Ever since Disney started bringing Snow White to life in his first animated feature back in 1934, the film industry has been tinkering with – and in Disney's case, sanitising – the classic European fairy tales. In recent years we've seen fairy tales take divergent paths, with filmmakers either exploring the stories' darker, gothic roots or following the Shrek effect of making fun of the legacy, and this year, Snow White seems to straddling both those cinematic paths.
In that time-honoured tradition of London buses, Snow White also turns up in the TV series Once Upon a Time, a modern take on all our favourite childhood characters cursed to live in modern Massachusetts, a not dissimilar idea to Grimm, a slightly darker show where the characters are living in Oregon and causing mayhem for the locals.
Of the cinema releases, the first of the Snow White tales to hit the screens is Mirror, Mirror (in glorious 2D) from Tarsem, and this is very much the family friendly version of the story, although far removed from Disney's classic, and the original story. There is still a wicked queen, played by a deliciously sardonic Julia Roberts; a handsome prince (Armie Hammer – who seems to have studied at the Brendan Fraser school of acting); seven dwarves, who bear a much closer resemblance to the Time Bandits than Uncle Walt's septet, and of course the incomparably beautiful Snow White (Lily Collins – daughter of Phil), whose eyebrows must join the hall of fame with Frida Kahlo, Martin Scorsese and Brooke Shields.
As with most contemporary family films, such as those from Pixar and the aforementioned Shrek, Mirror, Mirror is filled with adult-friendly gags along with the child-pleasing spectacle. This film actually plays out like a live action animation, and while it does have its share of CGI effects its real strength comes from the fabulous costumes, designed by Eiko Ishioka, that have been the trademark of all Tarsem's films to date. Apart from the standout visual style, all of Tarsem's films have been very different in terms of story and content and I do wonder what his next project will be and look like following the death of Ishioka earlier this year.
While this film is still not a match for his capolavoro The Fall, Tarsem has made a thoroughly entertaining film that will be more popular with audiences than with critics. It's certainly a lot more lighthearted than Snow White and the Huntsman looks, and Lily Collins is definitely the fairest in the land compared with the perpetually dour face of Kristen Stewart.
