Jan Thijs
Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the wickedest queen of all? Last week, we saw Charlize Theron give it her all in the trailer for Snow White and the Huntsman; today, Julia Roberts holds the poison apple in the trailer for another Snow White film: Mirror, Mirror. Watch it below!
So we've got two 2012 Snow White movies starring two best-actress Oscar winners as the Evil Queen. What's surprising is how completely different these two trailers are. Since both movies were initially being promoted the same way -- as modern, grown-up re-tellings of the classic tale -- we expected a whole lot more overlap. Thankfully, the filmmakers were smart enough to go their separate ways.
Let's break it down, shall we? The world of Mirror, Mirror is whimsical and childlike; Roberts' Evil Queen drops sassy, comic one-liners ("I definitely have a happy-ever-after thing going on!") and snaps minions into cockroaches; even the handsome prince (The Social Network's Armie Hammer) is a bit of a buffoon. We expected a drama of intrigue, but we were totally wrong: It's definitely a comedy that goes heavy on the camp.
Snow White and the Huntsman, on the other hand, is a pitch-black fantasy centered on Theron's war-mongering, cannibalistic queen (that's right, she literally consumes people's hearts). Different strokes for different folks?
One thing that both films do have in common is the transformation of helpless damsel Snow White into a swashbuckling warrior. In Mirror, Mirror, the seven dwarves are a gang of bandits who take Snow (Lily Collins) as their leader; in Snow White and the Huntsman, the heroine (Kristen Stewart) gets schooled by the huntsman (Chris Hemsworth) in the art of battle. Remember: In the original story, Snow White doesn't really do anything except run away, sweep some floors and lie in a coffin waiting for a prince. How much richer would the tale be if its main character had an actual personality? We're about to find out -- twice.
Then again, is Snow White actually the heroine of Mirror, Mirror? Julia Roberts is so delightfully wicked that we don't know if we'll be able to root for little Lily Collins. Even her evil laugh is endearing. Sorry, Charlize -- on our list of Evil Sorceresses We'd Like to Have Dinner With, Julia goes straight to the top.
Mirror Mirror hits theaters March 16, 2012, while Snow White and the Huntsman arrives a few months later on June 1.
