Mirror, mirror, on the wall...

Two films. Two Snow Whites. One fairytale. Within a short span of three months next year, we are incredibly un/fortunate (delete as appropriate), to have two films based on the popular story of Snow White. Mirror Mirror, out next March, takes a much lighter, colourful, and slap-stick approach, whereas Snow White and the Huntsman, released in June, as its title may suggest, has a more violent, sadistic, and dark spin to it. Much like this year’s No Strings Attached and Friends with Benefits, there will be stiff competition to see which the better adaptation is. Trailers have recently been posted for both films, and it’s time for Felix Film to predict which has the upper hand.

The Queen

When the sinister, techno music starts setting the tone for Snow White and the Huntsman, chills are sent down one’s spine as the devilishly sexy Charlize Theron starts narrating. And she does this with a flawless English accent, something that gives her a more majestic, elegant presence. But don’t be fooled by her beauty: she is full of bitter resentment and hatred, as she quite literally sucks life out of a beautiful maiden, murders someone in her bed, sports some nasty-looking claws, bathes in questionable white-looking liquid, and turns into crows. She’s clearly a nasty piece of work, and it’s hard to imagine the queen not getting what she wants.

Julia Roberts on the other hand, might just deliver nothing short of a major flop of a performance, and that’s just from watching the trailer. She’s supposed to be a funnier evil queen, meaning whiny and immature, which is fine, if only Roberts could speak any one of her lines with consistency. She goes for the English accent. She fails. She retreats back into an odd hybrid of English and American. Then she just gives up. She goes into full-blown American towards the end of the trailer. And this is in the space of two minutes. This does not bode well for the entire film. Not everything is her fault though. Her evil Queen is too low-key and trivial to care about. All she wants is to marry the good-looking young prince to sort out her… um… financial troubles. This is an insult to the evil Queen, not to mention an unwise move to diminish a well-known character to mere caricature.

The Princess

Kristen Stewart is harshly and unfairly criticised for everything she does because of that Twilight franchise. She has given good performances in the past, and it comes as good news that her usual blank, withdrawn expression is somewhat suitable for the role of a victim. A slight problem though; the trailer for Snow White and the Huntsman oddly sidelines her, so much so that she doesn’t get the chance to utter a single syllable of her dialogue. The only unique aspect of her character we find out is that this time, our fairytale princess is a fighter, dressed in armour, wielding a sword. Was her performance so bad that it had to be cut?

Lily Collins of Mirror Mirror looks younger, more innocent and has fancier dresses as she dances away in her dizzyingly radioactive coloured palace. She’s all smiles even when her queen banishes her into the woods, and she seems to spend some fun times with her new friendly dwarves. The twist here is that not only must she master fencing to overthrow the woman responsible for her many troubles, she must also fight for her love, as the queen is also pining away at the tall and handsome prince. Collins is certainly cute and lovable, more fitting for the kind of Snow White we are used to. Mirror Mirror is a more light-hearted adventure film, and Collins is suitably fitting for the lead role.

The Prince

Swinging an axe is not very different from swinging a hammer, which is why Chris “Thor” Hemsworth (left) is perfectly suited for the Huntsman opposite Stewart. His rugged physique and scruffy features firmly establish that he’s a tough man of the wild. He even has the guts to ask “Why is she of such value?” to the scary Theron when she dispatches him to hunt down Snow White. What a lad.

The Social Network’s Armie Hammer (right) steals the hearts of not only Snow White, but also the queen in Mirror Mirror. Hammer is a talented enough actor to fully embrace the humourous side of his character, with his playful attitude looking as though there could be convincing chemistry between him and Collins. There is one very disturbing scene though: Hammer is given a “love potion” by the evil queen, as she tries to use magic for his love. It turns out the potion is labelled “puppy love.” The result? Hammer starts acting like a puppy. He asks the queen to “rub [his] belly.” Creepy…

_Verdict: At this point, I’m leaning towards Snow White and the Huntsman, purely because of Theron’s spot-on portrayal of the antagonist. _