CEBU, Philippines - Snow White adaptations are like buses, you wait ages for one and then two come along at once.
But never fear, fantasy fans, the release of a trailer for Mirror, Mirror today confirmed that this Tarsem Singh directed romp is going to be magical worlds away from the gritty and dark Snow White and the Huntsman.
Their malevolent and violent Evil Queen, played by a serious Charlize Theron, is prone to breaking into flocks of black birds for no apparent reason. Mirror on the other hand, has Julia Roberts camping it up with sardonic one liners, then breaking up into cackles over her ham-fisted plans.
And Kristen Stewart's serious warrior princess is replaced by a traditional Snow White that stays close to the Disney blueprint with red red lips, and a spin on that famous blue and yellow costume.
This princess, played by singer Phil Collins' daughter, Lily , may be feisty, but she's as likely to erupt into song if a tiny bird alights on her arm.
If Snow White and the Huntsman is a Twilight inspired take on the beloved tale, this appears to be the whimsical, witty Princess Bride-style adaptation.
Nothing is scared, the trailer makes clear from the outset. Snow White's fabled porcelain skin and obsidian locks are dismissed as nothing out of the ordinary by the Evil Queen in a show-setting moment of hubris.
The trailer begins with the usual film voiceover about a 'beautiful princess' with 'skin as white as snow and hair as black as night.'But Julia interrupts the monologue to sneer: “Her hair is not black it's raven, she's 18 years old and her skin has never seen the sun, so of course it's good!”
Armie Hammer stars as the pursued Prince and Nathan Lane as the Queen's beleagured servant Brighton.
Mirror, Mirror is released in March 2012, ahead of Kristen Stewart's rival movie, Snow White And The Huntsmen by three months. (FREEMAN)