If you had asked me six months ago which would be the better film between Mirror, Mirror or Snow White and the Huntsman, I probably would’ve scoffed and replied that it was no contest. Well, both movies featuring the girl with the raven-black hair have come and gone and while Huntsman was a cluster of terribleness (and perhaps the worst film of 2012 so far), Mirror, Mirror is at least marginally more entertaining and less harmful to cinema.
Tarsem Singh’s edition of the Snow White fairy tale puts the sight and sound of spectacle ahead of its well-worn plot as well as its shallow characters. You all know the story by now; the young and beautiful Snow White (Lily Collins) escapes her evil stepmother (Julia Roberts) only to be chased down for her life so that the dark Queen may be forever fair and gorgeous. If you or the young kids you’re watching this with are somehow unfamiliar with the tale, you’re unlikely to get much depth from this version. Aside from the Queen being excessively mean and Snow being excessively innocent, there’s zero motivation for anything in this film to happen. Honestly, most people just run into each other and do things without rhyme or reason. Snow has her eyes cast upon Prince Alcott (Armie Hammer) at one point, but their romance is typical of kids’ movies and devoid of any real meaning. They’re supposed to get together and so they do because you don’t argue with fairy tales. The film’s happy ending comes mercifully quick and starts the process of getting the mounds of lazy, saccharine storytelling out of your system.
Most of the actors are having a blast on set, as you can see with Roberts playing the Queen in all of her ridiculous, bedtime-appropriate evilness. Nathan Lane goes well over-the-top with his character, the Queen’s attendant Brighton, but ends up being a nice bit of frenetic entertainment in each scene he’s in. The various dwarves Snow encounters provide most of the kid-friendly comedy, though some jokes miss the mark or veer into creepy territory. The two leads Collins and Hammer are actually the disappointments on the acting front; the former has yet to impress me in any role and the latter is given absolutely nothing to work with scriptwise. Hammer tries to give his meager character some quips and lively energy, but it’s drowned out by the utter lack of motivation in the film.
Mirror, Mirror is yet another stunning achievement for Singh and his visual style. Many of the scenes and 
sets could be printed as stills and hung in galleries. The director throws a variety of bright primaries and pastels into every frame, but never enough to overwhelm or offend. Costumes are standard fairy tale fare, but they fit nicely against the saturated backgrounds of Singh’s vision. The computer-generated imagery, on the other hand, is sloppy and just generally bad. It’s most apparent at the film’s climax when Snow battles a rainbow-colored, dragon-like creature in the dark, snow-covered forest. The CG beast seems to inherit the art style of Singh’s vision but it doesn’t fit into the world. Whether it’s the lighting being miscalculated or just rushed effects work, the brief battle sequence is nevertheless wounded by the presence of the mismatched CGI villain.
Movie Rating: Pretty and innocuous, if shallow and silly, Mirror, Mirror is one for the kids and devout fairy tale lovers only. (3/10)
Mirror, Mirror comes to Blu-Ray with a stunning transfer that brings to life Tarsem Singh’s wildest and most colorful dreams. It’s a gorgeous disc with deep blacks in the few places they exist and bright, voluminous colors in every scene. The sounds don’t disappoint either. Dialogue is clean and clear and loud. The backgrounds are soft and evocative of the world. Even the sing-song jubilance of the Bollywood-style dance scene is well represented. This is seriously great work by Relativity Media and Fox Home Entertainment.
The extras are unfortunately light, but the kids getting this disc probably won’t care too much. There’s a music video featuring the star, Lily Collins, belting out the song from the film’s Bollywood dance sequence, an ultra-brief and unrewarding “Making Of”, and some deleted scenes.
Blu-Ray Rating: The disc is just too pretty to ignore. If you’re dying to see the movie, make sure you pony up the extra ten bucks for the Blu-Ray. Even fans of Tarsem’s work may just want to own it for the visuals in spite of the disappointing movie. (9/10)
Mirror, Mirror is available now on Blu-Ray and DVD from Relativity Media and Fox Home Entertainment.
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