Snow White

by Tyler Glover

Photo: Disney

Director: Marc Webb
Starring: Rachel Zegler, Gal Gadot & Andrew Barth Feldman
Rated: PG (violence, some peril, thematic elements & brief rude humor)
Runtime: 1 hour & 49 minutes

 
In 2012, we got not one, but TWO ‘Snow White’ live-action films: Universal’s “Snow White and the Huntsman” and Relativity Media’s “Mirror Mirror.” Last week, Disney released their version of the classic, titled “Snow White.” It left many wondering: Do we need another one? Disney has been rapidly remaking its animated classics into live-action adaptations since 2010’s “Alice in Wonderland.” While other studios had their opportunity to revisit the tale, Disney had not gotten around to it yet. Honestly, though, aside from a blatant attempt to capitalize on nostalgia for financial purposes, was there a creative reason for this film?
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The truth is that the latest film has made history as the worst-reviewed film in IMDb history. A lot of that has to do with review bombing, though, for various reasons unrelated to the actual movie. While I don’t think the film is as horrible as critics believe, it suffered from having many great ideas but struggling to execute them.  

“Snow White” tells the story of Princess Snow White (Rachel Zegler). After her father's death, her stepmother and the Evil Queen (Gal Gadot) take over the kingdom. The once prosperous and happy kingdom falls into despair. Snow White longs for the days of the past to be restored. The Evil Queen has a Magic Mirror (voiced by Patrick Page) that tells her every day that she is the Fairest One of All. However, one day, the mirror tells the Queen Snow White is now the fairest, prompting the Queen to send for her Huntsman (Ansu Kabia) to kill her. Instead of killing her, the Huntsman warns her to run away. Snow White finds refuge in the cottage of the Seven Dwarves and plans to take back her kingdom.  

So, is this film the Fairest ‘Snow White’ live-action film of them all? 
 
Absolutely not ... but it isn’t as bad as people might think.  
 
The biggest asset of this film is Zegler's casting as Snow White. Zegler’s beautiful singing voice captures the essence of a true Disney princess. Her ability to express the optimism and hopeful nature of the princess is done to almost perfection. Her portrayal captures the nuances of a princess coming into her own and standing up for herself quite beautifully.  
 
The rest of the casting is OK, but the biggest misfire is Gadot as the Evil Queen. After learning of this casting choice, I was very intrigued to see this film. Gadot did have some huge shoes to fill in her defense. Julia Roberts and Charlize Theron had played the Evil Queen almost perfectly in the former ‘Snow White’ live-action films. Gadot captures the frightfulness of the Evil Queen just fine, but the biggest problem is that there are line deliveries where it seems like Gadot may start laughing and break character at how ridiculously over-the-top she delivered the line.  

While the story follows almost all of the story beats of the original, the film does stray from the original material. This film has two different directions that start out to be intriguing. Is the King still alive? Was the King killed? What does it mean to be the Fairest of Them All? The film asks these questions but they have little to no fruition. Snow White starts looking for the King, but when we discover what truly happened to the King, the whole story is not even given. We are just expected to take a simple statement, and it feels like a horrible payoff for an otherwise intriguing direction. The truly intriguing aspect, though, is that the Magic Mirror seems to change what his definition of the Fairest of Them All is. He starts declaring Snow White fair because she is a just person rather than the most beautiful person in the world. However, we get no story indication as to why the Mirror that told this Evil Queen that she was the Fairest for years changed its mind on a whim.   

The biggest mistake this film made was deciding to CGI the Seven Dwarves. The animation of these dwarves feels like it should be in a separate movie from this one. It is jarring, and it takes away from the emotional connection we have to them. Dopey was cute, and there is a twist to his story that I felt was handled beautifully. There are actual actors who could have done these roles.  

The truth is, though, that when the film follows the familiar story, it is enjoyable to watch. It was an entertaining afternoon, and my kids enjoyed it. It was also a beautiful film to look at. Sandy Powell’s costumes for the Evil Queen were stunning.

“Snow White” has intriguing new directions in taking the classic tale, but struggles in its execution, making this film not quite the fairest of them all.