011 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival 2012 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival 2013 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival 2014 Headline Interviews Laura on the Oscar Winners Podcasts Quick Impressions Reviews RiverRun Film Festival 2014 Television The Criterion Collection The Thin Place To Stream or Not to Stream? Top 10s and Other Lists Toronto International Film Festival 2009 Toronto International Film Festival 2010 Toronto International Film Festival 2011 Toronto International Film Festival 2012 Toronto International Film Festival 2013 Toronto International Film Festival 2014 Uncategorized Video Virginia Film Festival 2011 Virginia Film Festival 2013 Women's Film Festival 2012

Select a Month February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Which prophet anointed both Saul and David as kings of Israel?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Eli Nathan Gad Samuel