Monday, April 02, 2012
As promised, a belated review of the week! Enjoy, and let me know what you think if you like :D
Mirror Mirror (PG)
On the wall, who is the fairest of them all? Classic line,
but only half delivered by the leading villain in this version of the Snow
White fairytale. The dwarves act as giants, there’s no deep, dark, poison
apple-induced slumber and The Queen walks through the all-telling mirror.
There’s a bit of a changeup to the story of the girl with porcelain skin and
hair as black as night, where nothing is sacred.
It seems The Queen (Julia Roberts) has other ways of keeping
the real heir to the throne inside the castle, but whatever she’s doing stops
working on Snow White’s (Lily Collins) 18th birthday, when the fair
princess realises she can walk out of the castle grounds. On her first outing
she encounters Prince Alcott (Armie Hammer) in a predicament and sees the town
full of starving people.
So it’s not all sweet smelling roses. But Snow manages to
have her rendezvous with Prince Alcott even as The Queen is trying to schmooze
him for herself to save the kingdom from ruin. The seven dwarves come into play
when they find Snow collapsed outside their house after she is subsequently
banished. And with names like Half Pint, Grub and Butcher they’re a force to be
reckoned with.
The film doesn’t really take itself seriously at all, given
there is so much to the original story that’s been changed. It first tries to
pull itself off as telling The Queen’s side to the story but very quickly
changes because that’s not how the story goes. But we knew that already.
The obligatory Prince Charming makes his entrance rather
early so as to create growth for him and Snow, getting to know each other a bit
before any first kiss. It’s an interesting and simple way to bring more
innuendo and a 21st Century line of thought to an olden tale.
Collins plays the leading lady as a hesitant hero. Deciding
to take her own stand and fight as a leader, she constantly remains unsure
about whether she’s doing the right thing and acts rather girly even with a
sword in her hand. But she still grows from meeting her new friends and realises
that people are not who they seem.
While Collins is every much the pure and innocent thing Snow
White is, Hammer as Prince Alcott could not be more suitable for her knight in
shining armour. His teeth could run the show on their own, his look and demeanour
are effectively perfect.
Julia Roberts comes as the more confusing of the cast, her
accent is all over the place and while the sarcasm is good she can come across
as uncomfortable. That could be because of the corsets for her outfits though,
greatly designed costumes by the late Eiko Ishioka.
Tarsem Singh Dhandwar in his fourth feature has injected a
lot of wry humour that does manage to pull off for most of the film. While the
changes presented aren’t all that controversial, they’re still enough to sustain
an element of surprise and create worthy laughs.
Rating:
3.5
*Published in the Daily Liberal (Dubbo), Western Advocate (Bathurst), Parkes Champion Post and Midstate Observer (Orange) from Saturday 31/3/2012
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