At long last, the run of mediocre live action Disney remakes has found its way back to the start of it all. In 1937 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs became Disney's first feature length animated film, and nearly a century later we're back to that well to mine whatever money they can from the age old story. My feelings towards these Disney remakes is a bit up and down, I loved The Jungle Book and enjoyed others like Cruella, The Little Mermaid, and Christopher Robin. There have been a handful that I thought were just fine, but some like Aladdin, Pinocchio, and Alice in Wonderland that truly made me angry in how they butchered a story so magical. Snow White has seen controversy upon controversy leading up to its release, starting ultimately in its existence as one of these pointless remakes. But is it as bad as we feared? In short, no, but it's also far from a success.
The film follows the classic tale of Snow White but gives it a bit of a modern twist, giving Snow White more agency as a character. While the end result delivers some pretty strong moments, it also leaves the film as a tonal mess. For a lot of the early act this feels exactly how you would expect a live action retelling of the animated film to, but around the halfway mark it shifts and starts to feel more like the late 2000s/early-2010s non-Disney fairy tale movies that sought to capitalize on our familiarity with the Disney animations. It starts to feel more like Once Upon a Time or Mirror Mirror than the classic it means to evoke, and at times either intentionally or unintentionally becomes campy to the point of a Disney channel musical rather than a big budget blockbuster. It leaves a tonal imbalance that just constantly feels off, never committing and therefor never feeling as though it hits its stride. There are moments the film almost feels like a parody of the 1937 movie, while others manage to strike that familiar Disney magic.
Rachel Zegler has taken on a lot of controversy due to her outspoken nature, and while I don't agree with some of what she says, that doesn't take away from her immense talent as a performer. Here she gets to play in her wheelhouse, delivering a strong leading performance that truly shines in the musical numbers. I didn't even particularly care for the songs themselves a lot of the time, but Zegler's ability to command a scene, especially with her vocal talents, made the numbers something I looked forward to despite not overly enjoying the songs. On the flip side of the coin is Gal Gadot, who is genuinely delivering one of the worst blockbuster performances I've seen in some time. She takes the mantle of Disney's first villain and manages to suck every bit of aura out of her. Some of this is thanks to a hilarious musical number that didn't fit the character at all, but a lot of it is thanks to her inability to command the screen whatsoever nor deliver lines in a convincing manner. The Evil Queen is a fearful force, and Gadot plays her as if this was one of the TV Descendants movies, never feeling intimidating even for a moment. Even when we get the old weary version of her with the apple, it just comes across as goofy, and with Snow White taking on a more active role, it hurts the film to not have a strong antagonist for Zegler to go up against.
Another major controversy the film has faced since the trailer came out, was the CGI dwarfs the filmmakers decided to use. Part of the controversy came from the dwarf community as this choice essentially erased jobs that could have gone to real actors, and more came from the CGI looking quite bad. I will say, this is one area where I was pleasantly surprised, as the look of the dwarfs actually grew on me as the film went on. Their charm swayed me and by the end I was erring on the side of positive in terms of my feelings towards their look. There is a point though where an actual dwarf actor, George Appleby, takes on a fairly prominent role as part of a gang of bandits, and while I thought he was a great addition it did feel weird having him acting alongside the weird CGI dwarfs. I've been saying it to anyone that will listen over the past few months, but if Disney wanted to make a new Snow White movie without this controversy there was a very easy solution that would also make use of an IP they have: THE MUPPETS. Kermit as the prince, Miss Piggy as the evil queen (thus taking the worst part out of this movie), the dwarfs played by Fozzy, Gonzo, Swedish Chef, Rowlf, Bunsen Honeydew, Beaker, and Animal? Now that is a version of Snow White I think we could all rally around.
The dwarf CGI aside, I thought the film mostly looked just okay. There is a bit of blandness visually that has come to be the norm for Disney's output, but I really enjoyed the sets and costumes, and for the most part the effects are solid. There is the odd crappy green screen which I always hate, but compared to something like the new Captain America it could have been much worse. At the end of the day I didn't have a bad time watching this. It's missteps are clear and Gal Gadot is delivering some bottom of the barrel acting, but I enjoyed some of the risks it took with the story and Rachel Zegler is really fantastic. It falls squarely in that mid category of these Disney remakes, hopefully when Lilo & Stitch comes out in May we'll finally have another one I can confidently say I enjoy. I'd give this a very light 2.5/5
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