Mirror Mirror Blu-ray & DVD Review

By: Lynn Barker

This take on the Snow White legend is far from a “mirror” image of Kristen Stewart’s dark film. Lily Collins’ Snow comes of age in a very colorful fantasy romance that focuses on the funny.

Story Goes

Having “disposed” of the king and taken over his kingdom, the Evil Queen (Julia Roberts) locks stepdaughter princess Snow White (Lily Collins) in her room and forbids her to leave the castle. On her 18^th birthday, Snow comes out long enough to meet and fall for visiting prince Alcott (Armie Hammer) whom Queenie Bee-otch has already decided to marry since well, he’s cute and she has bankrupted the kingdom and needs some cash.

Snow White (Lily Collins) with Prince Alcott (Armie Hammer)

Snow sneaks into town to see that her people are starving and overtaxed. Once in the forest, Snow is at the mercy of the Queen who has ordered her servant to kill her and bring back her heart as proof. Snow is found by a troupe of friendly if thieving dwarves who semi-adopt her (as Peter Pan and his lost boys took on Wendy).

Mirror Mirror cover art

After realizing she loves Prince Alcott who is under the Queen’s love spell, Snow and the dwarves rescue him, break the spell, return tax money to the townspeople and make sure the Queen’s wedding plans are foiled. After confronting an enchanted beast in the woods, Snow and Alcott can finally live happily ever after.

Special Features – Loads of them.

• “Deleted Scenes” – An alternate opening in which a joyful queen tells the mirror she “won” against Snow, more funny stuff with butler Brighton, queen wonders if Alcott is gay because he doesn’t have a princess. Nothing that fab.
• “Looking Through the Mirror” - is the larger “making of” featurette. Director and stars talk of the set, costumes and the director’s enthusiasm for the film. “Building the Sets” tours the massive sets with comments by designers and actors. Lily Collins’ fave is the dwarves’ house in the woods.

Snow leaves the castle

• “Dressing the Fairy Tale” spends time with the flamboyant costume designer Eiko and stars who talk about the beauty and extravagance of the colorful costumes. “Visualizing the Fairy Tale” features the cinematographer and Special Effects Supervisor on the CGI beast in the woods, the oversized puppets and green screen work – interesting.
• In “I Believe I Can Dance” the film’s cute young choreographer teaches you all the steps the dancers used in Lily’s music video (which runs over the end credits) “I Believe in Love”.  It’s a big scale Bollywood (East Indian) number and you’ll find it a fun challenge to dance yourself. One of the most enjoyable and interactive of all the special features.
• The “Mirror Mirror Storybook” is just that, a storybook with live action sections from the film and text telling the whole story. Very sweet, especially for younger readers. “Prince and Puppies” features Armie Hammer talking about watching real puppies to learn how to play one when he is under the queen’s puppy love spell. Puppies watch his “dog” scenes and critique. Silly but still cute. We are told that all puppies appearing in the piece are adoptable.

Evil Queen (Julia Roberts)

Wrapping Up

This year has seen two movie versions of the classic Snow White fairy tale and this one is the more lighthearted romp. Lily Collins’ makes a lovely Snow White and cute Armie Hammer is a charming prince. I liked Charlize Theron’s evil queen better but Julia Roberts does her humorous take on the character very well.

The extras on this set are fine.. the “learn the dance” feature is especially fun to try but we would have liked more behind the scenes with the stars stuff. Lily was a teen journalist before she was an actress so a personal tour of a typical day for her or the like would have rocked!  None-the-less, Mirror Mirror is a great addition to your video collection.

Mirror Mirror Blu-ray Rating: