Snow White Review: Insipid Rather Than Imaginative
Theatrical Movie Review - Animated/Fairy Tale
The 1937 Snow White was Disney's first feature-length animated film, absolutely revolutionizing film. Now, in 2025, director Marc Webb has brought the animated classic to the big screen again in another live-action remake from the studio. And while there are moments that could justify the decision to recycle old material, the overall effect was unimpressive.
The remake follows most of the beats of the original while giving a much longer introduction to the story of Snow White (Rachel Zegler). After his wife dies, the King (Hadley Fraser) marries a woman who turns out to be an evil Queen (Gal Gadot). She puts Snow White to work and hoards all of the kingdom’s resources while using the Magic Mirror (Patrick Page) to reassure herself that she is still the fairest in the land.
The new version deviates from the original by including a gang of bandits led by Jonathan (Andrew Burnap), who fills the role of the Prince. Actually giving Snow White some agency, rather than simply being rescued by a faceless handsome man, allows this film something unique from its predecessor. The dwarves still exist, albeit deep inside the uncanny valley. Snow White still eats the poisoned apple, and she is saved by a kiss. But rather than ending at that, an additional scene wraps up the end much better than the original.
One of the other big changes in the live-action Snow White is the inclusion of several new songs. The film keeps “Whistle While You Work” and “Heigh-Ho,” but the rest are replaced with new music from Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, the writing duo who created Dear Evan Hansen and The Greatest Showman. Most are fine, if not particularly memorable, but the Queen gets a new song, “All Is Fair,” highlighting nearly all of the issues of casting Gadot in that role.
As performances go, we get the whole range in Snow White. Zegler is magical and is undoubtedly what saved the movie from being wholly unwatchable. Burnap is charming (even though he is not Prince Charming), but even with the additional story tying him and Snow White together, I still didn’t entirely buy their story. The voice work for the Dwarves was fine, though nothing stuck out as particularly interesting. Gadot felt wildly miscast as The Queen, particularly when they gave her a campy song to sing. Her version of the crone was appalling visually and vocally, and while her version of the Queen was fine, the film felt unsure how to write her to be something less flat than the original.
The visuals in the film are also a mishmash. The animals were better than some previous attempts to blend live-action with an anthropomorphic version, and the costumes were beautifully crafted. However, the overall coloring of the film felt washed out and bland.
Disney has long been one of the most innovative companies in the world. They have given us countless hours of entertainment and joy. Sady, Snow White seems to be yet another step away from the land of imagination and into the land of insipidity.
Rating: 2/5
This review originally appeared in The Dominion Post on March 23, 2025.
No way on G-d's green earth an I going to give any more money to Disney. I know it cheaper to recycle stories but this was uncalled for. Do not go see this drivil