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In 1937, Walt Disney released the first-ever full-length animated film: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. And while other animated classics have gotten Disney’s live-action treatment through the years, it’s taken a while for Disney to decide how to handle the original—but it’s finally getting its due in the controversy-steeped Snow White.
Snow White tells the story of the young princess (Rachel Zegler) who, following the deaths of her parents, is kept imprisoned in the palace, treated like a servant by her stepmother (Gal Gadot). When the evil queen’s magic mirror informs her that Snow White has overtaken her as the fairest of them all, she plans to kill the princess. Instead, Snow White ends up on the run in an enchanted forest—and with the help of seven dwarfs and a group of bandits, she manages to evade capture by the queen’s guard.
For its live-action remake, Disney’s original fairy tale has been reworked and updated—with mixed results. Some of these updates give the story more depth and development, while others just seem strange. The addition of the bandits—who, along with the seven (CGI) dwarfs, help the princess fight against the queen’s men—feels unnecessary. And while the role of the prince in the original film certainly needed some updating, that could have been done without cutting the character altogether and replacing him with a roguish Flynn Rider kind of Thief with a Heart of Gold. I’m not really a fairy tale purist—and Snow White has never been one of my favorite princesses—but some of the choices here just make it feel a little bit off.
While the film’s casting has also been criticized, that criticism is unfounded. Rachel Zegler brings the right sweetness and naivete to the princess, while also allowing her to grow in strength and courage along the way. And Gal Gadot is fittingly, delightfully over-the-top as the vain evil queen.
In the end, the filmmakers’ choices make the film feel a little bit like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs—just with touches of other various generic fairy tales mixed in. It’s not a bad remake, but it may leave audiences feeling a little off-balance.
If you haven’t seen Disney’s original fairy tale in a while, you may be confused by some of the changes made for Snow White—while purists may be (understandably) outraged by the change in the princess’s love interest. Most viewers will simply see it as a charming (if somewhat forgettable) fairy tale—but it isn’t one of the better live-action remakes.
You can join Snow and her friends in battle when Snow White arrives in theaters on March 21, 2025.
Listen to the review on Reel Discovery:
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