Does the Wicked Queen unhinge her jaw and eat her stepdaughter whole in this one?

She does not. But she wears some seriously fucking awesome dresses, and she goes through the mirror a couple of times and ends up in... something I can't describe without both spoiling it and making it sound bleak and bare and uninteresting, because it's made to be seen, not described. It's just cold and creepy and gives you the same sort of feeling as some Miyazaki movies, where the mundane and supernatural worlds intersect and you get brief little glimpses of other worlds that you realize must be real worlds -- you get a few-seconds-long flash of something that's so detailed and so fully realized that you can imagine a whole complex history behind it, even if the filmmaker never explores it or mentions it again.

It's just a very visually full world. But everyone's jaw stays firmly hinged in place.

I saw Damsels in Distress last fall at a film fest. I really enjoyed it. (I have to confess that I have never seen any other Stillman films.) The style really reminded me of 90s indie movies.

Appropriate since the last time he made a movie was in the 90s, and he was a very indie director. I highly recommend all of three of his movies, but especially Barcelona.

Yes, that's my favorite of the three, too.

Huh. I wonder if it's dudes vs. girls thing. I enjoyed Barcelona but it was easily my least favourite of the three, and I think it's because it's all from the POV of the boys. The women in that movie are mostly cyphers.

Barcelona is my preferred Stillman.

Barcelona is probably my favorite, if only for that "what's that thing, above the subtext" line.

I think Sara said "Mirror, Mirror" was popcorn, but really fun high quality popcorn.

It's the popcorniest. I'm pretty sure that any Buffista who got pure visual pleasure out of Coraline, Edward Scissorhands, Marie Antoinette, A Series of Unfortunate Events, Alice in Wonderland (Burton version), Spirited Away, Pleasantville, or the totally ahistorical but oh so pretty Cate Blanchett Elizabeth will swoon over the visuals of this one. It's a completely ridiculous mashup of everything from medieval cathedrals to Gaudi to Diagon Alley, but somehow it all works.

Is the pretty enough to balance the downsides? Is the plot at least not cringeworthy?

Honestly, the only downside is the star whom a lot of Buffistas really hate (I won't even write her name out of respect for them), and if you don't have any particular objection to her then there isn't much else to gripe about. Competently written, competently acted (except for Lily Collins, who is way better than competent), staggering visuals. At worst, it's flat and obvious and a little tedious at times, but at best it's a visual feast.

Also, whatshisbucket who plays the prince is a comely lad, and spends a lot of time shirtless.

And, final bonus for any parent who's had to sit through basically any children's movie of the entire last decade: it contains possibly one single crotch kick and no fart jokes at all.