Snow White and the Huntsman vs. Mirror Mirror

                        VS

Surprise surprise, Snow White and the Huntsman AND Mirror Mirror are both adaptations of the classic fairy-tale Snow White/Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. So, you've pretty much got to have the usual suspects... You've got Snow White, the evil step mother/queen, the father who dies/disappears, a prince/hero (or both), the guy who's supposed to kill Snow White, and lets not forget the dwarfs!

Snow White and the Huntsman

The oh so amazing Kristen Stewart plays Snow in this rendition (yes, that IS sarcasm you read there). There was so much of hype surrounding this movie that I thought, maybe, just MAYBE, Kristen Stewart might have pulled this one off and managed to do a good job... BUT, the hype was just hype. Or maybe it was Chris Hemsworth (the huntsman) hype. He was by far thee best thing in and about the entire movie. Firstly, he's gorgeous! Whether he's holding a hammer or an ax, he is superbly awesome! And he can ACT. Stewart yet again showed us all ONE of her facial expressions. Snow is meant to be the "fairest in the land" and have a beauty and presence that is entirely pure and enchants everyone and thing around her. Stewart doesn't even as much as capture a bleh. She's far too bland and mundane and just plain abrupt and awkward, in the bad kind of way, not the weird cool kind of awkward.

Charlize Theron  as the evil queen/step-mother wasn't too bad I guess. But, I certainly wasn't blown away by the performance or anything of the sort. I preferred Julia Roberts in Mirror Mirror as the queen, but that just might be my personal bias (more on that later).

Sam Clafin as William (I think he's meant to be the prince here, he's okay I guess. We don't really see much of him at all, but I guess that's more to do with the direction of the story... However, when he is on screen he doesn't seem to have much of a presence (that might have something to do with the presence of Hemsworth which is pretty much impossible to compete with). Or to really do much. William seems to just BE there for the mere need of having to be... He floats around the background of scenes and even when he tries to stand up he lets his father strong arm him. When it comes to this role I'm not really sure if Clafin made the character small or if the character was just too little for him to work with...

The dwarfs were kind of ragged and scruffy. I didn't think very much of them, but I guess they weren't horrible... *shoulder shrug*

Mirror Mirror

This is my first encounter with Lily Collins and I quite like her. She's cute as well as pretty. She has an innocence about her which makes seeing her as a pure creature and the 'saviour of the land' as well as 'fairest in the land' as a very real and highly possible possibility. COLLINS has that charm and essence to captivate the people and her surroundings. She is also witty and fun loving and more than able to defend herself. She looks like a princess and future queen and shows the character of someone I would trust to rule over the nation. The only flaw, to me, were her eyebrows. They are just so THICK! Okay, so my eyebrows aren't perfect or anything, but if I were to make it onto a movie that millions of people worldwide were to see, I'd certainly want to get my eyebrows done (just saying).It distracted me throughout the movie (but fear not, my observations and opinions are all sound). 

Julia Roberts as the queen was simply superb. She had such grace and poise and carried of the role so well. Apparently the director's intention was for the queen to be more insecure than evil, and I think she pulled this off well. We see it in her need to be beautiful and the lengths to which she goes to to look good and young (not just the actual stealing of youth and the magic, but with the baths and insane looking insect type things... Urgh! (shivers). Also Roberts is just so beautiful! *sigh*

Armie Hammer as the prince is quite charming and also rather comical. Its entertaining to see a prince in a comic role instead of as the "knight in shining armour" (though this has become common lately, its still fun to watch - every time). A prince who is captured by dwarfs, goes before the queen in mud strewn tattered and torn fragments of clothing, and also gets into sword fights with the princess... - Nothing short of a "charming" watch.

The DWARFS! Are super awesome. They are funny, cute and quirky. The dwarfs of Mirror Mirror bring quite a presence to the movie and are more than entertaining. Half Pint (one of the dwarfs) certainly adds some flavour to the soup with his little crush on Snow and his complete denial of her feelings towards the prince.

All in all...

When it comes down to it, is it even really a contest? Is there really even a question in your mind about it?

Lily Collins is a better Snow White than Kristen Stewart (seriously, was there ever even an inkling of a doubt?) Julia Roberts is a better queen/step-mother than Charlize Theron, but to be honest it could just be that Julia Roberts had the better role in a better movie, plain and simple. OR, it could just be my bias 'cause I'd pretty much ALWAYS choose Julia Roberts...Armie Hammer was an awesome prince. Sam Clafin was... average. And the Mirror Mirror dwarfs just rocked! Whereas the Snow White and the Huntsman dwarfs were more... I cannot even think of a word to describe them... 

The only redeeming qualities of Snow White and the Huntsman is Chris Hemsworth, who is amazing as usual, and the fact that Snow ends up with the Huntsman and NOT William, which is completely predictable in this movie, but I still liked it. (Though Sahil expected Snow to awaken after being kissed by William! Gosh, guys just don't get the whole "true love" and only "true love's kiss" thing hey...) Other than this the actors weren't too great, the movie was a bit awkward and abrupt. The scenes didn't seem to have a natural flow. And the movie was just lacking on the whole. What else would you expect from a Kristen Stewart movie?

Mirror Mirror had a good story line and wonderful performances by the actors (apart from Lily Collins eyebrows). Mirror Mirror was also quite a humouress movie which had me laughing quite a bit. (Yeah, I know I use "quite" a bit too often, I'm trying not to, its not so easy!) Humour always wins it for me. Unless the drama and action are top notch. 

So on the whole, if you still have a doubt in your mind as to which is the better movie you should just stick to Dumb and Dumber... 'Cause obviously Mirror Mirror is the superior movie by far, and therefore wins. 

THE END.