Bill Gibron is a veteran film critic from Tampa, Florida.If it didn't have the visionary Tarsem (now going under his full name 'Tarsem Singh Dhandwar') sitting in the director's chair, one could easily see Mirror Mirror coming out of the Shawn Levy school of cinematic slights. It's the odd combination of outright pandering and artistic reach that seems to brainwash audiences into thinking they've seen something significant, when the truth is far more limited. And yet, the man who made The Cell, The Fall, and last year's 300 knock-off Immortals, brings a real sense of style and wit to this post-modern fractured fairytale. As usual, the costumes and sets are stunning. The real surprise, however, is the sly self-referential tone that never takes itself too seriously, leaving the viewer capable of laughing at the lovely ludicrousness of it all.
Having taxed her kingdom back to the Stone Age, evil Queen Clementianna (Julia Roberts) worries that she will no longer be able to live the life of luxury her ego demands. Setting her sights on wealth via marriage, she spurns the advances of the aging Baron (Michael Lerner) and latches onto the latest arrival in her depressed domain -- hunky Prince Andrew Alcott (Armie Hammer). Of course, there's a complication: the 18 year old daughter of her late husband, the King -- Snow White (Lily Collins).
The minute the arriving royal sees her, he is smitten. So the Queen contacts a plan to have Snow taken out into the woods and killed. Luckily, she is saved by seven thieving dwarves: Butcher (Martin Klebba), Wolf (Sebastian Saraceno), Chuckles (Ronald Lee Clark), Napoleon (Jordan Prentice), Half-Pint (Mark Povinelli), Grub (Joe Gnoffo), and Grimm (Danny Woodburn). Together, they decide to overthrow the wicked woman and win over the Prince. Unfortunately, Her Hideous Highness has some dark magic up her sleeve. She won't give up her position, or her youth, quite so easily.Avoiding cliche while embracing the new millennial approach to obvious irony, Mirror Mirror is an overly cute commercial confection. It's like watching a pre-teen girl's glitter sticker-filled wish book come to life. In the hands of Tarsem, who never met a backdrop he couldn't complicate with couture, the results play like the bastard brainchild of a Terry Gilliam/Jean-Paul Gaultier collaboration. Half the time we keep waiting for the ex-pat Python's humor to come oozing through. Instead, we get jokes at the expense of the material and its mannered truisms, but that's about it. The rest of the time, we marvel at the creative casting (Nathan Lane as a bootlick lackey, Mare Winningham as a kitchen servant) and the quasi-inventive takes on the narrative.
The best bit remains the seven little men themselves, each one given a decent amount of depth and a clear character note to differentiate them from the others. Their current occupation -- highway robbers -- is a relief from the "Hi-Ho" hokum of jewel miners and their grubby personas are a nice contrast to the sugar-spun frills of the rest of the storyline. For their part, the actors addressing the undersized scenarios are uniformly excellent, while the leads lend a certain level of legitimacy. Oddly enough, Hammer has the least to do, while Collins and Roberts battle back and forth in cool cattiness.
Granted, the movie can't maintain its mannered quirkiness for the entire running time and many of the jokes fall flatter than Tarsem's way with human emotion, but there is still enough here to enjoy without feeling horribly guilty about it. Later this year, Snow White will once again return to the big screen in a darker, more action oriented take on the classic kiddie story. Until then, this lighter, more lithe version of the yarn will leave you pleasantly surprised.
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