Mirror Mirror

Starring: Julia Roberts, Lily Collins, Armie Hammer and Nathan Lane
Rated PG for some action and some slightly grownup humor
Running Time: 106 minutes,

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all? Well, this is definitely the fairest version of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves that I’ve seen.

This is very much not a retelling of the traditional story (as told by Disney not Grimm). We get a queen, Snow White’s banishment and hiding with the Seven Dwarves and a Prince. That’s about it. The story diverges and morphs into a tale of girl power. WOO HOO!

As the mom of a 10 year old girl, I am happy to see such movies being made. Disney princesses are lovely, but fairly useless if you want a strong, real role model for your daughter. This movie not only tweeks the notion of the pretty princess in need of rescue but let’s you know they’re doing it with a tongue-in-cheek comment from the prince who sees Snow as an equal. Not a damsel in distress, but at different times an opponent and partner.

This movie is gorgeous. The settings, the clothes, the people are all gorgeous and it’s got several morals wrapped up into the tale. All are mainly different takes on the one of the oldest tropes: Looks can be deceiving.

We enjoyed it and the other moviegoers seemed to as well. The theater was an interesting mix. There was an older couple with no children to young teen girls with their moms to groups of very young children with several moms. We were only one of two families with both the mom and the dad.

The PG rating might be too low. There are several instances in which the handsome prince is divested of his shirt and some romantic innuendo. The innuendo is played carefully so that children my daughter’s age and younger aren’t aware of it but it was a little squirmy for me with stuff akin to daytime soaps playing sitting in front of eight 5 year olds.

At the very end of the movie is a scene with a forest beast that had been mentioned previously in the movie. It seemed like it should be a scary scene but I heard a lot of giggling so clearly the children were not worried about the fate of the characters.

The shirtless scenes, while I found them unnecessary, are less revealing than what a child will see at the pool or the beach. The women are all fully covered even in nightclothes or “undergarments” such as when the queen is being corseted.

At one hour and forty-five minutes it isn’t too long and there was not much of coming and going so clearly it held the interest of even the smaller children.

This is definitely a family friendly film that I recommend and really does provide an excellent heroine who thinks of others, is brave, is kind and follows her heart not just to her Prince but to a purpose.

Reviewed by Aimee Hix

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