Mirror Mirror (film)

A retelling of the "Snow White" fairy tale starring Lily Collins as Snow White, Julia Roberts as the evil Queen, and directed by Tarsem Singh. It was released in 2012, the same year as another Snow White retelling, Snow White and the Huntsman. Where that film recasts the story as a dark action-adventure, this is a lighter telling.

Retitled Mirror Mirror: The Untold Adventures of Snow White in some regions.

Not to be confused with the novel by Gregory Maguire (Wicked) or the TV series of the same name.

Tropes used in Mirror Mirror (film) include:

• Action Girl: Snow White.
• Baleful Polymorph:
  • The Queen temporarily turns Brighton into a cockroach as punishment for not killing Snow White.
  • The King was transformed into the Beast.
• Beaten By a Girl: Prince Alcott, albeit in a close fight.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Snow White, who makes the Queen eat a slice of the poisoned apple at the end.
• Butt Monkey: Brighton, and Prince Alcott.
• Combat Pragmatist:
  • The dwarfs.
  • Snow White becomes one when the dwarfs teach her how to fight.
• Costume Porn: Especially the Queen's and the nobles' dresses.
• Deadpan Snarker:
  • The queen has her moments. And surprisingly, so does Snow White!
  • Even the Magic Mirror gets in on it.
• Disappeared Dad
• Dissonant Serenity: The mirror, who never appears to be more than faintly bemused no matter what happens.
• Distracted by the Sexy: The Queen orders some clothes brought for Prince Alcott because she has trouble focusing when he's constantly being presented to him in only his undergarments.
• Driven to Suicide: The Queen presumably eats the poisoned apple at the end when she realizes she's been beaten. This does happen in the novelization, and it also destroys her mirror self.
• Evil Is Hammy: The queen, being played by Julia Roberts, an unlikely choice, has her moments.
• Female Gaze: "Oh my God, can someone please get this man a shirt so I can concentrate!"
• Graceful Loser: The Mirror, oddly enough.
• Heel Face Turn: The seven dwarfs, who start off as bandits before helping Snow White.
• In Memoriam: Dedicated to the memory of its costume designer, Eiko Ishioka, who passed away just a few months before its release.
• Ironic Echo: "It's important to know when you've been beaten, yes."
• Just Like Robin Hood: Snow White convinces the dwarfs to do this.
• Large Ham: The Queen.
• Let Us Never Speak of This Again: "No one is to know the details."
• Lighter and Softer: A comedic take on the fairy tale compared to the other live-action one coming out the same year. Though not played entirely straight; at the end Snow White encourages the Queen to commit suicide and it is implied she does.
• Meaningful Echo: "And the Queen realized that if she wanted to remain the most beautiful woman in all the land, snow would have to do what snow does best. Snow... would have... to fall."
• Minion with an F In Evil: Brighton comes across as this.
• Mondegreen: In this trailer, The Prince's line "I look like an idiot" is getting misheard as an apology of "I'm a f'***ing idiot", since it comes right after he couldn't tell Snow White was the princess.
• Mythology Gag: After one of the dwarves' successful raids one remarks, "Beats working in a mine."
• Noodle Incident: Apparently, during Brighton's time as a cockroach, a grasshopper "took advantage of [him]."
• Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: Snow, of course.

Queen: Her hair isn't "black", it's "raven". And her skin has never seen the sun so of course it's good.

• Running Gag: The dwarfs robbing people and stealing their clothes.

Queen: (seeing her wedding guests in their underclothes) What is it with this kingdom?

• Scenery Porn: It's Tarsem Singh's film. What do you expect?
• Shout-Out: "Say hello to my little friend!", spoken by one of the seven dwarfs.
• Sir Not-Appearing-In-This-Trailer: Sean Bean plays a minor yet important role in the film, yet the majority of the promotion was on Julia Roberts. Same goes for Nathan Lane.
• Smug Snake: The Queen again.
• Sudden Musical Ending
  • There was some foreshadowing for it, though, with the whole "people used to sing and dance" bit.
• Took a Level In Badass: Snow White gets trained in fighting by the dwarfs.