Why So Blu?

At the palace, the Queen appreciates the Prince’s body and reported wealth and she makes plans to marry him right away without bothering to wait to see if he’s interested.  She begins plotting with her magic mirror (who in this version is her alter ego) and her main servant Brighton (Nathan Lane).  First up, she decides that she needs to eliminate Snow as a rival for the Prince’s affections, since they got too friendly during the palace ball.  The Queen orders Brighton to kill Snow and he ends up playing the traditional role of the huntsman who lets  Snow White get away and brings back an animal’s heart (and in this movie other assorted internal organs).  Soon enough, Snow runs into the same seven bandits that robbed the Prince.  The seven bandits end up being the seven dwarves of the tale although there’s no Dopey or Doc in this group since they are much different than the Disney version’s.  Although their personalities have changed, each dwarf has a distinct personality or quirk that sets him apart from the others. These dwarves have started robbing others since the Queen deemed them unsightly and they were driven away.

They agree to help Snow fight the Queen after Snow returns the gold taken from the villagers and tells the villagers that it was recovered by the dwarves which makes the outcasts heroes among the people.  Back at the palace, the Queen has slipped a love potion into the Prince’s drink which is intended to make him fall in love with her and marry her without question, but instead of the usual love potion, she mistakenly gives him a puppy love potion which adds a new level of silliness to the movie when the Prince starts fetching and panting like a dog.   Despite essentially being a dog now, her ultimate aim of marriage is still possible unless Snow White and her seven dwarves can stop the wedding in time and restore the kingdom back to how it was before the Queen’s dominion.

Mirror Mirror is a light, fun, and movie that coasts along on the strength of the lavish set designs and the charisma of it’s stars.  Tarsem Singh has a reputation as a visual stylist that’s been evident from his past movies like The Cell and The Fall, but this time he uses his skill on a much more lighthearted movie than his usual fare to great effect.  From the late Eiko Ishioka’s gorgeous costumes to Tom Foden’s fantastic production design, this movie looks amazing. Not only do each of their efforts stand alone, but the movie also blends the crew’s talents well, as we see when The Queen’s regal dress blends right in with the throne she is sitting on.  The cast is more than game for this movie too with Julia Roberts obviously relishing the chance to play an over the top villain.  Lily Collins is also fine as a modernized Snow White, while Armie Hammer takes what is usually the thankless role of the hunky Prince and balanced the action skills and the silliness required for his character well.  Another strong element of the movie is the well known scene-stealer Nathan Lane as the put upon servant.  He adds a lot of humor to the movie and delivers most of the movie’s laughs.   This is one of those movies that tries to appeal to the widest demographic possible, which usually results in an uneven film that doesn’t interest anyone.  Mirror Mirror manages to walk that tightrope for the most part, as there’s adult humor and juvenile humor throughout and it works most of the time.  I would have liked the movie even more if it had left out some of the sillier aspects such as the puppy love potion that takes up too much time, but overall I enjoyed the movie a lot more than I thought I would.

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