Snow White – REVIEW

Rachel Zegler in Snow White


Okay, I know I’m stepping into a bit of a landmine here. Before I start off, I gotta get something off of my chest about all this controversy surrounding Snow White, the latest movie that Disney’s decided to remake out of their own catalog of animated movies. I haven’t really been all that harsh to any of the ones I’ve seen. At their best, they’re jolly good shows. Not too much to think about, but maybe it’s because I grew up in a family that was essentially tied to Disney. The Beauty and the Beast remake is probably my personal favorite, even though the original animated movie never really stood out to me as a kid. I’m partial to the Jungle Book remake too, honestly. At their worst, they’re lifeless husks of movies that everyone knows. Somehow, the worst part about the Lion King remake isn’t its tragic waste of Donald Glover: it’s just… The Lion King. Not bad in spirit, but you’re literally watching the exact same movie. I like it when movies shake up the formula a little bit, and an animated movie about a princess looking for love. I’m very much simplifying the plot, but Snow White & The Seven Dwarves is literally the first American animated movie ever. If they were gonna re-do it, not exclusively Disney, everyone knows that they had to update it. They tried one time with Kristen Stewart and Chris Hemsworth, and a second time without Kristen Stewart. It’s gotta work eventually, right? At least this Snow White is better than that. That being said, this still is a studio film, from probably the biggest movie studio ever. We’re not getting insanely risky stuff over here, it’s Disney, but the changes that are made to the story for Snow White are relatively big ones. There’s a whole list out there of every specific change, which you can read by clicking here, but the one I’d like to focus on is probably the biggest one: there’s no prince or really any sort of romance for Snow White. In the broader context, the new story follows Snow White on her mission to reclaim her kingdom from the Evil Queen, who’s taken over. Honestly, for an update, it’s not that bad. It’s actually the best case scenario for this, and instead of a prince, we have Jonathan, the leader of a scrappy group of bandits that also want to take down the Queen. Rachel Zegler and Andrew Burnap are the highlights of Snow White, especially Zegler. I’ve been a fan of hers since Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story, and she’s been delightful to watch in this and The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. She’s not the problem here, but I can’t lie and say that the weak link here is Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen. Even with some spotty CGI with the dwarves, Gadot just feels… off? It’s a very campy performance, and I think that was intentional. Her song is probably her best moment, but it all just feels weird. Not even sure if I can put it into words, even just under a month out from it. The only thing I could really say is that Snow White didn’t have that directing flair that some movie musicals have. Marc Webb’s got some good stuff, but maybe he just wasn’t the right guy for this. It may not be perfect, but you can do much worse than d. It’s got enough good stuff like Zegler, Burnap, and pretty much all of the songs that it kept me engaged.


Ryan’s Grade: B