"Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?"
Hello everyone!
Of course not.
I remember thinking at that time that it was a bold choice to have both movies in that same time frame, especially given the fact that it was such a competition back then, and still is, but it looks as though people may have learned from that by now and stuff like it doesn't happen anymore.
Or maybe I just haven't noticed it, which could also be the case.
In any event, I'm getting wildly off-track here.
For this week, we continue on with our Snow White extravaganza, because there is no escaping the magic mirror and Evil Queens who can't bear to have anyone be more beautiful than they are.
The very aptly titled Mirror Mirror is up next!
Links to related blog posts can be found at the bottom of the page, as always.
Mirror Mirror has three distinctive names to its title: Julia Roberts, Lily Collins and Armie Hammer, though the last one might not be exactly the right one at this moment in time, however, no one can just erase the work the man's done up until this point, no matter how much others might pretend not to notice. And most of it was good, too.
So we're not thinking about any of that, but diving into the land of fairytales again.
The story is told by none other than the Evil Queen (Roberts), who explains that in a kingdom where people sang and danced day and night because they were so happy (and, as per her, had no jobs apparently), a princess was born, with hair black as night and skin white as snow.
Unfortunately, the Queen died in childbirth and left the King (Sean Bean) alone raising his daughter. Snow White (Collins) was the apple of her father's eye, and a darling of the kingdom, being taught to one day take over from him and rule. The King eventually remarried, and when a dark magic of some sort invaded his kingdom in the form of a beast, he rode out to deal with it ... and was never seen again.
The Queen, because she was vain and evil and didn't want to deal with the princess, locked Snow White in a tower and spread the word that she was basically crazy and incapable of anything, while she ran the kingdom into the ground with her extravagance.
Our story begins properly at Snow White's 18th birthday, during which Snow begs her stepmother to be allowed to attend the ball she's hosting, but is categorically denied, though she later heads out of the palace on advice from the palace baker who helped raise her, to see for herself what's become of her father's kingdom.
And let me tell you, the guards' confusion about whether or not she's allowed is PRICELESS.
On the way, Snow runs into the Prince (Hammer), who's been strung up in his underclothes with his servant, because they'd been accosted by bandit Dwarfs. She frees them, and they head on to the palace, where the Queen decides that she's going to marry said Prince which will solve all her financial problems.
She also imposes new taxes on the people to pay for this latest extravagance, which Snow sees in all horror and runs back to the palace, sobbing at what her beautiful kingdom's become.
She then attends the ball, meeting the Prince again, and he's captivated by both her beauty and her plea for help, though she's yanked away before he can do much, and the Queen sends her footman, Brighton, to kill her in the dark forest. Brighton, on the other hand, releases Snow and tells her to run far away, which she attempts to do ... only to smack her head and wake up in the Dwarfs' home.
After a quick vote they allow her to stay for one night while they head on off to do their daily robbing tasks, which just so happen to include stealing the taxpayers money from Brighton himself, who ends up in his underclothes like the Prince had.
This enrages said Prince and he takes off into the forest to deal with the problem, but at this point, Snow White has returned the peoples' money, painted the Dwarfs as heroes, and they agreed to let her stay with them - if she learns to be a bandit like they are. So by the time the Prince and she meet the second time, she's there to rob him dry, which she successfully does, leaving him, yet again, in his underclothes.
The Queen, distracted by the Prince and angry at Brighton for not doing what he was told, shows us the secret of the mirror, which in this movie is a portal into some sort of lake hut, where a reflection of her sits and stews and comes up with witty one-liners. She warns the Queen of the price of magic, but the Queen just wants Brighton punished (he turns into a cockroach) and Snow dead.
This results in magical puppets on strings to attack the Dwarfs in their home while Snow White is mourning the fact the Prince is going to marry the Queen (on account of being fed a puppy love potion which basically transforms him into a human version of a puppy ... complete with fetch function!). They manage to successfully defeat the puppets, and Snow White plans on running off the next morning, alone, but is stopped by the Dwarfs, who then agree to crash the wedding with her.
They successfully manage this, nab the Prince (and everyone's clothes), and with True Loves Kiss release him from the spell. Also, pay attention during this scene as one of the Dwarfs preps Snow for this first kiss of hers, because man, it's hilariously adorable.
Once that's done though, the beast who we've been hearing about finally attacks, and it turns out it's controlled by the Queen herself (which begs the question, what exactly did she do to the King?), through a crescent moon necklace, which Snow cuts off at the beast's own urging.
And then it turns out that the beast is actually the King himself, enchanted by the Queen, who learns the price of her magic when she turns old and wrinkled on the spot while the kingdom rejoices at having both its King back, and its Princess reinstated, marrying the Prince.
As a last attempt, the former Queen tries to serve Snow White a red apple, but she recognizes her and has her eat a slice first, which eliminates her once and for all, after which Snow busts out into a Bollywood-inspired musical number, and the whole kingdom sings and dances once more as the mirror (and the lake hut thing) shatters into a million pieces.
The end!
Funny, with stunning visuals and bright colours, this rendition of Snow White leans much more heavily into humour and not taking itself too seriously, nor grounding itself in reality, which may be why a lot of people prefer it to Snow White and the Huntsman, though Lily Collins is also a compelling argument.
The story follows the fairytale much more closely, other than the fact the Princess saves the Prince and doesn't fall into poisoned sleep, but it's an entertaining hour and a half to watch, and the main cast hits it out of the park with their performances.
The Dwarfs are also a lot more endearing in this one and given actual personalities and jobs, but I will say that I don't quite get the final Bollywood thing ... I mean, I understand the kingdom went back to the whole song and dance, but why that particular genre, is my question? My only answer is that it may be a personal decision by the movie's director, but who knows!
Either way, of the two, while this one may be funnier and more colourful, the other's grittier reality (and Chris Hemsworth) may be more appealing if you like things grounded and less like a children's story.
Both movies were alright, but neither was perfect, so now we wait and see what Disney does with it's live action remake that just signed Gal Gadot on to star as the Evil Queen. And THAT should be suitably entertaining!
Until next time ... it's important to know when you've been beaten. Yes.
xx
*images and video not mine
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