Last night I went with my family to view Mirror Mirror, the latest fairy-tale re-telling to hit the big screen. The preview looked pretty funny, with a good chance of being rather cheesey. I have to say, the movie exceeded my expectations! It was one big lark.
The Queen was sufficiently evil/vain to wreck havoc on Snow White’s country, but her silly vanity was amusing at the same time. The Prince was VERY tall, dark, and handsome, brave and strong… yes they let him laugh at himself, and the glint of light off his perfect teeth in one scene cut through the ridiculousness of the slightly over-the-top story to let you know – THEY KNOW it’s over-the-top. They are enjoying it very much, thank you. The Seven Dwarves were, let’s be frank, HILARIOUS. They kept us in stitches in every scene that includes them. The part where they are trying to break the spell on the Prince… well, you’ll just have to watch it to find out.
But my favorite aspect of the entire thing was Snow White herself.
For a little background, I am 100% a complete sucker for fairy-tales and re-telling of fairy-tales. I love Disney Princess movies and was rather devastated when they announced that Tangled was to be the last Disney Princess production. (Seriously?!?! I’m still highly doubtful that this edict will last!) But in re-tellings, how they handle the princess is very crucial to me. I realize that the fine lady languishing away until a hero comes to rescue her can get old. However, this habit writers have of turning a sweet, virtuous young woman into a leather-wearing, midriff-baring, ninja-warrior-princess is NOT the solution. At All. Ever. In Any Instance. In other words, it gets under my skin, just slightly.
So, to sum up here, I absolutely love how they handled Snow White in Mirror Mirror. She is beautiful. Skin white as snow, hair black as night and lips red as, well, strawberries. She is sweet, thinking of others before herself, trying to help those less fortunate, and very feminine. (Note to World: this is not a bad thing.) She is timid at first, like a princess of old fairy tales, but gradually learns to stand on her own two feet and to take care of herself; not in a pushy I-don’t-need-a-man kind of way, but of a strong woman who can survive in a rough world.
And of course, Good overcomes Evil. And love conquers all. So I give Mirror Mirror 5 stars and will probably buy it was soon as it comes out on DVD.
Castle of Blue 