Mirror Mirror

So, I have been hearing so much about this movie lately, and of course it's competitor, Snow White and the Huntsman. At first I couldn't believe these two movies were going to battle each other, then it became clear that this is the family-friendly version while the other is much darker. After seeing the trailers, this one looked like it would be fun, hopefully, and therefore I decided to take the girls for their first Drafthouse experience. The movie ended up coming in the #3 spot this weekend coming behind The Hunger Games, of course, and Wrath of the Titans, and ended up earning about $30 million worldwide.

The movie is about the classic story of Snow White, with Julia Roberts playing the evil Queen; Armie Hammer the Prince; Lily Collins as Snow White; and Nathan Lane as the Queen's right-hand-man slash The Huntsman. Snow White is cast out into the forest and meets up with the dwarves who teach her how to fight. She teams up with the prince and decides to take on the Queen to reclaim the kingdom.

Wait, that sounds exactly like Snow White and the Huntsman? Yup, it sure does. Although this plot revolves around the comedy of the situations and brings in some self-depreciating humor as well. A lot of the physical comedy fell short, but the one-liners were rather humorous. The plot started off rather strong with a great story arch and character development. The ending, however, felt like it was just trying to wrap up the loose ends as quickly as possible - and sometimes didn't make much sense.

There are varying reports of the budget being $85 million versus $100 million. I'd lean towards the latter as the set design, wardrobes, and special effects were very extravagant. The costumes were incredibly beautiful, and especially at the animal masquerade ball. The set design was equally as beautiful and extravagant. There was a ton of CGI in the movie and most of it was done very well. There was a backstory flashback that had the same feeling of the Deathly Hallows animation story, and it was great. My favorite part of the movie was when the Queen walked through the mirror and came out doing an anti-gravity walk onto a dock in the middle of a lake. As a result of the lavish costumes and set design, the colorization was very beautiful in the movie. It was a very vibrant movie.

Julia Roberts was the tent pole in the movie. She was superb. She was funny in her scenes and outshone everyone else. Nathan Lane unfortunately didn't need to be in the movie. His parts weren't funny and his role really didn't add anything more than a couple of plot devices. Armie Hammer was too cute not to like, especially when he was imitating a puppy. Oh and his shirtless scenes. Lily Collins was almost too overdramatic but still did a good job. I thought the age difference between her and Hammer was a little weird, in my opinion. Oh, nevermind it's only three years. Three years?! He looks much older or she looks much younger.

In the end, it was a fun family movie. The girls enjoyed it. It really seemed to start out strong but come to a weak finish. Julia Roberts was fantastic and the movie itself was very colorful, vibrant, and beautiful. "I'm on my way to get rich, oops, I mean hitched".