![]() I just love fairy tales, and I love inventive, well-done retellings, and on the latter score Mirror Mirror falls a bit flat. I realize many are probably going to think I'm being way too hard on this movie, or that I didn't enjoy it all - that's not the case. I don't think I've ever seen a coat swish to more dramatic effect. :) Oh! - I cannot forget to give the movie props for accentuating Hammer's 6'5" height with the Best. ![]() But I liked the "twist" that sees Snow awakening her Prince with a kiss, instead of vice-versa, and I'm enough of a romantic sap that the Prince's declaration following the kiss made me met a little inside. The "puppy love" sequence which got a lot of play in the movie trailers unfortunately becomes one of the movie's longest-running gags. Also, I liked the fact that he could be patently ridiculous but still well-meaning and likable, if that makes sense. Anyone who can sell adoration towards the princess in question while giant rabbit ears sprout out of his top hat deserves some credit, hmm? *wink* Hammer carries much of the film's silliness on his shoulders and to his credit he seems game. But you know, Hammer really grew on me as the film progressed. The more I saw of Hammer in the promotional materials, the more he just didn't appeal to me as a princely type - and that is a big drawback when it comes to the romantic escapist factor of fairy tales. I was rather concerned with Armie Hammer's casting as the heroic Prince Alcott. This Snow is kind and sweet, socially conscious and spunky, and very, very game, especially considering some of the costumes she has to wear in this film (particularly the swan ballgown with its ridiculous headpiece, ha!). But she's not as perhaps quite revisionist as as other modern princesses of her ilk (think Rapunzel in Tangled or Snow White in Once Upon a Time) - more of a stepping-stone, a midway point between traditional fairy tales and more recent, radical retellings. However, this Snow is no complete wilting wallflower - she grows up a lot in this film as expected by modern standards. She has the youth and delicate beauty that makes her an ideal film princess, very much cut from the cloth of the traditional legend. The Mirror Mirror princess is never meant, I think, to be a completely post-modern radical, so as a princess cut from a more traditional fairy tale mold Collins fits the bill nicely. Lily Collins as Snow White is perhaps one of this movie's strongest assests character-wise. :) Also, I did think it was interesting how this film handled the whole "magic mirror" thing - so the mirror was in fact an extension of the Queen's psyche? Thoughts? And I'm not gonna try and deny it, the red peacock dress kinda rocked my world (red being my favorite color and all). Without much in the way of context, this queen is just petty and mean, you know? But she has some pretty amazing clothes. She has magic, or rather utilizes it, but there's never any whys or hows, or real rhyme or reason - instead it is just accepted as a matter of course. She's selfish and petulant and whiny, and while to some extent it's a fun change to see Roberts play this very anti-heroine type of character, the script doesn't give her Queen any real sort of menace. Her on-screen reputation coupled with her larger-than-life costumes make Roberts the most self-absorbed, and frankly silly Queen that I think I've ever seen on film. Perhaps the most striking aspect of this film's promotion was the introduction of Julia Roberts, America's one-time silver screen "sweetheart," as the "Evil Queen" of legend.
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