As we usher in a period of rampant nostalgia, Disney has made itself far too familiar with live-action remakes of their old films. This year’s first victim of an unsolicited remake is the 1937 classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. This year’s Snow White, starring Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot, has been the topic of much controversy for a variety of unrelated reasons that ultimately plummeted its opening week at the box office. Despite this controversy, or rather because of it, I wanted to see for myself what the big deal was and why people hated this film so much. In preparation for this review, I went back and watched the original 1937 film to have a basis on which I judge and compare the new film. Truthfully, I think this enhanced my moviegoing experience.
Beware of spoilers ahead (even if you’ve seen the original).
How the new and old compare
One thing I was pleasantly surprised to find in this film was the number of elements that paid homage to the original movie. Both with minor details and larger plot points, this film used inspiration directly from the original source but enhanced that source material where needed.
At the root basis of the comparison, this film was nearly an exact remake, except for the addition of some original songs and expanding the ending to be more emotional for Snow White and less romantic. Rather than the conflict being wrapped up by the death of the Evil Queen at the hands of the Seven Dwarfs while Snow White lies dead in a glass coffin, this film allowed Snow White to awaken from her “death” and face off against the queen herself. She simultaneously saves the townspeople (who were irrelevant in the original) from the unjust rule of the Evil Queen by everyone banding together to stand up to her wrath.
Other similarities are the smaller details like the wood carvings of animals on the wooden stairs, the box the queen gives her huntsman to put Snow White’s heart in after he kills her, and her fleeing into the forest as it comes alive and pushes her further into the dwarfs’ house.
My personal favorite moment that drew from the original was minor but significant: the iconic rolling of the apple out of Snow White’s hand as she dies. How we see her “die” is not important, but I just thought it was a nice touch to keep things true to the original.
Another favorite moment from the new film differed from the old one in one crucial way. Upon discovering the home of the seven dwarfs in the original, Snow White, unprompted, cleans their entire house with assistance from the loyal animals of the forest. In the new one? She makes the dwarfs do it! Yes, sure, she helps, but I took note of it when watching the original, so to see the difference was neat.
What didn’t work
Though the film thoughtfully included callbacks to the original, it still had major issues that persisted beyond nostalgia.
Number one is why the dwarfs look like that.
Do you mean to tell me there was no better option for how they’re supposed to look? I did eventually get used to them, but they have an uncanny valley-ness that is just jarring at first (and second) glance. This has sparked controversy, with some questioning why Disney didn’t hire actual actors with dwarfism to play these roles rather than having CGI dwarfs with voice actors.
Additionally, the costumes in this film were subpar. They looked like costumes. This they are, but in a good movie, costumes should feel like outfits that the characters themselves would pluck out of their closets. Instead, the Evil Queen’s flashy geometric cape and squeaky leather bodysuit did the movie a disservice.
On the topic of the Evil Queen, Gadot’s performance was the weakest link of this movie. While her character should have been a fearful and intimidating force to be reckoned with, she ultimately was a caricature of a stereotypical evil queen who is all bark and no bite. At no point did I take her seriously.
Most of the issues arose in Act Three when the attempt at a resolution began. Snow White’s love interest in this film, Jonathan, who is not a prince but an outlaw living in the forest, is captured by the Evil Queen and is chained to a wall and held prisoner along with the huntsman who let Snow White live. At this point in the film, Snow White has already bitten the apple and died. While being held prisoner in the castle, Jonathan repeatedly tries for “days” to get out of the chains by yanking on them. Then, the huntsman joins his efforts, and suddenly, the chain breaks loose, and they are freed.
You mean to tell me you didn’t both try pulling on the chains? For days? It was too easy.
Convenience visits these characters again when we reach the final face-off with Snow White and the Evil Queen, after her true love’s kiss wakes her, of course. To defeat the Evil Queen, Snow White walks into the town in a red hood, which is striking against the drab color of everything else, and somehow, everyone in the town just knows to stand behind her in support. As she is about to be killed by a guard after being detained, she speaks directly to the guards and reminds them of what life was like with her father as king — how peaceful and how prosperous the town was. Of course, with just the power of Snow White’s words, the Evil Queen angrily stomps off into the palace. She is then turned to glass and shattered into a million pieces that are sucked into her broken magic mirror, just because she was upset.
It was anticlimactic, to say the least. The entire resolution — the escaping, the kiss, the stand-off — felt a bit like a cop-out. It was too easy. Also, what is up with Rachel Zegler’s bob?
What worked
Compared to what didn’t work, this list is far less exhaustive. The strongest thing about this film was Zegler. She is exceptionally talented as both an actor and a singer, and this role showed that. Unfortunately, the ensemble accompanying her didn’t quite match her performance level. Nevertheless, any compelling emotional moments that stayed with the audience surely came from her performance. It was not perfect, but I’m unsure anyone could have been with a script like this one.
Zegler was also the target of much of the controversy surrounding this film before it was even released.
Another key difference between this film and the original was, shockingly, the personalities of two of the dwarfs: Doc and Dopey.
In the 1937 version, Doc’s entire thing was that he would say the wrong words. However, in the new film, he was very well spoken! Dare I say, the smartest of the dwarfs. On the other hand, Dopey stayed a bit more true to his original character, except for some minor things. In this movie, he has a much stronger bond with Snow White, who teaches him how to whistle. And while 1937 Dopey never quite finds his voice, 2025 Dopey does. In a tense moment just after Snow White comes back to life, Dopey speaks for the first time. It’s so cute (but still weird because of the CGI)!
Final Thoughts
Though not a terrible movie, Snow White lacked important aspects. It was formulaic in its presentation and resolution of the conflict and had little emotional depth to connect the audience to the characters.
Without the nostalgia that comes with this remake, I fear it would have flopped harder than it actually did. The cliche dialogue and cheesy interactions between characters felt disconnected and sterile. Would I rewatch this movie? No, definitely not. Do I regret seeing it? Maybe? Ultimately, no, but I wish it were a better film overall. Growing up, I adored Disney princesses, and as an adult, if I’m going to see the princesses’ stories retold, I wish they would be more thoughtful in how they are made and brought to life.
I’d give this movie three out of five stars, and I think that is being generous.