| Mirror Mirror | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Tarsem Singh |
| Screenplay by |
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| Story by | Melisa Wallack |
| Based on | "Snow White" bythe Brothers Grimm |
| Produced by |
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| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Brendan Galvin |
| Edited by |
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| Music by | Alan Menken |
Production companies |
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| Distributed by | Relativity Media |
Release date |
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Running time | 106 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $85–100 million[1][2] |
| Box office | $183 million[1] |
Mirror Mirror is a 2012 Americanfantasy comedy film based on the fairy tale "Snow White", collected by theBrothers Grimm, directed byTarsem Singh, produced byRyan Kavanaugh, Bernie Goldmann,Brett Ratner andKevin Misher, written by Marc Klein andJason Keller with music byAlan Menken, and starringJulia Roberts,Lily Collins,Armie Hammer,Nathan Lane,Mare Winningham,Michael Lerner, andSean Bean.[3] The film follows a beautifulprincess named Snow White, who uses the help of a band ofseven dwarfs as well as aprince, to reclaim her throne from her wickedstepmotherQueen Clementianna.
It was released theatrically byRelativity Media on March 30, 2012.
The film received anAcademy Award nomination forBest Costume Design and earned $183 million on an $85–100 million budget but received generally mixed reviews from critics.[1]Mirror Mirror was released onDVD andBlu-ray by20th Century Fox Home Entertainment on June 26, 2012.[4]
In narration, the very beautiful but wickedenchantress, theEvil Queen, insists that this is her story: she had married thewidower king, who one day left to fight a great evil that had invaded the land, but never returned. The Queenrules in his absence, while confining her young stepdaughter, PrincessSnow White, to thepalace.
Ten years later, Snow White is now a young woman who desires to explore the kingdom and decides to sneak out. Walking through theforest, she meets the visiting Prince Alcott of Valencia and hisvalet, Runbock, who has been robbed by a band ofdwarfs; she and Alcott are instantly smitten with each other. Snow White arrives in the town and finds the people aredestitute due to the Queen's heavytaxation.
Meanwhile, the Queen is introduced to Alcott and is also smitten. She decides to marry him for his wealth to solve the kingdom's financial troubles and throws aball to woo him. Unbeknownst to her, Snow White secretly attends, planning to ask Alcott to help her regain her throne and restore the kingdom. The Queen spots them dancing and orders her manservant, Brighton, to take Snow White into the forest and feed her to a monster known as "the Beast".
Showing deep care and concern for Snow White, Brighton spares her and requests that she run away from the Beast, before the latter collapses at the dwarfs' hideout. The dwarfs take her in and introduce themselves as Will Grimm, Butcher, Wolf, Napoleon, Half Pint, Grub, and Chuck. When Brighton collects more taxes levied by the Queen to pay for her expensive parties, the dwarfs rob him. Snow White takes the money and returns it to the townspeople, crediting the dwarfs, whom the people hail as heroes.
The Queen informs Alcott that Snow White is dead. When he hears that thebandits have robbed Brighton, he goes after them. In the forest, he discovers that Snow White is in league with the dwarfs, who have trained her incombat. Both believing each other to be in the wrong, Snow White and Alcottduel. He returns, defeated, and informs the Queen that Snow White was the dwarfs' leader and is alive.
The Queen enters herMirror House to consult her reflection, the Mirror Queen. She has her temporarily turn Brighton into acockroach as punishment for his betrayal and deception and requests alove potion to make Alcott fall in love with her, the same one she once used on Snow White's father. It turns out to be a "puppy love" potion, however, and Alcott becomes devoted to her like a puppy. Because of this, he agrees to marry her. Using dark magic, the Mirror Queen attacks Snow White and the dwarfs with two giantmarionettes, but she defeats them by cutting their strings.
On the day of her wedding, the Queen arrives to find that Snow White and the dwarfs have raided the party andabducted Alcott. For her inability to handle bandits and for lying about Snow White's death, thearistocrats demand for her to be deposed. Back in the hideout, Snow White breaks the spell on Alcott withtrue love's kiss.
Snow White encounters the Queen, who sends the Beast after her. It manages to catch her, but hesitates in killing her. Snow White sees the Beast wearing anecklace with amoon charm on it similar to the Queen's, and cuts it off, breaking thecurse and restoring the Beast to its true form: her father. The Queen then ages rapidly, and the Mirror Queen asks if she's ready to know the price for usingdark magic.
Grateful to Alcott for his assistance, the King agrees to let him marry his daughter and never sees his ex-wife, the evil queen, again. At their wedding, an oldhag in a hooded robe appears and offers Snow White anapple as a wedding gift. Snow White accepts it and is about to bite it before realizing that the hag is the Queen. She cuts a piece from the apple with her father's dagger and hands it to her. The Queen accepts defeat and takes the apple as The Mirror Queen affirms it was Snow White's story after all before the Mirror House shatters. Snow White, Prince Alcott, the King, and the dwarfs live happily ever after.
Other cast members include:
Roberts was the first to be cast, because very early on Tarsem Singh wanted anEvil Queen with whom audiences could relate. He stated that in the film, the queen is not evil, but rather insecure. He also suggested that the Queen's true ugliness may be revealed at the very end of the film.[5] OriginallySaoirse Ronan was considered for the role of Snow White but the age difference between her and Armie Hammer was too large (he was 25 and she was 17).Felicity Jones was offered the part but turned it down.[6] Collins was eventually cast in the role.[7] Collins said in an interview that her casting happened in 24 hours after she met Tarsem Singh and read for him.[8]Hammer was cast as the prince who is at first drawn towards the Queen and then towards Snow White. He beat outJames McAvoy andAlex Pettyfer for the role.
Filming forMirror Mirror began on June 20, 2011, inMontreal,Quebec, under the working titleUntitled Snow White Project.[9] Production on the film wrapped in mid-September.[10] The film was officially titledMirror Mirror on November 4, 2011. The first trailer was released on November 30, 2011, in partnership with Relativity Media and Trailer Park.[11] The teaser poster was released the same day.Mirror Mirror was the last film which Tarsem's regular costume designer,Eiko Ishioka, worked on before her death. The visual effects were designed by Tom Wood and executed by Wayne Brinton, Tim Carras, Sébastien Moreau and Amanda Dyar.Relativity Media announced the movie's final cost as being $85 million, though an article in theLos Angeles Times said the true budget was closer to $100 million.[12]
The song "I Believe in Love" was originally written in 1970 by Nina Hart, a singer-song writer and stage and TV actress (then working at New York City music-publishing company, Golden Bough Productions.) The song was one of several written by Hart for directorMiloš Forman to consider for his filmTaking Off. She performed the song in Forman's film, playing a character at an audition; Hart's recording was a hit in Italy and was later covered by Iranian singerGoogoosh. Tarsem Singh—who was unaware that it had previously been used in a film—chose the song for theBollywood-style musical finale ofMirror Mirror because his daughter had enjoyed the song when he had played it for her the previous year.[13]
The film was released in theaters on March 30, 2012. Home media distribution was handled by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, now a subsidiary ofThe Walt Disney Company.[14]
The film received generally mixed reviews.Review aggregatorRotten Tomatoes gives the film a rating of 50% with an average score of 5.60/10 based on reviews from 195 critics. The site's general consensus is that "Like most of Tarsem Singh's films,Mirror Mirror is undeniably beautiful – but its treatment of the age-old Snow White fable lacks enough depth or originality to set it apart from the countless other adaptations of the tale."[15] OnMetacritic, which assigns aweighted mean rating out of 100 reviews from film critics, it has an average score of 46 from the 34 reviews, which indicates "Mixed or average reviews".[16]
Roger Ebert gave it 2.5 out of 4 stars and said: "It is a sumptuous fantasy for the eyes and a pinball game for the mind, as story elements collide and roll around bumping into each other. This is not a faithful retelling of the versions by the Brothers Grimm or Walt Disney, but neither is it a satire, nor much of a story in its own right. But it's great to look at. If there's a major difference from the earlier versions, it's how this one has beefed-up roles for the seven dwarves, who here seem to be a merry band in search of Robin Hood. Nor do I recall earlier battles with a giant winged griffin." Ebert concluded his review by saying: "All of this is in place and looks great, but the dialogue is rather flat, the movie sort of boring, and there's not much energy in the two places it should really be felt: Between the Queen and Snow White, and between Snow and the Prince. The story is a listless tale that moves at a stately pace through settings that could have supported fireworks. Indeed, the characters who seem to care the most about each other are the dwarfs".[17]
Robbie Collin from British newspaperThe Telegraph gave the film four stars describing it as "an exuberantly charming fairy story that owes as much to the gnarled folk tale illustrations ofArthur Rackham as the stagey, saturated lunacy of that half-loved, half-feared East German fantasyThe Singing Ringing Tree. It's a Grimm piece of work, but far from a grim one: without rehashing the seminal Disney animated version, it radiates gorgeousness and good humour with a near-nuclear intensity." Collin praised costume designerEiko Ishioka's work, saying "every outfit inMirror Mirror is a masterpiece". He concluded the film is "the opposite ofTim Burton's brash, chaotic, dispiritingly popularAlice in Wonderland: here, the artistry of the cast and crew leaps off the screen, not 3D computer graphics."[18]
On its opening day,Mirror Mirror made $5.8 million, coming in at the No. 3 spot behindThe Hunger Games andWrath of the Titans.[19] For its opening weekend, the film earned $18.1 million while holding onto the No. 3 spot at the box office.[20] During its theatrical run,Mirror Mirror grossed $64.9 million in North America and $118.1 million internationally, bringing its worldwide total to $183 million.[1]
Mirror Mirror was released onDVD andBlu-ray by20th Century Fox Home Entertainment on June 26, 2012.[4]
| Award | Category | Recipients | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Academy Awards | Best Costume Design | Eiko Ishioka | Nominated | [21] |
| BMI Film & TV Awards | Film Music | Alan Menken | Won | [22] |
| Costume Designers Guild Awards | Excellence in Fantasy Film | Eiko Ishioka | Won | [23] |
| Kids' Choice Awards | Favorite Villain | Julia Roberts | Nominated | [24] |
| Teen Choice Awards | Choice Movie: Sci-Fi/Fantasy | Mirror Mirror | Nominated | [25] |
| Choice Movie Actress: Sci-Fi/Fantasy | Lily Collins | Nominated |
