Screenwriter Erin Cressida Wilson had an unenviable task ahead of her when she signed on to adapt 1937's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs into a live-action re-imaging that'd appeal to contemporary audiences. After all, the eponymous heroine has little in common with the more modern, spirited Disney princesses who have fought for love, legs, freedom, or the whole of China. Snow White was less a self-rescuing princess and more a pretty damsel in distress who ran away from home, died by a poisoned apple, and was revived by a kiss from a prince she barely knew. But in Disney's Snow White, Wilson smartly translates the classic iconography of the original film while rejiggering its flimsy framework into a solid and charming coming-of-age story.
In Disney's Snow White, the princess (Rachel Zegler) is less fragile, named not for the pale color of her skin but for the winter storm that raged the night she was born. When she is called fair, it's not meant like pretty (though she is), but as in just. For instance, she's the kind of princess who picks apples alongside her people, and then happily bakes apple pies to share in a big community feast. These little shifts in context make a profound difference, painting Snow White as resilient, capable, and caring. Of course, the tone of this kingdom shifts dramatically when the Evil Queen (Gal Gadot) takes over.
Wilson's take on Snow White is surprisingly winsome. It delivers a familiar story with a fresh perspective and some unexpected sources of nostalgia.
Rachel Zegler shines as Snow White.
The star of Steven Spielberg's West Side Story and the action-packed prequel The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, Zegler has an undeniable star power from her first frames. With her open-hearted expression, earnestness, and warm singing voice, she is through and through a live-action Disney princess. Swanning around in her gold skirts and Snow White's signature bob, Zegler is sure to thrill countless Disney princess devotees. But where things get really interesting is when she confronts conflict.
Sure, like the Snow White who came before her, she will fearfully flee into a ferocious woods, staggered by grabby trees branches. But props to director Marc Webb (The Amazing Spider-Man 1 & 2), who flips the color palette of muted regal hues abruptly to slick black forestry and neon red mist, all of which read as a nightmarish threat for the princess fleeing her wicked stepmother's huntsman. But before this dramatic escape, Snow White also stands up to her queen, begging for mercy for a handsome bandit (Andrew Burnap) who was caught robbing the royal pantry. Here, Snow White embraces bravery, even as her voice trembles. Through her steady assertions, she creates a path all her own to love and political activism.
The romance in Snow White is genuinely endearing.
Forget the nameless prince. This time, Snow White falls for a bandit with a heart of gold. He meets her in the castle's kitchen and assumes — based on her humble demeanor and clothes — that she is a servant, not the princess. He has a compelling cockiness to him, and to children of the '90s, a familiar appeal; his costume includes a plaid shirt with a hood, a striped poncho, and a floppy hairstyle with a center part that feels deeply of a time not so long ago. The character's name is Jonathan, but he's giving Jonathan Taylor Thomas circa Home Improvement. And I'm not mad at it!
On top of his vintage charms, Jonathan flirts through talk of political rebellion, proclaiming that this greedy, vain queen shouldn't be in charge, nor should she be hoarding all the goods of the kingdom for her own pleasures. It's an eye-opening moment for Snow White, who is both attracted to and appalled by this brash young man. Their conversations spark within her a desire not only to survive but to fight for her kingdom, to bring back a sense of community and revelry over military might and isolation. These politics and young love blossom in the woods, no matter how many dwarfs are looking on.
Good God, Snow White's dwarfs are a disaster.
This remake has faced backlash over the decision to make Snow White's dwarf friends CGI characters, rather than casting performers with dwarfism for the roles of Sneezy, Sleepy, Happy, Bashful, Dopey, and Doc. Notably, Martin Klebba of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise lends his voice to Grumpy. However, it's hard to argue CGI was the way to go when these once lovable cartoons now look like lawn gnomes with worrisome skin conditions.
Where Zegler and Gadot are made up to have flawless faces, worthy of the cover of romantic fantasy novels, the dwarfs live in an uncanny valley. They are walking, squawking bobbleheads, mottled with blemishes that make them look somehow less real and more ghastly. Dopey — who doesn't have facial hair to hide any of his features — is the most uncanny, being downright difficult to look at, on par with Scuttle from the 2023 live-action remake of The Little Mermaid.
Perhaps this was a demand of Disney execs, hoping to keep fans happy, but their antics feel disjointed from the personal and political thrust of Wilson's script. So, the dwarf shenanigans in the middle of the movie are a bit of a slog. After all, these characters never get any deeper than their nicknames suggest. In fact, a modified version of their "Heigh Ho," triples down on their silly monikers, with lyrics like "I'm Sleepy! / Yeah, we KNOW!"
These eyesores of fan service are the worst bit of Snow White, unable to be elevated by the voicework of Klebba, Andrew Barth Feldman, Tituss Burgess, Jason Kravits, George Salazar, Andy Grotelueschen, and Jeremy Swift. However, the bigger disappointment is in the formerly fairest of them all.
Gal Gadot falls short of evil diva greatness in Snow White.
Love her or loathe her, there's no denying the Evil Queen is an epic villainess. Gadot isn't able to bring dimension to this iconic queen, though she looks devastatingly fierce in the incredible costumes by three-time Academy Award–winning designer Sandy Powell. The dark sequins that cover her head to toe not only sparkle in a slick black and purple glory, but they have a sound to them.
Kudos to the entire sound team, because the noise around the mean queen builds an atmosphere before she even speaks. The soft clatter of sequins on sequins as she swaggers sounds almost like the scurry of spiders. The squish of caviar as she greedily plunges in her fork gives an ick while drawing attention to her luxuries, while her people are risking dungeon time for stealing potatoes. The crack of shellfish under her bejeweled fingers brings home her ruthlessness as she stares down Snow White.
With a black-stained lip, hard brow, and a smoky eye that could start a fire, Gadot is picture-perfect in this goth villainy. She clearly enjoys the grandly repugnant proclamations of her queen, like in a song where she declares, "Ambitious girls must be vicious girls!" Yet there's something missing behind her posturing.
It's hard not to compare her to Angelina Jolie in Maleficent or Cate Blanchett as the resplendent wicked stepmother in 2015's Cinderella. The Evil Queen is the kind of role that harkens back to the snarling femme fatales of film noir, the shrieking matriarchs of melodramas, or the animated villainesses themselves, whose self-satisfied cackles have rung out across decades. There should be a juicy liberation in playing such an unapologetically mad woman, but Gadot can't seem to tap into that rich wrath or rage. While her queen looks the part, the effect is ultimately underwhelming.
However, for a movie that I expected to be achingly predictable, Disney's Snow White is both surprising and entertaining. Zegler is stellar as Snow White, and Burnap is terrific as her challenging beau. The dwarfs are a nightmare, and Gadot is insubstantial, but the charms of the colorful production design, the details of the CGI forest animals, and the richly enchanting costumes lure us into a fantasy world that's familiar but offers new discoveries to be uncovered. New songs give fresh verve to this antique tale. So in the end, Disney's Snow White is a magical cinematic experience.
Snow White opens in theaters March 21.
