Snow White & the Huntsman vs Mirror Mirror

Well, since I did my Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland vs Once Upon a Time in Wonderland & 3A vs 3B posts quite a while back, I thought it be best to bring this back during the hiatus with something I had planned on doing for quite a while!
Story

I'm gonna go over Snow White & the Huntsman first since I have more to say about it. If I can be very honest, I was mostly bored throughout thanks to the very generic story & the pacing. Being over 2 hours long, it felt like an eternity to watch & it doesn't really help that the final battle scene (of which there is many & they all feel very repetetive & boring) lasts 20 minutes & that's after the predictable True Love's Kiss scene! Also, the romance in the film just felt non existent between Snow White & Eric up to the point that the True Love's Kiss just left me in confusion since they never share any chemistry & if anything, William was the better suitor given that he knew her since childhood & clearly cared about her! I don't know, it reminded me too much of Twilight with the love triangle situation (and considering Kristen Stewart is in it, it doesn't really help). Anyway, it almost feels ashamed that it's a Snow White adaptation because the basic elements like the dwarves, the prince, the Evil Queen & the poisoned apple all just feel really forced & shoehorned in while the rest of the movie tries to focus on the 'romance' & numerous battle scenes like I mentioned before. But the biggest problem for me would have to be the plot holes & cliches galore, in  particular the one with everyone somehow recognising Snow White is the princess despite never having been seen by anyone in the kingdom since childhood & the cliches with the love triangle, the paper thin characters (we'll get to them in a minute) & the unecessarily creepy scenes with Ravenna (sans her hammy acting) It just overall feels like every other generic fantasy film over the past few years despite having Snow White in the title!

With Mirror Mirror, it pretty much does the same with the source material by giving it a twist & trying to expand more on the characters & can come across as generic as a result. However, I will give it credit that it has more fun with the source material! Trust me, there are loads of stupid scenes, like dumb slapstick, the Prince acting like a puppy around the Queen, but at least they made me laugh & kept me interested! At the very least, Mirror Mirror tries to create a fairy tale feeling with the plot like with the romance, the more silly nature & tone, & honestly, I just wanted to laugh when I watched it. In fact, it kinda reminded me of The Princess Bride with the over the top cartoony-ish written characters in live action. And compared to Snow White & the Huntsman, the elements from the source material feel more natural, in particular the dwarves up to the point I feel like the movie is much more about them & Snow White rather than her & the prince & it is nice to watch. And the fight scenes are much less & are much more creative & choreographed in comparison to Snow White & the Huntsman by the way! Yes, it is silly & I thought a load of things were stupid, but at least it feels more like a Snow White story even if the poisoned apple conflict wasn't in it & the movie centres on more on a love triangle between Snow White, the prince & the Evil Queen!

Overall, it's pretty clear which one is the winner for me because at the very least Mirror Mirror treats itself like a fun fairytale & while Snow White & the Huntsman is a bit more faithful in terms of being a Snow White adaptation, the execution, bad pacing, plot holes & cliches really ruin it for me! Point goes to Mirror Mirror!
Winner: Mirror Mirror

Despite this being a six-parter while I'd normally go for an odd number, I wanted to briefly go through the visuals of both films, so here it is! This is best visuals!
Visuals

I'll admit, the visuals for Mirror Mirror often look gorgeous, in particular the production design with the castle, the forest (despite obviously being a set & is often the same one), the dwarve's hideout & the Queen's mirror! The CGI is put to good use most of the time, in particular with the Beast in the forest & the puppets the characters fight which look pretty creative with how they look & move. As for the costumes, I do like how over the top it looks similar to a cartoon by how caricatured they look, but not too much so that it translates well into live action, although I'm not really a huge fan of Snow White's blue & orange weddng dress at the end. Just being honest! Anyway, I definitely consider the visuals in this the biggest asset for the film as it does look original while having a nice colourful fairytale feeling to it.

With Snow White & the Huntsman, most of the time it felt very very generic. It doesn't really help that the colour scheme & lighting is very dark about 85% of the time making it feel really boring to watch! Also, it doesn't really help that most of the CGI is wasted on effect like when Ravenna bathes in milk (which looks pretty badly rendered compared to the rest of the CGI), the effects on that bizarre effect for the mirror which turns into a person for no reason, the forest creatures. I'll admit it can be good like on the glass shards when people die, whenever Ravenna magically ages or when the ravens literally melt around her after she poisons Snow, but it doesn't really show all of it's potential. And the costume designs also feel really unoriginal with a generic medieval look along with the suits of armor being abundant (ESPECIALLY during the final battle scene up to the point Snow also wears one) throughout.

Overall, Mirror Mirror actually has more of a fairytale feeling to it while giving an original twist & while it is interesting to see a darker take in Snow White & The Huntsman, the ending result just feels generic & dull. Point goes to Mirror Mirror!
Winner: Mirror Mirror

Considering neither films are about solely Snow White, we may as well go into the supporting characters who help contribute to the plots! This is best side characters!

Side Characters

With the side characters, I'm mostly gonna go over the dwarves in this one along with a few others that contribute something to the plot. With Snow White & the Huntsman, the dwarves honestly all felt very generic with little to no personality up to the point that I don't even remember any of their names! It doesn't really help that they appear over an hour into the movie sporadically & feel so out of place attempting to be comedy reliefs & we hardly know anything about them so when one of them dies, I just don't feel much for them (and the acting didn't really help). As for the rest of the characters, they all feel watered down, like William is the typical handsome prince/childhood friend archetype, even if he does help with the fight scenes & Sam Claflin at least tries to give him more of a personality. Oh yeah, and King Magnus is an absolute idiot for marrying Ravenna literally one day after meeting her without knowing anything about her! And Finn was just a creepy weirdo who tries to help kill Snow & annoyed me!

On the other hand, with Mirror Mirror, I felt that the comraderie between the dwarves was much more present & they all have unique personalities & are all very fun! And I do remember their names unlike before, with Wolf, Chuck, Napoleon, Grimm, Butcher, Half-Pint & Grub & the actors who play them are all very very good & have a great chemsitry together! The rest of the characters mostly consists of Baron, who's pretty much Clementianna's butt monkey who got a couple of laughs out of me thanks to his snarking along with Brighton (played by Nathan Lane) who got most of the laughs out of me & is the one who spares Snow White's life instead of the Huntsman & also acts like a butt monkey to Clementianna doing her bidding. And unlike Snow White & the Huntsman, the King (played by Sean Bean) actually has more of a personality despite appearing at the end & considering he was turned into the Beast, it does make him more interesting & didn't seem as idiotic in comparison!

Bit obvious who the winner is in this one because the characters in Mirror Mirror are much more fun & have much more of a personality in comparison to the bland cardboard cutouts in Snow White & the Huntsman! Point goes to Mirror Mirror!
Winner: Mirror Mirror

Well, may as well compare the villains of these tales, this is the best Evil Queen!

Evil Queen

If I can be perfectly honest...these 2 are possibly some of the worst adaptations of the Evil Queen that I have ever seen in Snow White movies! Queen Clementianna from Mirror Mirror is just so over the top & not even that intimidating to watch in the first place. Julia Roberts just makes her come across as bratty rather than actually evil as she wants to marry Prince for his money & has no reason to kill Snow White at all! Seriously, most of the time she just does crazy beauty treatments, is obsessed with looking young to try & impress Alcott & has to endure him with the puppy love spell! She is no threat at all & if I can be honest, she just annoyed me when she tried to be in the spotlight!

Queen Ravenna on the other hand is just laughably bad thanks to Charlize Theron's really REALLY hammy acting. And I still don't get why she wanted Snow dead because I refuse to believe that the people of their kingdom think that Kristen Stewart is prettier than frigging Charlize Theron! They do try & give her some sort of backstory, but none of it really justifies her behaviour & the interactions between her & her brother come across as so creepy it's almost as if the writers forgot that they were siblings! Anyway, there really isn't anything to her to make her a good villain, as she has little to no complexity (same goes to Clementianna by the way)

I can't believe I'm saying this, but despite both of them being really really bad, I think I find Charlize Theron better because at the very least her performance is memorable & laughably bad, while I hardly remember anything from Julia Roberts in Mirror Mirror & she isn't even close to threatening. *Sighs* Point goes to Snow White & the Huntsman...
Winner: Snow White & the Huntsman

In every Snow White story, she's dreaming for her prince to come. This is best love interest!
Love Interest

I know, it's hard to compare a perfect prince with a drunkard widowed huntsman, but here goes! Well, for starters, I just want to say that neither of them really stood out to me compared to the other characters in both films! Anyway, I suppose Eric the Huntsman in Snow White & the Huntsman is the more interesting character in the film compared to Snow White or Queen Ravenna given that he was married, constantly drowns in his sorrows & Chris Hemsworth at least tries to give him dimensionality despite being a very cliched misanthropic character despite his funny quips at Snow White. But they never expand on the relationship between him & his deceased wife & he rather quickly falls in love with Snow, so his character feels pretty redundant as a result.

Prince Alcott is pretty much the generic handsome prince who can actually be funny from time to time, although he doesn't really have much of a personality in comparison to the other characters up until he takes the love potion which makes him act like a huge idiot! Well, at least they lampshade it after the spell is broken & he & Snow White do make a good team when sword fighting & at the very least they have something called chemistry when together! Honestly, there's not really much to him besides being eye candy for the female viewers, with the film trying every excuse for him to be in his underwear or shirtless. Well, Armie Hammer does his best & he can be funny from time to time admittedly!

If I can be very honest, this was a tough one for me, but I think I'm gonna go with Snow White & the Huntsman because at leas Chris Hemsworth does his best & the character I suppose is a bit more interesting given that he was previously married despite he & Snow having no chemistry at all & being pretty generic. Point goes to Snow White & The Huntsman.
Winner: Snow White & The Huntsman

And now the end all this off, let's see which one is the better at being the fairest in the land! This is the best (movie) Snow White!
Snow White

With Lily Collins' performance in Mirror Mirror, she honestly bored me to death & her performance felt so...wooden! This was the woman who auditioned for Snow White & the Huntsman & lost to one of the worst actresses of our time! That's how bad her acting is! However, judging Snow White as a character, she's pretty much the same Snow White we know by being sweet, kind & innocent, yet gradually builds as a character throughout & is the one to break the curse on the prince. May be generic compared to other fantasy heroines who tend to kick ass nowadays, but at least she keeps her innocence & kindness throughout with the people of her kingdom & helping them along with being more independant as the movie progresses.

Completely ignoring the fact that Kristen Stewart is playing Snow White & giving another moody, bland & whiny performance with a terrible English accent, there's not much to Snow in this version either! The movie tries to make her more like the hero we're meant to root for & they attempt to give her a tragic backstory as a child. But just because they tried, it doesn't mean they suceeded! In fact, she hardly feels like a Snow White character, but rather a copy of every 'badass' action girl over the last 5 years! Seriously, just replace her with a mannequin & you wouldn't even tell the difference!

I know this is gonna sound crazy, but I find Lily Collins' Snow White to be better as she at least has the same qualities as the original Snow White like her kindness and pureness despite being a badass & kind of growing! Kristen Stewart's Snow White on the other hand, feels lifeless & nothing like a Snow White character at all! In fact, if you take out the name, you'll find that she is absolutely nothing like Snow White! Point goes to Mirror Mirror!
Winner: Mirror Mirror

And the overall winner is Mirror Mirror!

Honestly, neither are these movies are actually that good. In fact, I didn't particularly like either of them. I did get a few laughs out of both, even if most of them were unintentional with the very hammy acting, the plot contrivances & some stupid moments here & there, but I don't regret watching them cos it is interesting to see other peoples' perspectives on how they do their own twists on the Snow White tale. But yeah, just stick with Once Upon A Time if you want to actually see a good modern version of Snow White!

Queens of Darkness Poster

Must say, judging the recent information over what will happen in the second half (mostly involving Operation Mongoose/the identity of the author, the Queens of Darkness' backstories & certain popular characters returning *coughs* August, Ariel, Aurora, Zelena & Robin *coughs*), I am cautiously optimistic for it! Sure, the notion of Rumple being evil is still bugging me, but at least this time round it seems he has a proper goal (AKA get his happiness & win Belle back) instead of his stupid 'taking over the world' thing in the first half with the hat. And yes, before you ask, I have hope for Belle & Rumple despite what happened in 4x11, but obviously it's gonna take quite some time for them to rekindle their love (like every other season since season 2...just saying!) I cannot wait for this to come back on March 1st because this hiatus feels like it's been taking forever!

Heroes and Villains

In this midseason finale & ending to the Frozen arc, we see the group find a way to take Anna, Elsa & Kristoff back to Arendelle as soon as they can after Anna spills that Hans has taken over. Marian comes back to life thanks to Regina & after realizing Robin is happy with her, Marian gives them their blessing to be together. However, some remnants of the frozen heart spell remain despite Ingrid dying & Regina ends up letting Robin go as they decide to cross the town line in order for her to live. With Rumple, despite the setback of Anna possibly spilling the beans to Belle since she's the only other person besides Hook who knows of his plans (which she does to everyone just before she leaves through the portal), he still plans to leave to go to New York now only with Belle for 'a proper honeymoon' (until Henry spills the beans they can't go back). Everyone goes to confront him at the clock tower just as he tries to kill Hook to cleave himself of the dagger, but can't as Belle commanded him to with the real dagger. And Belle FINALLY discovers the truth about the dagger being fake through the gauntlet (which leads someone to the thing they love most/their weakness AKA power for Rumple) from the flashbacks, and let's just say that she's not happy about it (believe me when I say that's a massive understatement) as she commands Rumple to leave Storybrooke at the town line as it's a one way trip & he can't go back & he won't have any magic. In the flashbacks, we get to see more of Belle & Rumple as they started to fall in love, when Belle comes across a dalmatian puppy and ends up getting kidnapped by Maleficent, Ursula & Cruella de Vil as they make a deal with Rumple for the gauntlet he recently got in Camelot in exchange for Belle, which he decides to do since, well, he cares about her (until he gets it back from them later). Oh yeah, and Emma joins in Operation Mongoose as Henry finds a secret library at the mansion with many books like the infamous Once Upon A Time book that are blank. But in a twist, six weeks later in New York, Rumple comes across Ursula & they decide to become allies as he has 2 more stops before somehow returning to Storybrooke!
I really enjoyed this episode as it tied up loose ends from this half of the season & it is so so sad to see the Frozen characters leaving as I absolutely loved them! Seeing them get their happy ending again was so nice to see & for them to return to Arendelle ending with their wedding was a nice way to end & for Anna's reason for her adventure was to see her sister as happy as her was so heartwarming. With Robin & Regina, it was so so sad seeing how their story ended considering Marian gave them their blessing & completely understood how Robin felt since he thought she was dead for years (and the scene with Rumple & Regina in the car was pretty heartwarming given their complicated relationship)! But at least Regina gained a friend out of it with Emma & I loved seeing that she was on board with Operation Mongoose along with the interesting twist with the library & the mansion belonging to the sorcerer (as I predicted) As for Rumbelle...it honestly doesn't surprise me! I absolutely love them, don't get me wrong, but seeing this from a different perspective, I completely understand why considering he's been doing nothing but lying to her & keeping secrets from her ever since they got married, so do forgive me if I'm not exactly sympathetic of his plight! And keep in mind, we're only halfway through season 4 so we do have 11 more episodes for them to rekindle their love! But the town line scene with Belle calling Rumple out on everything was just so perfect rather it be the acting from both Robert & Emilie or the mere fact Belle finally calls him out for still choosing power over love! Still have hope for them, but like I said, it'll probably take some time!
As for Cruella de Vil (played by Victoria Smurfit), Maleficent & Ursula (recast now played by Merrin Dungey) appearing as the villains in the second half, I'm honestly oddly excited, but I have mixed feelings about Cruella as she is a non magical character from a contemporary non magical setting & her only goal in the book & film was to get fur coats & nothing else! Not much to go by for a fantasy show full of fairytale characters & it makes no sense to me! Well, it could actually be an interesting turn to have a villain in the show without magic (not including Greg & Tamara since they had magic destroying objects with them at all times)! With Ursula, it's gonna be interesting seeing her in Storybrooke since Ariel was in the show last year & she was meant to be a benevolent goddess instead of downright evil, but I do hope that this doesn't mean they'll cause more subplots in favour of the ones brought over from the first half! Still, I'm actually intrigued to see more of them & the acting from all of them was really good (especially from Victoria Smurfit & Merrin Dungey already) & seeing them team up despite being completely different villains was actually pretty fun! The flashbacks themselves I consider more of a way to introduce the characters rather than contributing to the plot (besides the gauntlet that'd obviously come back later into the Storybrooke scenes) And I am so intrigued with how Rumple gets back to Storybrooke given the small issue with the town line & how Ursula, Maleficent & Cruella ended up outside (along with how Maleficent turned back into a human from that zombie thing after Emma defeated her back in season 1).
Overall this was much better than I thought it was going to be with very solid writing, high emotional stakes, amazing acting & is a nice way to say goodbye to the Frozen cast who I'm really going to miss! I can't wait to see what happens in 4B as Rumple & the Queens of Darkness take over the town in March next year! And with Rumbelle...I'm gonna keep hoping for them because their story isn't over yet (you could say I'm an optimist)!

 So awesome finally seeing Elsa destroy the ice cavern!

Why the hell is Rumple talking to Hook about his plans while Belle is asleep right in front of him?! Just cos she's asleep it doesn't mean she can't hear them!

AWW! SO nice to see FTL Rumbelle!

Interesting reference to Camelot...would really like to see it if there's a season 5!

AWWWWWWWW! So sweet giving her breakfast in bed!

About time we see this plot get resolved after being put on hold since 4x05!

Genuinely surprised with how understanding Marian is over the whole situation!

I KNEW the mansion belonged to the sorcerer!

Sweet seeing Henry & Belle interacting! Weird hearing him call her 'grandma' though...

Ooh...

Haha! 'You're just upset cos you know I'm right! And no. I am not talking to myself...'

AWWW! What a cute puppy!

Ugh, not again!

Feels so weird seeing them in Granny's!

God, this is so creepy!

I wonder who kidnapped her...and yeah, this already proves he cares about her!

N'aww! Sweet they're gonna make a fresh start! 

To quote Anna 'Wait, what?!'

'Robin, you need to know something. It's a one-way trip! There's a curse on the town line. Once you leave you can't come back.' Oh no...

About time we saw Rumple & Regina interacting given that we haven't since 3x21! Pretty heartwarming after everything between them & funny he knew the whole time Henry was going undercover!

No turning back now...

AWWWW! Poor Robin! :'(

NO!!!!!

Nice to see you again Maleficent with a new headress thanks to the Angelina Jolie film getting lots of money (sorry, I personally don't like that movie)

Nice to see you again Ursula! And liking her outfit!

OK...not sure what to think about Cruella de Vil coming into the show!

Aww, haha! 'Why do you care about me?' *Blatantly lying* 'I don't!'

Oh no...

GOD I'm gonna miss them! Really loved Emma & Elsa's friendship!

'Who was he in the other world? Wait, let me guess! He was a fairy godfather, wasn't he?' 'Well, not exactly. He was an evil sorcerer you're lucky to have never met. Rumplestiltskin!' 'Wait, what?!' 'You knew him? He explicitly said he didn't know anything about you!' 'Well, that's a lie! Not that I'm surprised. All he does is lie!' OH GOD!

Hmm, some nice graphics!

'I don't understand. Why can't I (crush Hook's heart)? 'Because I commanded you not to!' OOOOH!

'And now you can take us to the town line. Because we need to be alone for what comes next!' Wow. You really don't want to mess with an angry Belle!

'No! It's my turn to talk! Do you remember the first time you saved me? You traded for me. I thought I saw something in you! Something good! Well, I found that gauntlet today and that's when I finally realized that all the signs I've been seeing are correct. You never give up power for me, Rumple! You never have! You never will! You told me that gauntlet could lead you to someone's weakness. To the thing they loved the most! Well, you know where it led me Rumple? To the real dagger! Your true love is your power!' Thank you Belle for telling EVERYTHING like it is!

Yeah, 'oh shit' is a massive understatement to describe his face now that he's been caught out!

'I like the power! But there's nothing wrong with power! Not when it means that I- that we can have it all!' 'I just wanted you! I wanted to be chosen! I tried to be EVERYTHING for you, Rumple! But I wasn't and I lost my way trying to help you find yourself! But not anymore!' God, hearing her say this is so heartbreaking but he deserves to hear all of it!

Rumple, crying & making promises you obviously don't intend to keep just for pity is not going to work!

'Rumplestiltskin. I command you to leave Storybrooke!' OK, I did NOT expect this!

'I don't want to lose you!' 'You already have!' 'Belle, please! I'm afraid!' One part of me feels sorry for him cos Robert's acting is so so heartbreaking yet the other feels like he got what he deserved cos he bought this on himself & she has every right to be angry at him...anyone else feel like that?

N'aww!

Aww, she looks lovely!

Wow! Scary how much Georgina looks like Elsa wearing that dress! I know, she already looked like Elsa in her blue dress & braid, but this time round, it just makes it clearer how much she really looks like her!

'What is that amazing smell?' 'Chocolate!' Nice final blatant Frozen reference to end on! At least it wasn't a Let It Go pun!

Aww! Nice parallel to the very first camera shot of them in 4x01! Sad we didn't get to see the wedding after all the build up though...

Of course everything is fine for them...ugh (hey, just cos Rumbelle have broken up for now, it doesn't mean I'm gonna shift to CaptainSwan or I'm gonna change my mind about them)

Very sweet seeing them be all friendly despite Regina losing her soulmate!

Uh...very interesting!

WOW!

Hmm, VERY interesting! And love Emma being on board with Operation Mongoose!

Oddly enough I've missed Rumple's cane despite what it represents...

Wait a sec, he's still wearing his wedding ring (believe me, I checked & it's definitely his left hand)
I'd be lying if I didn't say that shot looked pretty cool!

'I certainly don't need to join you 'Queens of Darkness'.' haha! Nice that it was sarcasm!

OK...how did she end up in New York?

So there's 2 more stops & he wants to find the author...seems Operation Mongoose is having an affect on him!