SNOW WHITE (2025)
Starring Rachel Zegler, Andrew Burnap, Gal Gadot, Ansu Kabia, Hadley Fraser, Lorena Andrea, Emilia Faucher, Dujonna Gift, Colin Michael Carmichael, George Appleby, Samuel Baxter, Jimmy Johnston, Idriss Kargbo, Jaih Betote and the voices of Patrick Page, Jeremy Swift, Martin Klebba, George Salazar, Andy Grotelueschen, Tituss Burgess, Jason Kravits and Andrew Barth Feldman.
Screenplay by Erin Cressida Wilson.
Directed by Marc Webb.
Distributed by Walt Disney Studios. 109 minutes. Rated PG.
This may sound like a bit of a back-handed compliment – and perhaps it even is one – but Snow White is one of the best of Disney’s live-action remakes of their animated classics. In fact, it’s probably the best one since Cinderella almost a decade ago. It may seem backhanded because the inevitable live-action remakes of pretty much every title in Disney’s catalogue are almost always worse than the original classics.
And fairly, Snow White is not as good as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was. However, since the original film – which was Walt Disney’s first feature-length animated film – was originally released in 1937, much of the movie is rather dated looking and sounding. Snow White’s Betty-Boop-sounding voice alone makes the film feel outdated, and that’s not even taking into consideration the huge social changes in that time.
As I noted in a 2009 review of a video re-release of the original film, “in many ways Snow White is out of step with modern sensibilities – for example, Snow White wins the dwarves over by cooking and cleaning for them, kissing their foreheads and because she sure is ‘purdy.’”
A modern Snow White would have more on her mind than cleaning up after a bunch of dwarves and waiting around to be saved by the random love of a handsome (but lightly stalker-y) Prince Charming who she barely knows. The lives of women have changed a whole lot since then, so it seems that the character would be a bit deeper and have some more complex interests and goals.
So, much more than many of the Disney more recent past titles which are being remade – like The Little Mermaid, The Lion King and the upcoming Lilo and Stitch – Snow White could perhaps use a bit of an update.
Of course, the fact that Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is nearly 90-years-old now does not mean the story has been out of the public eye. The tale of Snow White (which was originally a fairy tale from The Brothers Grimm which was published in 1812) has been told multiple times over the years – both officially and in barely-disguised imitations. In fact, just in 2012 there were two fairly popular live-action variations of Snow White which fought it out in the cinemas – Mirror Mirror with Julia Roberts and Snow White and the Huntsman with Charlize Theron.
This new film version of Snow White is much closer to the original animated classic than most – although they did not feel the need to slavishly recreate it. While it is not perfect, it makes for more nostalgic fun than most versions.
This is nice, because despite some sort-of ridiculous controversies on social media. There was the fact that perhaps the most Caucasian character in film history (the world “white” was even in her name) was played by a Latin woman (Rachel Zegler, who also tackled another classic role as Maria in the Stephen Spielberg remake of West Side Story). This was only complicated when Zegler, correctly, pointed out that the character and the film were a little bit anachronistic. (As noted above…)
There was also the question of why the dwarves were computer-generated when there are many little person actors who could have probably used the job. (Most of the cute furry forest creatures who frolic around with Snow White are also CGI, but no one really complained about that.) And finally, there were whispers of Zegler and Gal Gadot (who plays the evil queen) not getting along due to political differences about the war in Gaza. (Gadot is Israeli, and Zegler has pro-Palestinian views.)
Okay, fine, but none of that has anything to do with how good the movie might be. Lots of films have had controversial creations, but many of them still work as a piece of art. As does, for the most part, Snow White. Twitter/X trolls who haven’t seen the movie shouldn’t define it.
With the story’s ubiquity in pop culture, most people know the basics of the plot. Snow White is a beautiful princess who lives a wonderful life in her home country. When her mother dies, her father remarries a beautiful-but-vain and evil woman, who eventually kills him and takes over the kingdom, becoming a horrific dictator and keeping the citizens in line through fear. The evil queen essentially turns Snow White into a servant in her own castle.
The Queen has a magic mirror and is constantly asking it “who is the fairest one of all?” As long as the mirror answers that it is the Queen, she is happy. However, one day the mirror says that Snow White has become the fairest, which propels the queen into rage. She tells a huntsman to take Snow White into the forest and kill her.
When the huntsman has mercy and allows her to escape, Snow White hides out with seven mining dwarves whose names expose their defining traits – Sneezy, Bashful, Sleepy, Happy, Grumpy, Doc and Dopey. (The graphic designer behind this film’s Dopey was obviously a huge fan of Alfred E. Neuman.) The Dwarves try to protect Snow White from the evil Queen, who is still trying to kill her. Also working to save the princess are a group of thieves who live in the forest – particularly their leader, Jonathan (Andrew Burnap), who replaces Prince Charming from the original film to be Snow White’s potential “true love’s kiss.”
The new music created for the reboot is fine, but generally not overly memorable. (The original film’s songs “Whistle While You Work” and “Heigh Ho [The Dwarfs Song]” are by far the most enjoyable songs used here, and that is only partially because they have been so deeply engrained in our lives for as long as we can remember.)
Will the new Snow White become such a classic film that people will still be watching it in 88 years? Probably not. However, it is mostly a lot of fun right now.
Jay S. Jacobs
Copyright ©2025 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved. Posted: March 20, 2025.
Opmerkingen