Mirror Mirror
Starring Lily Collins as Snow White and Julia Roberts as the Queen, Mirror Mirror is a great, new retelling of the classic fairytale. To celebrate its release on 2nd April, we take a look at some of celluloid’s best fairy tale films...
- Alice in Wonderland (1951)
The Disney feature length, fairy tale is one of the most beloved out of the Disney back catalogue.
Combining elements from both Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, we follow Alice as she tumbles through the rabbit hole into the topsy-turvy, bizarre world of Wonderland.
Meeting a plethora of strange characters along the way, this psychedelic film, is an episodic look at the weird and the wonderful. Colourful, imaginative and utterly fantastic, it’s definitely one of Walt Disney’s best.
Tim Burton brought his take on the tale to the big screen back in 2010 - which was a monster success.
With Mia Wasikowska as Alice and Johnny Depp and the Mad Hatter the movie grossed in excess of $1 billion at the global box office.
- Legend (1985)
Ridley Scott’s dark fairy tale stars a very young Tom Cruise at the beginning of his Hollywood career. Drawing inspiration from many Disney classics such as Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs, Fantasia and Bambi, Scott came up with the idea of a young man being thrust into the world of ‘unicorns, fairies, goblins and demons,’ in order to save a beautiful princess from the forces of darkness, whose sole aim is to plunge the entire world into an ice age.
One of the most impressive and memorable elements of this film is Tim Curry’s star turn as Darkness. In the make-up chair for five and a half hours each day, Curry’s entire body was encased in prosthetics.
- Labyrinth (1986)
From the genius depths of Jim Henson’s mind, we saw the emergence of David Bowie’s Goblin King Jareth and the many weird and wonderful inhabitants of his kingdom.
A cult children’s classic from the off, this fantasy film saw a young Jennifer Connelly star as Sarah, a wilful teenager who inadvertently conjures up Jareth and soon finds herself lost in his realm.
Echoing the psychedelic lands of fantasy novels such as The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Henson’s Labyrinth is a hyper-real, hyper-vivid fairy tale of goblins, fairies, monsters and babies.
- The Princess Bride (1987)
Written by one of Hollywood’s veteran screenwriters, William Goldman of Butch Cassidy fame, this 1987 gem of a movie still stands today as one of the most original, humorous and bizarre comedy adventures to date. This film has it all; quicksand; fire swamps; giants; monsters and, errr ‘Rodents of Unusual Size.’
Structured as a story-within-a-story, this is a magical mystery tour of quotable lines complete with star turns by the swashbuckling Cary Elwes and enchanting Robin Wright who appear as the ill-fated lovers.
- Beauty & the Beast (1991)
Detailing the story of Belle, a bright and beautiful young woman , who stumbles upon the Beast’s castle in the dead of night. Full of enchanted staff, enchanted staff- Lumiére, candelabra, Mrs Potts, a teapot, amongst others - Belle eventually begins to bond with the Beast, seeing beneath his gruff exterior.
A massive hit on first release, this Disney adaptation has gone on to become a successful stage musical and is still loved by fans across the globe.
Until Up came along Beauty and the Beast was the first and only animated movie to be nominated for Best Picture.
- Aladdin (1992)
Who could believe this Disney classic is 20 years old! Utilising the vocal talents of the absolutely marvelous and irrepressible Robin Williams, Ron Clements and John Musker, created one of the most successful films of the year.
Based on the Arab folk tale and including classic songs such as ‘A Whole New World’ (just don’t bring up the Katie/Peter disaster) and ‘A Friend Like Me’ the film is fun, humorous, clever and most of all, a delight to watch.
- Enchanted (2007)
Paying homage to the ‘enchanting’ Disney movies of the past, this fish-out-of-water tale is an incredibly cute, incredibly likable and incredibly witty film.
Starring as Giselle, Amy Adams perfectly encapsulates all a Disney Princess should be; wide-eyed, noble; endearing and mawkish to the point of distraction. But it works. Both Adams and James Marsden, playing her foppy, bumbling Prince Charming, Prince Edward, mimic the inflated, larger-than-life gestures of their 2D counter-parts.
- Stardust (2007)
Based on the illustrated novel by the incredible Neil Gaiman, Stardust tells the story of a magical, alternative world of witches, pirates, ghosts and fallen stars.
In an attempt to win the heart of his village crush, ragamuffin Tristan, goes on a quest to find a fallen star, but in order to do so, his has to venture into the other-worldly realm, known as
Stormhold. It is here, that the film really takes off and sparkles. Crammed with familiar faces; from the iconic, Robert De Niro, Peter O’Toole, to the bizarre, Ricky Gervais, Tristan meets, greets, fights, laughs his way through this fantasy land, all the while, slowly falling in love with the one thing that lead him there; the fallen star.
And Mirror Mirror is the first in a line of fairytale based movies with Snow White and the Huntsman and Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters on the horizon over the next twelve months.
Mirror Mirror is out now