Yes, No, Maybe So: "Mirror Mirror"
Wednesday, November 16, 2011 at 8:14PM 
We've never really imagined visually acclaimed director Tarsem Singh as the Evil Queen type but the release of the trailer to his next flick Mirror Mirror (included at the bottom of this post) so quickly on the heels of Rupert Sanders Snow White and the Huntsmen trailer (previously discussed) changes that immediately. Suddenly it's remarkably easy -- nay required! -- to imagine Tarsem all fussy, bejewelled and panicky with sweat in front of his own magic mirror when it declares Snow White and the Hunstman the fairest of all new Snow White projects. That's admittedly a small 50/50 type achievement, but still...
Breathe deeply and put The Fall on loop in your home theater, Tarsem! Movie magic is temperamental even for the most skilled visual magicians.
But it's time for our Yes, No, Maybe So breakdown. As we do in this series, let's start positive...
YES...
- As in The Social Network, Armie Hammer seems more than perfectly cast as upper crust... in this case upper upper crust as in the royal family, as in Prince Charming.
- Birch trees are pretty and there seem to be a lot of them in this movie.
- Lily C... Ju... the se... the cos...vi... oh fuck it, let's move on.
NO...
"Snap!" to quote Thor on Nurse Jacket. 'We don't say that anymore."
- Julia Roberts used to be so great at comedy. But it might just be true that if you rest, you rust.
- That "I believe I believe I believe in love" musical number is strangely off putting. Was it the smug way Snow White already thinks she's the fairest of them all with her dance move? Was it the Bollywood influence without really committing to Bollywood?
- Why does the whole thing look lower budget than even the cheeztacular Once Upon a Time on television?
- Why does the sound drop out for each Julia Roberts moment like an awkward silent laugh track?
- Being banished to the woods isn't very scary when the woods look like the soundstage adjacent to the soundstage you were just banished from.
- Why is Nathan Lane in this?
- Why did they release a trailer when the images aren't color corrected and they didn't even fix the green screen backdrop in the "you're not as pathetic as I thought" scene?
- Why is the dialogue so anachronistically modern?
- Why is Julia shouting all of her lines. Wouldn't the highlighting and underlining of 50% of each sentence be enough for a line delivery?
- "Snow White? Snow Who? Snow Way"
- I think instead of Seven Dwarves they've given us Seven Jar Jar Binkses. *shudder*
- No, Julia... I don't think there's a happy ending coming your way here.
- "Say Hello to My Little Friend" ... seriously? SERIOUSLY?!? What is this Shrek only without animation and with hoarier lame pop culture jokes?
MAYBE SO...
- If you're going to risk being laughed at, by all means wear swan dresses! Really go for it. Should your swan be pooping out your leading lady instead of casually draped around her a la Björk? WHY NOT!? Go for it Eiko Ishioka! Your cuckoo bravery is inspiring. We love you.
- The Fall is awesome and maybe it looked like shit at some point during production?
The atrocity in full is embedded below... Are you a No, No or Maybe No? Sound off in the comments.
Reader Comments (50)
Oh ... I don't think it looks THAT bad, but it definitely gives off the impression that they panicked and had to throw together a trailer. The dwarf lines are baaaaaad.
Hmmm...I think this trailer works as another advertisement for Snow White and the Huntsman. I'd rather see that movie twice before I'd pay to see Julia Roberts attempt a line reading that wouldn't make me break out in hives.
What is this Shrek only without animation and with hoarier lame pop culture jokes?
The first thing I thought while watching this was "live-action Dreamworks." Great minds and all that.
This also seems alarmingly similar in tone and style to "Alice in Wonderland."
A month ago, I would have never guessed that the Tarsem movie would be by far my least-anticipated of the Snow White titles. Even the visuals in the other trailer were more striking. I'm hoping for a particularly misleading trailer in this case.
I'm a MAYBE NO but only because of residual goodwill from THE FALL.
This reminds me so much of Ella Enchanted...and not in a good way
What's your opinion on Tarsem's The Cell?
I happen to think its one of the most critically underrated films of recent times and am glad it has gained somewhat of a cult following. Those visuals beat The Fall's any day for me.
Julia Roberts is speaking in like three different accents...
All I could think was "Shrek: Live Action"!!
Looks it could be a "so so so bad that's actually good" scenario.
It's funny that this reminds everyone so much of Alice in Wonderland (shudder) when Snow White and the Huntsman is the one that shares producers with that film. I honestly forgot that Tarsem was the director behind Mirror Mirror, the other film looks much more like something he would dream up. It's a very disappointing trailer but my hopes weren't high anyway, the minute I heard they were making it a "comedy" I anticipated the Shrekification of it all (I hate Shrek). My biggest gripe is something you highlighted in your post Nathaniel: the dialogue. I hate it when everything sounds modern in fairy tales. Our heroine can be spunky and funny without sounding like a brat/valley girl. As for Ms. Roberts...yeah she definitely seems more than a little stiff/self-conscious, which really worries me because she was practically the only reason I still wanted to see the movie.
I guess I'm a maybe, as in "maybe I'll watch it one day when it's on cable and there's absolutely nothing else to watch on tv".
You know, it looks fun-silly-pretty-dumb-camp. Which is not a combo I will ever pay to see, but it's not an inherently bad combo.
Julia Roberts is beautiful and I've always liked her, but she's never been that kind of beauty, the drop-dead, I can't breath, fairest-in-the-land kind. She was cast in that role in Ocean's 11, and again here. The whole idea of the Wicked Queen, whether comedic or serious, is that she really is that beautiful, really the most beautiful woman in the whole country until Snow White comes along. Otherwise there's no point. And Julia is not that person, she's just not. She's beautiful because she's warm and girl-next-door and kind of winking at her unique and odd sort of beauty. She's not Pfeiffer or Zeta-Jones or Vanessa Williams.
Julia Roberts accent seems to fluctuate between British and American? If the trailers are bad then I think it makes the film look bad months before they pop out of the gate. This maybe appeals to the masses who need a children's film to go to on the first weekend? Julia Roberts seems really out of date as a modern movie star, like Tom Cruise.
GOD NO. The film looks dreadfully immature, the two Tarsem films I've seen weren't good, I'm not a fan of Julia Roberts at all and it reminds me of Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland. No thank you.
This looks pretty awful. It's a shame, because I'm very much a Tarsem fanboy (so I'm sure I'll end up seeing this anyway), and I was hoping that Armie Hammer would capitalize on the 'next big thing' vibe he's been generating. Not sure that this movie is the way to do that.
As an aside, I'm really, really sick of movies assuming that showing little people is comedy in and of itself. This particular bit of side-show gawking is ridiculous and needs to become extinct, but it just keeps trotting out (see Sherlock Holmes' "ginger midget" scenes, Jackass, etc., etc.).
The inconsistency of Julia's dialect makes me cringe a bit...ok a lot...
I'm a yes. As in, yes I'll take my niece & her friend to see this. It looks fun & corny & stupid, things kids usually enjoy...I most likely won't though.
Looks bad, but I'll make a prediction which I'll be proud of if I'm correct and happy for if I'm wrong: Mirror Mirror will have a higher box office tally than Snow White and the Huntsman. Julia Roberts, you know...
Evan, not saying that you're definitely going to be wrong, but Julia Roberts didn't exactly boost the totals of "Eat, Pray, Love" and "Larry Crowne." I actually do like her, but her days as a box-office draw could very well be over.
I'm a 'No.' This trailer is cheese! And though I like real cheese, I'm not fond of it in my films.
Seriously, if the trailer is a true indicater of what the movie will be like...then the producers of 'Mirror, Mirror' should cede victory over to 'Snow White and the Huntsman' now. The film does seem like a bad live action of Shrek. And like several have already mentioned, Julia's accent is all over the map.
More importantly, Julia just isn't beautiful enough to be the fairest in the land. Deborah articulated it so well upthread, Julia is good looking, a "Pretty Woman" really, but she ain't beautiful in the drop dead gorgeous way that the 'fairest in all the land' has to be. Now Charlize Theron in 'Snow White and the Huntsman' I can easily accept as the beautiful wicked Queen whose beauty was unrivalled until Snow White (still not buying Kstew as that though). Julia, not so much.
This movie seems to be aimed at the kiddies, with it's lighter and more comedic re-telling. Nothing wrong with that, kids should have films just for them too. I predict that this will do relatively well financially, with parents opting to choose this for the younguns over the other version. However, 'Snow White and the Huntsman' will likely score higher with the teenagers and adults, with it's darker tone and action/adventure vibe.
snow.
@RIzz You are completely right! This absolutely reminded me of the monstrosity that was "Ella Enchanted" (a book I adored when I was younger). I don't care how many "Rachel Getting Married" type films Anne Hathaway makes, I will never forgive her for that.
I just... I can't. This trailer.
And just like that, Immortals</I> doesn't seem quite so bad.
I'm a maybe so. I'm curious but the one with Charlize Theron looks much better. I don't like how silly this looks, and I don't like the trite 'girl power' moment where Snow White says 'I've seen princes save princesses so many times, blah, blah, blah' or whatever she says. But I'm still curious.
What were they thinking?
It looks absolutely ridiculous. I want to see it.
I'm in a clear minority, but Roberts made me laugh a couple of times in the trailer. Yeah, the movie looks really silly ( I missed Brendan Fraser). I supppose it's the last attempt to treat all adults just like taller kids. First we were convinced animated films are also for adults, and now fairy tales are also for adults. Maybe in the future we'll all suck pacifiers.
Mirror Mirror had everything going for it on paper. God I want an Armie Hammer to call my own. So cute, so perfect.
Julia Roberts, darling...you're better than this! Seriously.
A very weird trailer, yes.
BUT La Julia is not shouting every of her lines. I love her delivery of "Who's fairest of them all" -- it's so bitchy and relaxed and annoyed like "why do I even bother to ask, I know it's me", and thus very funny.
Also, I like that she doesn't go so OBVIOUS for an evil queen. She doesn't show all the evilness and bad-guy thing with a mean, angry, sinister face and voice. She seems charming, shows her famous smile and then transforms it in something eerie. I'm not sold, but it could work. (I love her laugh before "I knew I was the same size".)
But it doesn't seem like Armie Hammer is a good comedian. And again, yes, the rest of the trailer is very strange, especially the awful song at the beginning. But it's obviously aimed at a children audience.
I waited so long for Tarsem to follow up "The Cell" and Australia will be getting three of his movies in six months! "The Fall" only just came out here on DVD after only ever playing in cinemas for a week years ago, we get "Immortals" very soon and now this next year. He'll always be a yes for me as long as he keeps working with Eiko Ishioka.
"the smug way Snow White already thinks she's the fairest of them all with her dance move"
thank you so much for this line! I wondered if I was the only one getting that impression.
//"Maybe in the future we'll all suck pacifiers."//
iggy - OUCH. But true. (I read in a magazine essay recently that someone is marketing "Breast milk ice cream" so there you go.) I kept wondering, what age group is this for? Five year olds? But there's too much sexual innuendo, so - 13 year olds? I can't keep up with where kids are today, what with porn so readily available on the internet and cable. (So maybe this is for 5 year old girls.)
That said - Julia did make me chuckle a couple of times here, which is more than I can say for many other "comedy" trailers I can think of. I agree with cinephile with the delivery of her lines (she's certainly not shouting everything); I also loved her delivery of "Who's the fairest of them all?" and also the "puppy" bit. It strikes me that in the movie it will be a possible joke against older women/younger men, but in the trailer it's Julia who gets the laugh IMO.
I was terribly distracted by her nose though - as bad or worse than the schnozz they put on Nicole in the Hours. Or am I imaging it? Is that part of the joke if this is a comedy, that the Wicked Queen really isn't as beautiful as she thinks herself to be? The younger actress here certainly looks more like I would imagine "Snow White" to be - hurray for thick eyebrows and the swan dress. The girl-power anachronisms look stupid - as I said with the Huntsman trailer I appreciate when it's done right but this look to be in service of simply getting her into the arms of her man. (And as far as I can see there is zero chemistry - in fact, isn't that girl a bit young for Hammer?)
If someone paid for me to see this? Sure I'd go, otherwise I'll wait it out Netflix.
Deborah hit it on the head-Julia Roberts is obviously a beautiful, iconic movie star, but she is not a Charlize or Hedy Lamarr or Gene Tierney-she is not a stop you in the streets, beauty goddess that makes you sort of wonder if you're the same species.
Anybody else confused by the fact that Huntsman looks more like a Tarsem movie than the actual Tarsem movie? The visuals in Mirror, Mirror are atrocious.
Never. Never ever ever. No.
I'm sorry, but Julia is so fucking great in this trailer. She seems to be having a lot of fun, playing her supposed beauty deliciously ironically. I'm loving the fact that we're seeing her at least once a year, when she is always better than her movies. She delivered a beautiful star turn in Eat Pray Love (yes, yeas, yeas, that's the stuff movie stars are made of, being able to carry such a picture, playing comedy, drama and looking absolutely great on screen), and had her share of fun in Larry Crowne.
Julia Roberts is joy. Julia is magic. I'm gonna see every movie she makes. Definitely YES.
Also getting Alice in Wonderland vibes from this.
Maybe that's what they had in mind? After all, Alice in Wonderland made 300 mill at the box office and Tarsem's made it clear they're aiming this at the same families who likely showed up in droves for that one.
Well, the costumes are awesome and Armie Hammer sure is pretty, but that's pretty much it. I always questioned the casting of Julia Roberts as the Evil Queen, and this did nothing to stay my fears. She can play a great bitch (My Best Friend's Wedding, anyone?), but has she ever been good playing either high class or period, both of which are required for this? NO. She's too modern of a screen presence, and as has been pointed out, she's not the glamazon either, especially when compared to Charlize Theron. Even if they're going towards making this a light romantic comedy, she still doesn't fit. I would have died to see Annette Bening in this role. Or Michelle Pfeiffer. But not Julia, as much as I love her. Disappointing on just about all fronts, I'd say.
iggy: Wow. No medium is "just" for anyone. Comic books whole heartedly for adults: Blankets, Maus, American Splendor, V for Vendetta, A History of Violence. Animation whole heartedly for adults: Persepolis, Paprika, Fritz the Cat. One Video Game Unconfusedly for Adults: The reported utter mindbleep that is Killer 7. There's always something for the discerning adult viewer or player if you're actually willing to look. And as for fairy tales: The original stories are REALLY DARK AND BRUTAL. The darkest version of Red Riding Hood, for example, would not be told by modern parents to their kids because, yes, it does include cannibalism.
Julia looks like she's having a lot of fun...I'm with the other commenters...I don't here the shouting...Nathaniel, you got your hearing aid turned way too high?
Some performances just don't look good all cut up in a trailer...I thought Julia's Eat Pray Love performance looked weak in its trailer...turned out, it was some of the best work of her career...Oscar nomination worthy work.
Glad to see Julia tackling a comedic character role (and she looks like she has good chemistry with Nathan Lane). Regardless, It'll have to get some pretty incredible reviews for me to go see this...it's a maybe.
So far... NOOOOOOOO
Yeah, Julia should have been nominated for Eat Pray Love. That's it, I said.
If you close your eyes Armie Hammer sounds just like Jon Hamm.
This is a hot mess. The sets look cheap, the costumes look overdone and unnecessary, Armie Hammer looks like he's embarrassed to be in the movie (or at least I am for him) and the narrator sounds like he's from a Disney preview from the 90s (intentional)?
Also, who is this movie for? Clearly not for kids, because they would've like to have seen more of Snow White.Could it be for the gays due to the gaudy costumes , shirtless pretty Armie, and Nathan Lane? Or could it be for tasteless middle-aged white women, hence the emphasis on Julia Roberts?
@ Volvagia. Well, that's true, but as far as fairy tales are concerned, even though I've always heard about those darker versions (I love to see that Red Riding Hood by Del Toro, for instance) I've never seen one becoming a movie. The versions that are made movies (and so become popular) are their Disneyzation version of them, counting probably on our (adults) nostalgia of the (soft) fairy tales we knew as kids. When we're lucky the dark side, the sinister, is only a stylistic choice (The Huntsman) as opposed to the sweet happily ever after, but nothing else. And this trailer is a clear example.
I've tried to check the reactions to this kind of material in people never exposed to Disney (I know, there are some as incredible as it may seem) and if you talk to them about animation features or tales for adults they just keep staring at you as if your brain was seriously damaged.
Glad to see Julia Roberts doing comedy again. I'm giving her the benefit of the doubt and will definitely be seeing this in theaters in March!!
It's not that bad a trailer. I did get a garish "Alice in Wonderland" vibe from it. My crush on Armie Hammer continues. Yum!! Don't know who that Snow White is, but she's already more expressive than Kristen Stewart will ever hope to be. And my Julia. Well, I'll watch her in just about anything no matter what (but not "Larry Crowne"! I have my limits, and I gladly sat through "Eat Pray Love" for her). The costumes are gorgeous. I wouldn't rush to see this opening night, but I'd eventually see it on DVD or cable. This fairy tale kick that everyone's on right now is kinda weird. That awful Red Riding Hood film from last year, "Grimm" and "Once Upon a Time" on TV, these dueling Snow White films, and the upcoming Sleeping Beauty film. Eh. Just another way to capitalize on nostalgia and remakes with a "twist." I'll pass on most of these.
I love Julia Roberts in this role! She's an amazing actress and looks so good as the Evil Queen!
I loveeee Armie Hammer! So good in Social Network and now he's going to be so good in this.
Tareem Singh makes awesome movies. Immortals was amazing and this will be too.
Definitely going to watch this with my boyfriend when it comes out! Can't wait to see Lily Collins in action!
Oh Nathaniel, how I love your website so much n its dedication to actresses. I just hate how you are so anti Julia Roberts. Probably the website that underscores her "one of the greatest movie star icons" ( and arguably the greatest female movie star of the last 50 years) of all time status. I know there are more talented actresses, but she's a bonafide movie star, not so much anymore- like Hanks and Cruise- but those 3 will surely go down in film history.