Mirror Mirror

In a land far, far away, a fair young princess known as Snow White (Collins) is banished by a ruthless, power-loving, beauty obsessed queen (Roberts) who rules in her stead. Her crime: being the fairest lady of all... and capturing the heart of the charming prince, whom the queen plots to marry to use his wealth to solve all of her financial mishaps. Stranded and alone, Snow White finds help in seven improbable rebel dwarfs, with whom she forms an outlaw gang. As the evil queen unfolds her plans through silk and poison, Snow White arms herself with steel and courage, determined to strike humiliating revenge at the one who stole her birthright.

Far from sticking to the original tale, this retelling of the well-known Snow-White tale takes the story round an interesting bend. Dismissing complete focus on the hero of this tale, the film concentrates instead on the contrast between the characters of the queen and Snow-White, as two complete opposites of the definition of beauty and character. On the one hand, the princess, whose beauty grows from both her looks and her mind, a person one just cannot help loving. On the other, the resplendent yet evil queen, her looks a distracting mask for her ambition and vanity. Julia Roberts is simply brilliant in this role, portraying a moody, intensely frustrated character unable to face her own quirks and flaws, her blatant meanness a surprisingly fascinating and attractive part of her person, just as Snow-White’s pureness of heart.

To top it all, Mirror Mirror is served on a base of well-honed humour inspired from the best of Disney, intelligently welded into the characters themselves. Combined with highly coloured Narnia-style landscapes and settings, the film is a surprising, but pleasantly original way to tell a world-famous story such as Snow-White.