Mirror Mirror

Who’s the fairest of them all?

Why it must be Snow White!

This year, the film industry witnesses two remakes of the classic fairy tale, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. Mirror Mirror is the first of the two and is still out in cinemas, which will be shortly followed by the release of Snow White and the Huntsman in June.

Mirror Mirror, directed by Tarsem Singh who brought us Immortals, has again worked his magic and delivered us this beautifully remade Snow White tale. This tale is loosely based on the Brothers Grimm fairytale, Schneewittchen (Little Snow White), with elements also taken from another of their tales, Snow White and Red-Rose, one of these elements being the thieving dwarves.

Singh has managed to successfully make an original film, with its essence still intact. Singh brings us a crazed alluded Queen (Julia Roberts) who fears growing old; an extremely clumsy Prince (Armie Hammer) who is in constant need of saving; thieving dwarves who wear stilts to make them look like giants and an extremely determined female heroine, Snow White (Lily Collins). The film is brought together with camp humour, with some particularly delightful exchanges between The Queen and the Prince, alongside a narrative that, refreshingly, privileges feminist self-determination and success. It would seem that Snow white is not in need of saving as she is quite capable, after some training by the dwarves, to defeat the evil Queen. The handsome Prince, on the other hand, appears to be very clumsy and is the one saved by Snow after all.

Overall Mirror Mirror is a refreshing take on the original fairytales written by the Brothers Grimm. The film is light-hearted and enjoyable to watch, but unfortunately seems to lack the darkness that the original fairytales hold. This could be due to the fact that this film is tailored to a family audience, as it is a fantastic family film, but for the older audience at times it may seem a little too childlike.