My husband and I were not able to catch Mirror Mirror in the theaters this past Spring, but we were able to watch it on DVD last night with just the two of us. Although the film is rated PG and is a family movie, our children, especially our 5-1/2 year old twins, are still too young for this type of content. Our 8-1/2 year old son could have watched this film, but he would not have understood some of the very vague adult humor and would likely have found the kissing to be icky.
As adults, my husband and I both enjoyed the film. He actually did not know what to expect from this movie and was very pleasantly surprised by it. The film does take for granted that the viewer is already familiar with the story of Snow White. The hour and 46-minute long story moves quickly. It could have easily been twice as long if the writers had taken the time to explore every relationship fully, but the quick pace is part of what made this movie a good one.
Like many people, I wondered how well Julia Roberts could pull off playing the role of the evil Queen in a comedy. I was actually impressed by her performance. Lily Collins did well as the fair Snow White, but the audience does not begin to admire her character until she stands up to the Queen (who had used dark magic to seduce her father and to take over his kingdom) and begins her journey towards becoming Snow White the renegade. The Prince (Armie Hammer's character) played a huge part in the comedic scenes, as does each of the seven dwarfs. As for Nathan Lane (a.k.a. the Queen's executive bootlicker), he was brilliant as expected. Both he and Mare Winningham, who played Baker Margaret, were wonderful in their supporting roles.
This film has lots of interesting twists and surprises and is 80% comedy, 15% romance, and 5% adventure. If you have not seen it, I recommend that you do in order to find out how the poisonous apple, the Prince and Snow's first kiss, the seven dwarfs, and the enchanted mirror have been rewritten for the movie. Although there was a surprise ending, we did guess what it was before it was revealed in the film. Again, I do not think this film is for young children because there are a scenes when the characters are under attack, which may be frightening to them. An older child would enjoy this film, but some of the satire and the innuendos would be lost on them.
You can purchase Mirror Mirror in a Blu-ray/DVD/Digital Download combo or on DVD from Amazon.com and most major movie retailers nationwide.
Thank you to Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment for providing a complimentary product sample for us to base this review upon.
