It only took one glance at the “Mirror Mirror” movie poster to understand the film was a comedy. It was bright, colorful and humorous. However, the entire movie was done in a dark motif that confused its audience and left most humorous gags lacking any type of chuckling response from the audience. Even the normally hilarious Nathan Lane brought few smiles.
In his attempt to make a “Princess Bride” version of Snow White, director Tarsem Singh managed to kill the comedy and scare the kids. Numerous children left the movie, although some came back for a time, but left again once the film became a bit more intense. It made me wonder why a studio would present the work of an intense drama director as a children’s comedy.
This depiction of Snow White was told from the evil queen’s viewpoint, until just before the end when it shifts to Snow White. This vantage point gave a clear understanding as to why the director chose to make the entire film dark. This unique combination might have worked with dark humor, but the comedy was filled with trite comments, childlike slapstick and grade school humor.
The anti-magic and anti-tax messages aimed at kids were a bit unique and out of place. While I could understand wanting to help children embrace a conservative perspective in life, the story’s sound advice was well over the heads of the kids in the audience – Well, at least for those who weren’t cowering in fear of the dark forest.
This film is definitely not suitable for small children, even though the dark forest only drummed up a PG rating. Nor is it suitable for adults, as most in the audience missed a great deal of humor due to the confusing juxtaposition of silly comedy played within a dark motif. My recommendation is to wait for this one on video so you can say you watched another Julia Roberts film.
CJ's Corner 