Arts: Mirror Mirror

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Movies Mirror Mirror Tarsem Singh's Snow White adaptation is dopey, but it'll leave you happy. By Forrest Wickman Posted Friday, Mar 30, 2012, at 03:39 PM ET If Mirror Mirror (Relativity) were one of the seven dwarves, it would be Dopey. Tarsem Singh's movie might not have the magic of Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), or its sense of danger, but it makes up for these deficiencies with silly fun. Mirror Mirror is an odd little fantasia of a movie—part jaunty adventure, part broad romantic comedy, part auteurist spectacle. Half the fun is figuring out what the hell you're watching. The story itself remains fairly simple. The Evil Queen (Julia Roberts) rules over a palace inhabited by her stepdaughter, the princess Snow White (Lily Collins), who she sees as a rival. Bound for the palace is a charming prince (Armie Hammer), who is in the market for a wife. Soon the three will become tangled up in an intergenerational love-triangle, with the aging queen and the young princess fighting over the handsome prince. As in any good fairytale, the twists begin in the forest. When we first meet the seven dwarfs (played by seven little people, many of them veteran actors), they're bandits powerbocking on top of spring-loaded stilts. With a series of flips and kicks they soon subdue the gallant prince, stealing his money and clothes and leaving him to enter the queen's court without his royal raiment. (A bare-breasted Armie Hammer will become something of a recurring joke.) Both queen and princess fall for the half-nude Hammer. The queen first uses her declining charms, then more ... To continue reading, click here. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES Also In Slate Obama's Hot-Mic Gaffe Isn't Nearly as Embarrassing as the Republican Reaction to It Are Experts Any Good at Predicting the Outcomes of Cases Before the Supreme Court? Oh No! A Stock Photo of Me Is Being Used To Advertise Online Dating Services.	Advertisement
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