‘Mirror Mirror’ is cracked Source: The Kansas City Star #screenwriting #film #adaptation “…….The screenplay by Melisa Wallack and Jason Keller is - at least on paper - a clever spin on the Brothers Grimm classic “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.” The actors are caught somewhere in the middle of this quirky, unsatisfying film - a fractured fairy tale that alternates between amusing and infuriating with each new scene. Still the fairest of them all, Julia Roberts portrays the Queen, who insists in the opening narration that we are witnessing the familiar story from her perspective. With the aid of a magic mirror, she has taken over a perpetually snowy kingdom and home-schooled its rightful ruler into submission. Said ruler is Snow White (Lily Collins of “The Blind Side”), and on her 18th birthday she takes a trip outside the castle to discover her subjects suffering poverty and “icy despair.” Meanwhile, a handsome prince (Armie Hammer of “The Social Network”) runs afoul of seven thieving dwarfs on his journey to her castle. Charmed by his looks and wealth, the Queen plans to make the prince her fifth husband. “Time for me to get rich … I mean hitched,” she quips. But Snow White stands in the way, forcing the malicious monarch to take a more proactive approach toward ridding the kingdom of this potential adversary. Since winning a 2000 Oscar for “Erin Brockovich,” Roberts has struggled to land a role that takes advantage of her earthy charm. “Mirror Mirror” is yet another awkward fit. She certainly looks the part and is plenty funny with her offhand barbs (she chides Snow White’s parents for bestowing the girl with “the most pretentious name they could come up with”). But Roberts never sells the “evil” part of this evil Queen. Just compare her to Charlize Theron in the trailer for the upcoming “Snow White and the Huntsman” to see how to render a genuine villain. Collins isn’t quite right either; her eyebrows are more filled out than her personality. She’s better as an Audrey Hepburn-style royal innocent a la “Roman Holiday” than she is when called upon to transform into a sword-wielding insurgent……” Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/03/30/3523711/mirror-mirror-is-cracked.html#storylink=cpy
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‘Mirror Mirror’ is cracked

Source: The Kansas City Star

#screenwriting #film #adaptation

“…….The screenplay by Melisa Wallack and Jason Keller is - at least on paper - a clever spin on the Brothers Grimm classic “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.”

The actors are caught somewhere in the middle of this quirky, unsatisfying film - a fractured fairy tale that alternates between amusing and infuriating with each new scene.

Still the fairest of them all, Julia Roberts portrays the Queen, who insists in the opening narration that we are witnessing the familiar story from her perspective. With the aid of a magic mirror, she has taken over a perpetually snowy kingdom and home-schooled its rightful ruler into submission. Said ruler is Snow White (Lily Collins of “The Blind Side”), and on her 18th birthday she takes a trip outside the castle to discover her subjects suffering poverty and “icy despair.”

Meanwhile, a handsome prince (Armie Hammer of “The Social Network”) runs afoul of seven thieving dwarfs on his journey to her castle. Charmed by his looks and wealth, the Queen plans to make the prince her fifth husband.

“Time for me to get rich … I mean hitched,” she quips.

But Snow White stands in the way, forcing the malicious monarch to take a more proactive approach toward ridding the kingdom of this potential adversary.

Since winning a 2000 Oscar for “Erin Brockovich,” Roberts has struggled to land a role that takes advantage of her earthy charm. “Mirror Mirror” is yet another awkward fit. She certainly looks the part and is plenty funny with her offhand barbs (she chides Snow White’s parents for bestowing the girl with “the most pretentious name they could come up with”).

But Roberts never sells the “evil” part of this evil Queen. Just compare her to Charlize Theron in the trailer for the upcoming “Snow White and the Huntsman” to see how to render a genuine villain.

Collins isn’t quite right either; her eyebrows are more filled out than her personality. She’s better as an Audrey Hepburn-style royal innocent a la “Roman Holiday” than she is when called upon to transform into a sword-wielding insurgent……”