Mirror Mirror Updated the Snow White Story While Honoring the Original

Audiences looking for an alternative to Disney's upcoming live-action Snow White need not look much further than 2012's Mirror Mirror.

There's a lot of buzz surrounding the upcoming Disney Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs live-action remake. As early as the release of casting decisions, the film has garnered criticism for being too "woke" and modern with its choices. Online discourse over the lessening of the romantic elements of Snow White's story has content creators asking Disney: "What's innately wrong with a female lead desiring a romantic ending?" -- deeming the changes an overcorrection. When leaked production stills showing the dwarves as seven "magical creatures" appeared, conversations circulated about Disney being out of touch with their own audience.

Most of the updates criticized by potential viewers Disney (and the film's stars) claims to have done in aid of modernizing an outdated story. But audiences don't need to look far for a charming, albeit not as commercially successful, adaptation of Snow White that brings a comedic and contemporary edge to the fairy tale without losing sight of the source material. 2012's Mirror Mirror starring Julia Roberts as the evil queen and Lily Collins as Snow White makes the princess a more active agent in her own story while still giving her a happy ending with her prince.

Mirror Mirror Modernizes Snow White Without Discarding Her Desire for Romance

Some of the comments made by the leads of Disney's upcoming Snow White cast dispersions on the 1937 original saying the princess's focus is too much around her prince. Disney has made it clear that its new version will make Snow White have more "girl boss" energy, leaving fans to speculate how much of a role the prince will actually play. Commentators have taken to social media to ask, "Why not both?" Many members of Snow White's targeted female audience praised Barbie for having a lead that was just a Stereotypical Barbie, not anything super special and representative of an everyday "woman." They're expressing a desire to have more stories about women that aren't always exceptional but possibly reflect more of themselves on the day-to-day.

Since Snow White is also known for her kindness and sweet disposition (not just her correlation to her prince). Viewers are worried this will be lost in the new version. Mirror Mirror sees Snow White driven to the woods after her assassination attempt ordered by Queen Clementianna. There, she eventually takes an active role in her own rescue receiving defense and swordsmanship training with the dwarves. It's a fun mid-movie montage showing the heroine gaining a new skill she'll use later, but she's far from being all-powerful, and still teams up with her prince in battle later where they appear as near equals complete with romantic tension.

Mirror Mirror Establishes a Relationship Between Snow White and Prince Alcott

Some of the Disney Princess rewrites over the years have been Disney's attempts to address the "damsel in distress" trope and to create more independent heroines. The company has even gone as far as to re-imagine already battle-worthy heroines like Mulan into flawless powerhouses and remove any semblance of a romantic interest entirely (in her case, Li Shang). Mirror Mirror addresses the popular princess trope by keeping the prince but changing his role in the story to a degree.

Prince Alcott (Armie Hammer) becomes the one being romantically pursued throughout the film (largely by the queen). He also has multiple encounters with Snow White before their fated reunion in the end where he's stuck under the queen's spell. The film also establishes a bit of an enemies-to-lovers dynamic between the two -- giving not just Snow White, but Prince Alcott, intertwining character arcs.

Mirror Mirror Turns the Tables With Snow White's Iconic Kiss

Doubtless, Disney could potentially remove the iconic kiss from Snow White's story. With what has been leaked about the film so far, it would not come as a surprise. Mirror Mirror chose to keep it, but reversed the person in need of a spell-breaking "true love's kiss." Seeing that Prince Alcott is clearly drawn to Snow White and desperate to save herself from financial ruin, Queen Clementianna slips Prince Alcott a love potion. The spell isn't broken until the near end of the movie when Snow White realizes she must kiss him in order to break the spell. The scene is a sweet swap on the fairy tale where Snow White hesitates (this is her first kiss, after all) before making her big move. A bit more like what a first kiss might actually look like.

The scene itself is not overplayed and is highly comedic. It's a tool the movie uses well when balancing out its modern elements with the classic fairy tale. The overall tongue-in-cheek presentation of Mirror Mirror makes its alterations to the source material lighthearted and more palatable for any potential traditionalist naysayers.

The Dwarves in Mirror Mirror Are Given More Depth of Character

There's been a lot of back and forth over Disney's decision not to use actors with dwarfism to portray the titular seven dwarves. The decision seems to have been in an attempt at sensitivity and in response to comments previously made by actor Peter Dinklage in regard to the studio's Snow White remake. Still, other actors in the Little People (LP) community have gone on to criticize Disney for reducing the number of roles available to them by casting the dwarves outside their original physical type. Mirror Mirror's approach to making the dwarves more than simply gags and stereotypes was to give them all personalities outside their names (like in the Disney animated version).

Jackass star Wee Man calls out Disney for their casting in Snow White

Each of the dwarves in Mirror Mirror has something that they contribute to Snow White's journey and her bond with them is strengthened as a result. They're not miners in this version but once productive and now banished members of their former kingdom and community. It may not be a perfect fix, but it's an honest attempt to balance the old with the new.

There's no exact way to tell if Disney's Snow White will manage to garner as much love as the 1937 animated film. Disney has had great successes with live-action remakes like Cinderella, Maleficent, and most recently, The Little Mermaid. However, the latest news of Snow White's delay does not bode well for the flick. It's not unheard of for a film's release to be pushed back and the movie altered due to audience reaction to initial previews. It happened with Sonic the Hedgehog (2020). Still, any fans deciding to preemptively boycott Snow White or simply looking for an alternative that did exactly what Disney claims it's attempting to do with Snow White need not look much further than Mirror Mirror.