Tarsem's MIRROR, MIRROR Trailer Is A Rotten Apple...

Following hot on the heels of the moody Twilight-baiting trailer for the Kristen Stewart-starring Snow White and the Huntsman, Relativity Media have released a trailer for Tarsem Singh's similarly seven dwarves based Mirror, Mirror. It stars Julia Roberts as the Evil Queen, Lily (daughter of Phil) Collins as Snow White, Armie Hammer as Prince Andrew (not that one) and features Nathan Lane and Sean Bean. Whilst Snow White and the Huntsman has Stewart, Charlize Theron and Chris Hemsworth. Unfortunately for Tarsem the teaser trailer for Snow White and the Huntsman was surprisingly striking, with a strong visual style edited together into something rather exciting, even though it was clearly riffing off of the likes of Ridley Scott's Robin Hood mixed in with Terry Gilliam's The Brothers Grimm. It seems, from the state of this awkward teaser, that Relativity are a little nervous about their competition and quickly chucked out a trailer as soon as they could, the sound in certain places feels unfinished and I can only hope that some of the scenes are due a colour grade. Whilst Tarsem has proved himself a unique visualist, most specifically on his masterful sophomore feature The Fall, but also on critically trashed The Cell and Immortals, there's something a little flat about the images here which doesn't quite chime with earlier teaser images, further suggesting that this is a rush-job trailer. However, saying all that, Armie Hammer makes for a likeable and Cary Elwes circa The Princess Bride-esque Prince and the film has an interestingly quirky and light-hearted tone, as opposed to the slow-mo po-facedness of Rupert Sanders' rival film. It's also good to see seven dwarves played by seven short actors, as opposed to miniturized versions of Nick Frost, Toby Jones, Bob Hoskins and Ray Winstone, but it's a little disspiriting to have them reduced to terrible quips like 'Say hello to my little friend!' in this preview. After the visually splendid but hollow Immortals what Tarsem really needs to find is a good script if he's ever going to make something as stunning as The Fall again, but it doesn't look like he's found one here. Mirror, Mirror gets the head start when it is released in the US on 16 March 2012, whilst Snow White and the Huntsman is out in the US and the UK on 1st June 2012.