Taking a beloved and quite frankly, one of the most revolutionary animated films ever and turning it into a live-action musical spectacle has been Disney’s M.O. for about a decade now. With that comes films like Snow White. When it was announced, there was a smattering of groans from the usual suspects. Something about how Disney is destroying their childhoods and how they’re bastardizing the animated classic that they likely haven’t ever seen or seen in quite a long time. They’ve done a great job in the past with films like Beauty and the Beast, so the track record is there. Does Snow White fall on that scale or does it go somewhere in the middle?

Snow White stars Rachel Zegler as the titular character and also features Gal Gadot as the wicked Evil Queen. It also has performances from Tituss Burgess, Martin Klebba, and Andrew Burnap as Jonathan. It’s a relatively unknown cast outside of the two stars, but they all perform admirably. It follows the same story as the 1937 classic, Snow White is a princess, her parents are the best rulers in all the land, until her mother falls ill and passes away. A beautiful woman comes through town with magical powers, and marries her father, The King. Eventually, the Evil Queen takes over and Snow White is left to be a servant to her in the castle.

It’s not a hard plot to follow. I was shocked to hear in a Disney film that her mother dies outright. Normally they sugarcoat things a bit, but this movie doesn’t at points. If you’re into the themes of the Grimm fairy tales these movies are based on, some of them do come out in bits and pieces. The rest of the film follows Snow White as she escapes the castle and the Queen. She meets the Seven Dwarves in the forest and has adventures with them.

The musical aspects of the film are to be completely honest, not for me as a 30-year-old male. However, I can acknowledge that they were catchy enough. I was tapping along to some of the new songs, and then of course when the Dwarves started belting out “Hi-Ho It’s Off To Work We Go” it was like The Rolling Stones hitting “Start Me Up”. You might think you don’t know the words to that song, and yet, they flood to you like a vivid memory from childhood.

Speaking of that, I didn’t rewatch the original 1937 movie in anticipation of this one. I think that actually helped my enjoyment of the film more. I was getting Sleeping Beauty and Snow White and the Seven Dwarves mixed up in my head, and that made the twists and turns of the film more prominent. The film is vivid and colorful, and should capture children’s attention with no problem, but I was struck gazing at some of the backgrounds including the Dwarves Cottage. That might be the best set of the entire film. There isn’t whatever grey filter that seems to permeate through these live-action remakes of animated movies, which is a plus as well.

Director Marc Webb doesn’t let things linger for too long between scenes and the action and pace is fast. Even the limited fight scenes are a mix of a bit more realistic than I would have thought for a kids’ movie, and still silly enough to distract kids away from the violence.

As for the performances in the film, Rachel Zegler absolutely shines as Snow White. In both singing and normal scenes, she’s belting the songs with the best of them. While I was thinking that her hairstyle would be distracting, it wasn’t through the film. Also the costume department gets an A+ for how perfect they got her iconic dress. It looks straight out of the cartoon. Andrew Burnap is also damn good as Jonathan, making for a fitting future prince. The voice actors for the Seven Dwarves and Jonathan’s band of bandits are also excellent. Jeremy Swift as Doc and Martin Klebba as Grumpy are the two real highlights.

The look of the Seven Dwarves took me out of the film a bit, though. They look fine, if the whole movie was CGI, but they just have a sort of uncanny valley effect where they stick out among the human characters. The furry cartoon woodland animals fit more because they’re more stylized, but the Dwarves are given a more realistic look. It’s going to be a point that everyone makes, but it would have been better with live actors as the dwarves. Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit did it, they could have done it here.

The other thing that dragged the film down a bit for me was Gal Gadot’s performance. It’s not horrific. But, it does feel like she’s acting in a completely different movie than everyone else. She’s going for a hyper-campy style Evil Queen when this is very much not a campy movie. It clashes with Zegler and the rest of the cast’s performances. She sticks out because the Evil Queen is supposed to be as wicked as possible, not goofy or silly.

What I was struck by was some of the more thrilling aspects in Snow White. Someone gets shot with an arrow, the forest scene when Snow White first escapes is terrifying, and the Evil Queen’s transformation into the old hag is just as scary as it is in the cartoon. I wasn’t expecting much out of Snow White. The movie wasn’t made for me, however, if I had to go with kids to see it, I would have a good time. It captures the look of the cartoon in most ways, while having some catchy songs. If you’re a parent worried about going to see it, don’t be. Snow White isn’t going to revolutionize film like the original 1937 film did, but it really doesn’t have to.

Snow White releases in theaters on March 21st, 2025.

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