"Mirror Mirror" (2012) -- Initial Thoughts

I didn't expect to like this movie so much!  I guess it goes on the pile with all the other movies I've seen lately and disagreed wildly about with critics and many other reviewers.  (Did that sentence make sense?)

Mirror Mirror is not a great movie, by any means.  But it is a delightfully fun movie.  I will go ahead and say that I liked this better than Snow White and the Huntsman, since everyone always wants to compare them. Really, I just want to yank The Huntsman out of that, toss him in here, and we'd have a perfect movie.  Well, except that The Huntsman would be a bit disconcerted by how happy and bright everything is here.

But anyway, this post is supposed to be about Snow White (Lily Collins).  Her mother died, and her dad, The King (Sean Bean), didn't want her to grow up without a mother, so he married The Queen (Julia Roberts).  She promptly did away with him and took over, shoving Snow into the corner for the next several years while she throws lavish parties and wears dresses made from enough fabric to clothe all seven dwarves.

Holy giant skirt, Batman!

The Queen also has magical powers of some sort that allow her to visit a magical underworld, where her mirror-dwelling doppelganger gives her potions and stuff to solve her problems.  Except her monetary problems -- The Queen has bankrupted the government and is now sending the entire country's economy into a tailspin.

Enter Prince Alcott (Armie Hammer).  He's rich, he's cute, he's young, he's charming -- The Queen must have him.  Except he's much more interested in Snow White.  That's no problem for The Queen, of course -- just send Snow White to the woods to be killed, give Prince Alcott a love potion, and all will be well.

Armie Hammer wears period costumes so well, doesn't he?

So, yeah, your standard Snow White story, told with tongue firmly in cheek and one eye winking at the audience.  It has random references to modern life (my favorite being when Prince Alcott tells The Queen he needs a moment "to process" what's going on), and all the actors are clearly there solely because they are having so much doggone fun.  And so I have fun watching them have fun.  It's all good!

Snow White and the seven completely wonderful dwarves.

I'll be getting a copy of this for my very own, as I think that before my kids are old enough for the cheeky fun of Jack the Giant Slayer, they will enjoy the sweeter, gentler fun of this movie.

I really want to make her costume here for myself.

Is it family friendly?  Mostly.  There are some low-cut dresses, some kissing, Armie Hammer spends a lot of time shirtless, several characters are seen only in their old-fashioned and very modest underwear, and there are a bunch of delightful sword fights.  There's also a very creepy attack by wooden marionettes, and a dragon-wolf monster.  Too scary for small kids, fine for teens and most tweens, I'd say.  No bad language except for a couple instances of OMG.