Quick Review of MIRROR, MIRROR
Today, Nancy and I took our daughters and two of the younger daughter's friends to see Mirror, Mirror, the new Snow White interpretation starring Julia Roberts and Lily Collins. It was good; not great but good. Certainly it was worth seeing, although if I could have seen it in our local theater (which charges $3 per person) instead of in one of the big theaters in Chattanooga for $7, it might have felt like a bit more of a bargain. Julia Roberts is wonderful as the evil queen. She is biting, coldly charming, and just desperate enough to be believable and somewhat sympathetic. Lily Collins was very good as Snow White. She is stunningly beautiful, and she brings strength and backbone to the role, which is very refreshing for those of us who still shudder at the sappy weakness of Disney's old animated Snow White. In the final scene she looks just like a young Audrey Hepburn, at least she does to me.
Armie Hammer, as Prince Alcott, and Nathan Lane, as Brighton, the queen's lackey, are both good as well, and the dwarves, with their odd stilts and quirky personalities give a nice twist to the old story. There are some pretty cool effects -- the mirror in particular, and also the puppet attack (see the movie; then you'll understand) -- and the costuming is very, very good. On the other hand, it is at root a somewhat silly story, and even the modern touches can't disguise that completely. As I say, it's good, but it's not brilliant by any stretch. That seemed to be the consensus among our group, at least. I don't like to reduce movie descriptions to numbers on a scale or stars, or anything of that sort. But on a scale of one to ten I'd give it a 7.5; or, put another way, about three and a half stars out of five.
Armie Hammer, as Prince Alcott, and Nathan Lane, as Brighton, the queen's lackey, are both good as well, and the dwarves, with their odd stilts and quirky personalities give a nice twist to the old story. There are some pretty cool effects -- the mirror in particular, and also the puppet attack (see the movie; then you'll understand) -- and the costuming is very, very good. On the other hand, it is at root a somewhat silly story, and even the modern touches can't disguise that completely. As I say, it's good, but it's not brilliant by any stretch. That seemed to be the consensus among our group, at least. I don't like to reduce movie descriptions to numbers on a scale or stars, or anything of that sort. But on a scale of one to ten I'd give it a 7.5; or, put another way, about three and a half stars out of five.