Mirror Mirror

Mirror Mirror – When her father, the King, disappears, Snow White’s step-mother becomes Queen and forces her to stay in the castle. On her 18^th birthday, Snow White attracts the attention of a handsome visiting Prince but the Queen sends her out into the forest to be murdered out of jealousy. Taking pity on the young maiden, her would-be assassin spares her. Some strange but charming dwarves in the forest take her in and together they set about reclaiming Snow White’s kingdom from the evil Queen.

Mirror Mirror (2012) – Director: Tarsem Singh

Rating: PG

Running Length: 106 mins

Starring: Julia Roberts, Lily Collins, Armie Hammer

Genre: Fairytale, Action/Adventure, Comedy

REVIEW: – ‘MIRROR MIRROR’

A modern retelling of the age-old fairytale Snow White, Mirror Mirror is a colourful and entertaining family friendly movie. The direction from Tarsem Singh manages to keep the essence of the much-loved story while making it feel fresh, fun and interesting to anyone who may feel overly familiar with Snow White’s woes. The problem with making a movie which has been done time and time again is that it is difficult to add anything new, however Mirror Mirror is enjoyably light-hearted and has strong entertainment value.

The main hook of the movie comes from the comedy of Prince Alcott and the dwarves. The natural wit from the script and visual slap-stick style action sequences are likely to have children laughing throughout. Armie Hammer steals the show as Prince Alcott; a man with great comedy timing. He becomes the comedy foil of the movie but is still believable as the handsome prince of Snow White’s affections. Julia Roberts is clearly enjoying her ‘evil step-mother’ role and while much of the movie focuses on her, rather than being ‘the star’ she simply appears to be having a great time with her co-stars.

CONTENT: IS ‘MIRROR MIRROR’ SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN?

Mirror Mirror has a PG rating which we would generally agree with. However we feel that adults may wish to be aware of the following scenes before watching it with their children.

There are lots of gags involving mild nudity and characters are often seen in their underwear (which is generally long-john and bloomer style clothing). One scene shows Prince Alcott in his underwear asking the Queen for some clothes. She is reluctant to do this as she is clearly enjoying seeing him in a state of undress. While this is a little sexual in nature, with an older woman lusting after a younger man, nothing explicit is mentioned in the script and it is very mild.

The Queen undergoes disgusting spa treatments in order to stay young and beautiful. One of these treatments involves bird excrement being spread over her face like a mud-mask and another shows her lips being stung by a wasp. Another unpleasant moment is when the Queen’s servant, Brighton, returns after he has supposedly killed Snow White. He brings in a bag of entrails to her room and shows them to her. Although you can see some of the contents, it isn’t gory and there is no blood.

Some of the dialogue, while being generally mild in tone does occasionally become a little less child focused. Snow White fumbles over her words when seeing the Prince at a party and mentions that she hasn’t seen him dressed before. One of the characters is turned into a cockroach and when he becomes human again, he is ashamed to admit that a grasshopper ‘took advantage’ of him. Although this is clearly meant as a joke, it is a little surprising when the rest of the script is so mild. Another scene deals with discrimination with the dwarves and explains that they were outcasts because the Queen considered them to be ugly although the villagers have also turned their backs on them.

The Queen, wanting to marry the Prince, drugs him with a love potion. This turns out to be one for dogs and as soon as he drinks it, he jumps on her (landing on her bed) and licks her face. This is not meant as a sexual reference and his dialogue while under the influence of the potion is obsessive but clearly that of a dog loving its master rather than there being any romantic suggestion.

There is one particular scene which younger viewers may find quite scary. The enchanted mirror sends two giant marionette style figures to attack Snow White and the dwarves. They are unrelenting and featureless but then a dwarf throws food at one of them and it sticks to its head. The arrangement of the food takes on the appearance of a vacant, threatening face. When they move, they crawl and climb like insects. This is quite a sustained scene and could become distressing for some younger viewers.

CAN I SEE A CLIP?

VERDICT: – IS ‘MIRROR MIRROR’ FOR KIDS?

Mirror Mirror is a movie which has been made with the whole family in mind. The comedy is accessible to both adults and children and the beautifully imagined world in which the story is set. The dwarves certainly play up to the role of comedy foil and their individual personalities will most likely be a delight to children. Whilst this isn’t the first, and certainly won’t be the last, movie to go for the ‘re-imagining’ of a classic fairy tale, ‘Mirror Mirror’ strikes the balance between new and old well enough to be an appropriate and fun movie for parents and children alike.

• Violence:  2/5
• Emotional Distress: 2/5
• Fear Factor: 3/5
• Sexual Content: 1/5
• Bad Language: 0/5
• Dialogue: 2/5
• Other notes: Deals with themes of accepting who you are, fighting for what’s right and good triumphing over evil.

Words by Laura Record

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