Directed by Tarsem Singh
(PG)
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This disappointing reinterpretation of “Snow White” seems to exist only because its creators wanted to see Julia Roberts as the Evil Queen, said Mick LaSalle in the San Francisco Chronicle. Roberts proves to be just what they probably hoped for—“arch and more funny than scary.” But “there’s not really anything going on here” when she’s not on screen. Not that Roberts bothered to create “an actual character,” said Christopher Kelly in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Her lazy performance suits a movie whose best feature might be its visual design. It’s briefly compelling to watch the queen and her attendants traipsing about in ornate dresses and colored wigs against “self-consciously spare” backdrops, but “a little of this decorousness goes a long way.” Still, it’s a pity that the characters “had to open their mouths,” said Moira Macdonald in The Seattle Times. As Snow White and her prince, Lily Collins and Armie Hammer “exude a sweet blankness,” and no other part of Mirror Mirror takes flight. “It’s sporadically funny, but not funny enough; mildly romantic, but not romantic enough.”
