Mirror Mirror

I wasn't much of a fan of the first 1/3 of the film, tonally, although it featured some nice "camerawork" showing us the setting of where such a kingdom and the surrounding woods where the story of Snow White and the 7 Dwarves would take place.  I knew director Tarsem with his keen visual eye and flair would make for an interesting looking film, but he plays it close to the vest, as it's targeted to being a family film to be shared by young children and parents alike. 

The queen (hammily played by Julia Roberts) has siphoned off as much from her subjects in the nearby township, and is in need of marrying for more money and status, as her king disappeared 10 years ago.  Snow White (Lily Collins), sole heir to the kingdom (born of another queen before this current queen), has been kept out of sight for the decade, but it's now her 18th birthday, and she yearns to explore her surroundings, and that she does.  The queen has a special mirror which reflects upon her the cost of appearing to be desirable through the dark powers of magic, and its continued use.  Prince "Charming" as it were, turns out to be Prince Alcott (Armie Hammer) from a place plenitful in all things the queen needs, and is ambushed by the dwarves, outfitted with magical stilts, and left hanging upsidedown along side his assistant.  Speaking of assistants, Nathan Lane puts in a small, but nice performance of being the queen's primary underling, though the role is quite underwritten for his talent.

The rest of the film finally gains a footing in the 2nd act as Snow White meets up with the 7 dwarves, and she gets her own little training montage of self-sufficiency, while bringing in a moral compass to the dwarves, who had been getting by through outright banditry.  The dwarves were written to provide comic relief, and most of them did quite well, bringing levity and visual campiness to even out the murderous designs by the queen.  Lily Collins looked quite lovely as a princess early on in the film, but in the woods, with the dwarves, she appeared to look even more like a combination of a Jennifer Connelly and Audrey Hepburn in their younger years, quite fetching, I might say.

Being directed for a younger audience, I thought the film was fine, it could have a little more bite to it, but that would have brought in far more cynicism than the story should have been saddled with, so I enjoyed the last 2/3 moreso than the opening act.

I give it 2.75 stars, or a grade of B-.