'Mirror Mirror' not the fairest of them all

Hollywood has gone nutty for fairy tales lately. NBC airs the creepy “Grim” and ABC airs the dual reality fairy tale “Once Upon a Time.”

Jan Thijs. © 2012 Relativity Media.

Armie Hammer and Lily Collins star in Relativity Media's "Mirror Mirror."

Jan Thijs. © 2012 Relativity Media.

Collins stars in Relativity Media's "Mirror Mirror."

Jan Thijs. © 2012 Relativity Media.

Julia Roberts and Nathan Lane star in Relativity Media's "Mirror Mirror."

Jan Thijs. © 2012 Relativity Media.

Left to right, Mark Povinelli, Martin Klebba, Jordan Prentice, Danny Woodburn, Ronald Lee Clark, Joey Gnoffo and Sebastian Saraceno star in Relativity Media's "Mirror Mirror."

Jan Thijs. © 2012 Relativity Media.

White's castle is re-imagined in Tarsem Singh's signature, jaw-dropping visual style in Relativity Media's "Mirror Mirror."

Jan Thijs. © 2012 Relativity Media.

Armie Hammer and Lily Collins star in Relativity Media's "Mirror Mirror."

Jan Thijs. © 2012 Relativity Media.

Armie Hammer stars in Relativity Media's "Mirror Mirror."

“Snow White and the Huntsmen” and “Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters” are two fairy tale films slated to hit theaters in the next two years along with the highly anticipated “Jack the Giant Killer” coming in June.

The first of the live action fairy tale films to make it to the big screen is “Mirror Mirror” starring Julia Roberts (“Larry Crowne”).

The opening sequence is beautifully animated and lulls the viewer into a storybook mindset. While this sequence is serious and artistic, the film takes a silly turn when the sequence is over.

It’s the typical story of Snow White with a lot of added twists, a monster and a fight to take back a kingdom.

The costuming is beautiful, but very Elizabethan. Roberts’ evil queen’s costume and style resembled Queen Elizabeth I.

Other performances by Lily Collins (“Abduction” and daughter of rocker Phil Collins), Nathan Lane (“The Producers”) and Sean Bean (“Lord of the Rings”) were adequate but not outstanding. The same was true of Armie Hammer (“J. Edgar”) who soon will be seen opposite Johnny Depp in “The Lone Ranger.”

The problem with making an adventure comedy out of a fairy tale is that the story tends to become goofy and falls flat. Disney’s recent animated princess tale “Tangled” successfully blended the two and “The Princess Bride” is the standard by which all others are measured.

“Mirror Mirror” just turns goofy.

The altered story line meant to surprise audiences is no surprise at all.

There’s also a very strange Bollywood-esque musical number at the end of the film. It features Collins singing surrounded by people standing around and a few dancing.

The film mostly is family friendly, other than a few advances the evil queen makes toward the prince.

But overall, it fell flat. This one could be a fun surprise as a rental or something to catch on television but probably not a must-see in theaters.

Honestly, I’m not sure “Snow White and the Huntsmen” will fare much better with Kristen Stewart as Snow White. But who knows, maybe she’s improved some of her acting abilities since “Twilight.” It’s doubtful, but maybe.

In the end, “Mirror Mirror” is not the fairest of them all. 

Becca Owsley can be reached at (270) 505-1741. For movie reviews visit her reporter page on Facebook at www.facebook.com/pages/Becca-Owsley/96924584861.

Video