An evil queen steals control of a kingdom and an exiled princess enlists the help of seven resourceful rebels to win back her birthright.
This is a film in which bee-stung lips are achieved with real bees’ stings and puppy love can make a man behave like an actual puppy. Truly, it’s the stuff of fairy tales.
Younger children might enjoy Mirror Mirror because it’s bright, shiny and pretty. And fashionistas may appreciate the moment where Collins becomes only the second person after Björk to try to wear a swan as a dress. But the rest of us merely wonder how a fairytale can be such a Grimm exercise.
Surprisingly funny and imaginative. Plus Sean Bean pops up...Julia Roberts could have done better with such a fun character.
Lily Collins and Armie Hammer do their best with dull roles, and the film sleepwalks along confidently enough in its numb, semi-unfunny, semi-unserious way. But the tale's passion and subversion have been removed.
To borrow a line Roberts spits at Collins, there’s something about Mirror that’s incredibly irritating. Fingers crossed Huntsman has more edge.
Superlative performances from Roberts and Hammer almost cover the shortcomings. Like most Tarsem films it’s a muddle, but this time not one with enough distracting dazzle.
It’s inconsequential, campy fun but a sharper and funnier script would have made it more memorable and entertaining. The seven dwarfs in particular are short-changed, so to speak, in the script department, lacking much definition or cuteness.
A tiresome re-imagining of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.
If you’re desperate for a Grimm fairy tale fix, you might be better off giving this one a miss and waiting for Snow White and the Huntsman, due out in June.
It's snow good.
A stylised, nice to look at piece with Roberts and The Producers' Nathan Lane on winning form as queen and catty courier, but the sarkiness and sweetness is likely to leave youngsters puzzled.
In the absence of jokes maybe a few songs might have been a good idea: as it is, you may find you leave rather Grumpy.
The dwarfs have been given new names – no sign of Sneezy, Bashful or Happy. Sleepy, however, is alive and well.
It's not that Mirror Mirror is a terrible film. In fact, it's entirely adequate: passably funny, vaguely exciting, reasonably romantic. But I couldn't detect any pressing reason for it to exist.
The sets and special effects are unremarkable, and no honest mirror would tell Julia Roberts that Lily Collins was fairer than her.
General release. Check local listings for show times.