Fairy Tale Friday--Mirror Mirror (Julia Roberts, 2012)

 Hello and welcome to Fairy Tale Friday. Are you sitting comfortably? Good. Then I’ll begin.

Today we look at a lushly costumed version of Snow White starring Julia Roberts entitled Mirror Mirror. I liked it because it was funny and the effects like the magic mirror were different than we have ever seen them—the mirror is like water and the stepmother steps through the liquid reflection and then emerges from a lake on the other side. There is also some interesting puppetry and stop-motion animation which lifts this film from the ordinary. The most striking aspect of the film were the stunningly outrageous costumes designed by Eiko Ishioka who created costumes for Bram Stoker’s Dracula. This film was her last film, and she was nominated posthumously for an Academy Award for Best Costume Design.

Most importantly, there is a strong and capable Snow White who learns to fight as well as having a strong moral centre.  This film was directed by Tarsem Singh who also directed the video for R.E.M.’s Losing my Religion. In an interview he says that he wanted the film to reflect that the stepmother was not bad, just terrible insecure.

Acting is interesting in this—Lily Collins (daughter of Phil Collins) tries hard to be both beautiful and have spunk. Armie Hammer (which just sounds like slightly off product placement for Arm & Hammer) is the prince who also has spunk and a bit of a twinkle and gets to play a dog. Julia Roberts has a lot of charisma and an accent that seems to fluctuate—she sounds posh and sort of British but then slips in to sort of nasal American when being sarcastic. But her timing is impeccable.

Thanks to Wikipedia for a summary in which I will insert comments in.

Note: This film begins with a stunning stop-motion animation with the baby being born and the wife dying in childbirth. We see the father raising the daughter and then remarrying. We see the new wife giving them matching crescent moon necklaces (this will be important later, oh best beloved) and lastly we see him go off to fight…where he was never heard from again so presumed dead. Watch the stunning animation here: (in the film it has a sarcastic voiceover from Julia Roberts but I like this silent version with a musical underscore better)

LINK TO VIMEO OPENING ANIMATION

A widowed King marries an evil witch named Clementianna, the most beautiful woman in the land. One day, the king leaves to fight an evil Beast that resides in the forest, but never returns; Clementianna rules in his absence, while confining her young stepdaughter, Snow White, to the palace. Note: We see here that she has kept her stepdaughter confined physically in the palace and mentally by belittling her in that mean girl way through humiliation which is always underscored with jealousy. There is a great scene of a game of human chess with the players all wearing fantastic hats all made like giant ships perched on bewigged heads. Here an older rich man tries to woo the stepmother, but she is having none of it as she wants a handsome toyboy not an older sugardaddy.

10 years later, Snow White desires to explore the kingdom and sneaks out. Walking through the forest, she meets the visiting Prince Andrew Alcott, who has been robbed by a band of Dwarves; she and the prince become smitten with each other. Snow White arrives in the town, and finds the people are destitute due to the Queen's heavy taxation. Note: She remembers the town when her father was alive as a place all in colour where people were always dancing and singing, but now it is all in sepia and everyone is poor due to the high taxation rate of the stepmother to fund her lavish lifestyle.

Meanwhile, Clementianna is introduced to Alcott and plans to marry him for his wealth. Note: There is a great scene where the stepmother goes through several torturous beauty treatments (many of which are real treatments) to look her best for the ball. Watch it here:

Clementianna throws a ball to woo the Prince, and Snow White secretly attends, planning to ask the prince to help her restore the kingdom. Note: It is a costume ball and the costumes are astounding. It is an animal theme, and the costumes are so ridiculously extravagant and yet you cannot stop looking. There is also a hint of Cinderella as she runs away from the ball. Watch it here:

The Queen notices them dancing and orders her manservant Brighton to take the princess into the forest and feed her to the Beast. Brighton leaves Snow White in the forest, and she flees the Beast, collapsing at the door to the Dwarves' hideout; the dwarves take her in and introduce themselves as Grimm, Butcher, Wolf, Napoleon, Half Pint, Grub, and Chuck. When Brighton collects more taxes levied by the Queen to pay for her expensive parties, the Dwarves rob him. Snow White takes the money and returns it to the townspeople, crediting the Dwarves, whom the people hail as heroes. Note: It is said that the Queen drove away anything deformed or ugly and so the dwarves were banished to the forest for being different and that the townspeople fear them due to their disability. They live as highwaymen in the woods and have created these enormous accordion pleat springy acrobatic trousers that make them look like fierce giants. Snow White gives them the credit for stealing the money and returning it to the village so that the townsfolk will see them as kind and not something to be afraid of. See them in their springy trousers here: 

Clementianna informs Alcott that Snow White is dead. Note: Here we have a scene where Julia Roberts gets to be prickly and funny. After the Prince confesses that he thinks Snow White is the most beautiful, she callously mentions she has been killed by the beast and tries to propose marriage. Watch it here:

When the Prince finds out that the bandits have robbed Brighton, he goes after them. In the forest, Alcott discovers that Snow White is alive and in league with the Dwarves, who have trained her in combat. Each believing the other to be in the wrong, Snow White and Alcott duel. Alcott returns to the Palace defeated and informs the Queen that Snow White is alive. Note: There is a montage where she learns to fight in her big white dress and then she gets a makeover and gets some snazzy wide legged trousers and a sword. Watch the fight scene here:

Clementianna enters her Mirror House, within which lives her reflection, the Mirror Queen. Clementianna has the Mirror Queen temporarily turn Brighton into a cockroach, and requests a love potion so she can make the prince fall in love with her. The potion turns out to be a 'puppy love' potion and the prince becomes devoted to her like a puppy dog. Under this spell, the prince agrees to marry her. Note: This scene is hilarious. It must have been so fun to film.

Using dark magic, the Queen attacks Snow White and the Dwarves with two giant marionettes; but Snow White defeats them by finding and cutting their strings. Note: This scene was incredible—the way the magic was wrought, the puppetry, the execution of the fight. It would have only made it better if Ray Harryhausen had some it as stop-motion animation. Watch it here:

On the day of her wedding, Clementianna arrives to find that Snow White and the Dwarves have robbed the party and abducted the Prince; for her inability to handle bandits and for lying about Snow White's death, the aristocrats demand the Queen be deposed. Back in the forest, Snow White manages to break the spell on Alcott with a kiss. Note: A nice gender swap twist here with her having to kiss him to break a spell. She is a bit nervous as it is her first kiss and despite wearing thick burgundy lipstick throughout the whole time she has been out fighting with the dwarves in the woods she suddenly needs makeup. Her lips go pale and one of the dwarves gives her some natural makeup by rubbing a strawberry that has miraculously grown in the dead of winter onto her lips and she is back to her deep burgundy lips.

Snow White encounters Clementianna, who sends the Beast after her. Prince Alcott tries to save Snow White, but the Beast captures her. However, the Beast hesitates in killing her and Snow White sees that it wears a necklace with a moon charm on it similar to the one the Queen wears. Snow White cuts the necklace off, breaking Clementianna’s spell, and restoring the Beast to its true form: Snow White’s father. Clementianna begins to age rapidly; the Mirror Queen explains this is the price for using dark magic.

Grateful to Alcott for his assistance, the king agrees to let him marry Snow White. At the wedding, a hooded crone appears and offers Snow White an apple as a wedding gift. At first, Snow White accepts the apple; but, as she is about to bite it, she realizes that the crone is Clementianna. Snow White cuts a piece from the apple and gives it to Clementianna, who reluctantly accepts it. The Mirror House shatters declaring it Snow White's story after all. Snow White and the Dwarves live happily ever after. Note: But not before Snow White and her friends break out into a Bollywood style closing number to a film that has not been a musical. I know. I am as puzzled as you are. Watch it here:

Bonus points if you noticed her Louisiana College coloured wedding dress. 

That’s all for this week. Stay tuned next week for another film version of our classic tale.