“Mirror Mirror” or I love your outfit, what else have you got?

Well, I guess I can only blame myself for wasting my own time.  My friends all seemed to feel that this movie was not worth seeing.  Apparently they were not the only ones.  I arrived at the theater, and I was the only one there to see this movie.  I guess that should have been a clue. 

The problem is I have really enjoyed Tarsem Singh’s previous movies.  They are usually very colorful, visually stunning and imaginative, with a bit of a dark disquieting undertone.  “The Cell” (2000), is a very beautiful and frightening look into the mind of a serial killer, “The Fall” (2006) is a visually intriguing story of an injured stunt man and the lies he tells to himself and others, and most recently “Immortals” (2011) showed us how simple, yet strikingly evocative set decoration and costuming can really elevate a good story to a great movie.

Then came “Mirror Mirror”.  A lot of people talking about it were not enthused.  I know some who said they preferred to wait for he next Snow White flick “Snow White and the Huntsman”.  But because I usually enjoy the vision of Tarsem Singh, I thought I would give it a try.  What a disappointment.  The interesting visuals consisted mainly of the costumes.  The special effects were blah, nothing new at all.  The accordion legs of the dwarves was an effect a high school film buff could accomplish at home.  The forest was uninteresting, the sets cliché.  Even the mirror, ostensibly the central thesis of the movie was nothing.  The queen’s entrance into the “world” of the mirror was derivative at best, an effect notably used in Jean Cocteau’s “Beauty and the Beast” (1946). Perhaps it was meant as a nod to the brilliant Cocteau, but if it was then Singh should have taken more pages from his book and infused his mise-en-scene with a more sinister or magical atmosphere.  Instead it read like a cartoon; brightly colored, and one-dimensional. Supposedly a comedy, it even lacked much humor.

The characters were uninteresting too.  Snow White was bland, if pretty.  Prince Charming was vapid and one note.  The dwarves were weird, with costumes resembling a cowboy, a frenchman, a conquistador, and a mountain man just to name a few.  The queen was angry and obvious. 

Ok, a non sequitur here, but when did Julia Roberts become so grim? I have noticed it for a few years now.  It seemed to begin some time after she did “My Best Friend’s Wedding” (1997).  She has lost her “sparkle” for lack of a better term.  She used to be able to play darker or sadder moments and yet retain that certain inner charm that would come through in lighter moments.  However, in all the movies where I have seen her in recent years, she seems to have lost that light.  Something about her demeanor just seems depressed or unhappy.  I don’t know, maybe I am just misreading it, but there you go.

Anyway, back to the movie, don’t go! You will be sorely disappointed.  If you want to see a good example of this director’s work rent “Immortals” (2011) out now on DVD.

“American Reunion” or S+B2=Π

OK, that is sex plus beer squared equals pi (it’s a pun, get it?), for those of you who are formulaically impaired.  In other words, American Reunion faithfully follows the American Pie franchise formula that has been so effective for all the sequels. 

Unfortunately I don’t have much more to say about it.  The movie was entertaining, but there is nothing new to really talk about.  The characters, like all of us, are older, and for the most part their priorities have changed, but they continue to get into the same messes and make the same mistakes.  The only difference is that instead of youth, parents and school interfering with their sex lives it is now stress, kids and work that interfere with their sex lives.  But Jim is still a dork, Stifler is still a putz, Finch is still searching, Kevin is still stuck on Vicky and Oz is still a jock.  Even Stifler’s mom is still the same.

So, if you are looking for something new to have happened to these characters, you will come away disappointed.  But if all you want it so see them again, have some laughs and enjoy the same goofy complications as always, you can still enjoy this movie for what it is, a formula that works, but doesn’t change.