PG, 106 min.
Director: Tarsem Singh
Dhandwar
Writers: Marc Klein, Jason
Keller, Melisa Wallack
Starring: Julia Roberts,
Lily Collins, Armie Hammer, Nathan Lane, Jordan Prentice, Mark Povinelli, Joey
Gnoffo, Danny Woodburn, Sebastian Saraceno, Martin Klebba, Ronald Lee Clark,
Robert Emms, Mare Winningham, Michael Lerner, Sean Bean
Tarsem’s “Mirror Mirror” was
the first live action Snow White adaptation to hit the big screen this year. It
was generally thought to be the slighter of the two. Although, I enjoyed the
Middle Earth take on the fairy tale in “Snow White and the Huntsman”, mostly
due to a wonderful villain provided by Charlize Theron, I think I like this
version slightly better.
Julia Roberts isn’t quite
the evil queen that Theron is in the other movie. The dialogue is a little more
juvenile. But the production design and costumes are exquisite. I don’t think
it’s incredibly important for a family film such as this to excel in areas of
dialogue and character development, however to show us the sights that Tarsem
does here, that is magical to a child. Heck, it’s magical to me, who adheres to
director Werner Herzog’s notion that the world is starving for original images.
Tarsem is known for his
lavish set and costume designs. He showed us the inner imagination of a madman
in his first film “The Cell” and the freedom of a child’s imagination in “The
Fall”. Here he drapes a classic fairy tale with that same elaborate vision.
Roberts probably doesn’t care that her performance wasn’t felt to be as nasty
as Theron’s, because she got to wear all those wonderful dresses. And, isn’t
that what a fairy tale is all about, giving our children an over developed
sense of fashion and home décor?
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