This spring has marked a decidedly sure season of fairy tales hitting the big screen with two remakes of the classic story Snow White. The latest offering comes in the form of Mirror Mirror – starring Julia Roberts, Lily Collins, Armie Hammer and Nathan Lane.
Those familiar with the Brothers Grimm tale will no doubt be acquainted with the usual suspects in the story: the wicked stepmother queen, the handsome prince, the dwarves and of course the fair maiden Miss White herself. Nonetheless, the fable gains a fresh lease of life in a myriad of ways – least of all that Snow White’s usual dwarf companions are called by different names, such as Half-Pint, Chuckles, Grub and Wolf. What’s more, one can’t help but notice that the remake takes on an emphatically more feminist stance; in one scene for instance, Snow White (Lily Collins) tells the handsome prince (Armie Hammer) that she doesn’t need saving and will indeed be the heroine in the story. This tale certainly focuses less on the notion of a helpless beauty overcome by a wicked queen and waiting for a handsome prince. No, this Snow White outwits the former and shows the latter that she is by no means feeble. As the action unfolds, it becomes clear that it is not Snow White that needs to be saved by a kiss.
The strengths of this film are in its light-hearted, comedic scenes in which Julia Roberts shines particularly as a beauty-conscious, age-conscious and wonderfully unhinged queen. Her obsequious servant Brighton (played by Nathan Lane, whose voice may well be recognised as that of Timon in Disney’s The Lion King) also provides many chuckles. Mirror Mirror is also visually rich and displays the beautiful and fanciful costumes that one would expect from a film based on a fairy tale. However, there were a number of moments where the notion of trying to tell a well-known story afresh became all too conscious, obvious and self-congratulatory. Some scenes displayed a distinct ‘aren’t we good that we’ve moved away from the sexist, patriarchal nature of fairytales?’ aura that for the more cynical viewer may cause an almost uncontrollable rolling of the eyes.
Mirror Mirror is a film that may be enjoyed perhaps more so by a younger female audience; however any adults who may have to chaperone a herd of hyper, tween girls will still be provided with enough entertainment to make it through all 106 minutes of the film. Indeed, remakes are not always well executed and there are only so many times you can reinvent the wheel. Nevertheless, for all the ways Mirror Mirror may fall short in its weak and sometimes obvious script, it is upheld by many witty and playful scenes.
Mirror Mirror is out now at selected cinemas nationwide.
Written by Kazstarlet
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