Movie reviews

It’s the Snow White story, of course, but through a glass darkly.

Mirror Mirror (PG) is the latest offbeat, knowing take on a classic fairytale, in which the Queen (Julia Roberts) informs us, by way of voiceover narration, that this represents her version of events.

Were that gambit true it might have made Mirror Mirror a far more intriguing prospect, but really, it’s only in there to account for the director, Tarsem Singh, making more use of the wicked queen role than the Snow White tale generally allows for. Well, if you’ve managed to snare Julia Roberts, it’s a good idea to milk her for everything she’s got. For the most part the story runs along conventional lines: neglected princess Snow White (Lily Collins) threatens to steal the handsome Prince Alcott (Armie Hammer) out from under the cash-strapped, emotionally needy queen’s nose, and is sentenced to a grisly death in the forest. When the queen’s faithful retainer Brighton (Nathan Lane) can’t stomach the prospect of murder, he tells Snow White to run — and run she does, right into the arms of a gang of stilt-walking bandits, aka the Seven Dwarves. Can Snow White and her diminutive new friends restore peace and harmony to the kingdom by overthrowing the tyrannical queen? Irreverent in tone, Singh’s movie attempts to cover quite a lot of bases — it’s a cynically humorous gothic fairytale spoof, boasting romance and action in equal measure — and almost inevitably falls short. That said, the set-piece scenes are well executed, the humour is deftly observed, and the excellent cast all enter into the spirit of knowing parody, with Roberts happy to play the wicked queen with a straight face. All told, it’s good old-fashioned happily-ever-after fun.