This is the one everyone has been waiting for. The one we’ve been expecting since this trend of Disney churning out its classic animated films in live action began. The fairest of them all, one might even say. Yes, the much maligned, long in development, $270 million reimagining of the Walt Disney company’s very first feature length animated film, and the first feature length animated film period, has arrived. And as the title of the film clearly states, this is “Disney’s Snow White.”
Set in a long past fantasy kingdom, the film follows the princess Snow White, played by Rachel Zegler (“West Side Story (2021),” “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes”), who finds herself and the kingdom under the rule of her stepmother, the Evil Queen, played by Gal Gadot (“Wonder Woman,” “Death on the Nile”). The Queen decides to have Snow White killed so she can pose no threat to her. Snow flees into the forest surrounding the kingdom, where she meets seven mining dwarves (Doc, Grumpy, Happy, Sneezy, Sleepy, Bashful, and Dopey) living in the forest and a band of rebels led by Jonathan, played by Andrew Burnap (“WeCrashed,” “The Front Room”). Together with the dwarves and the rebels, she embarks on a plan to liberate the kingdom from the Queen’s evil clutches.
There are plenty of good ideas here and things that work quite well with a reimagining of material this old (the original film is fast approaching its 90th anniversary). Director Mark Webb (“(500) Days of Summer,” “The Amazing Spider-Man") and screenwriter Erin Cressida Wilson (“Secretary,” “The Girl on the Train”) establish a more caring and people-centric life for Snow, which makes her desire to help free the kingdom really work. It makes sense, and it works as a worthwhile addition to the material without feeling bloated. It’s one of the shorter of these Disney live-action remakes, and while this added material isn’t essential in its importance or how it’s told, it certainly isn’t monotonous either.
Zegler is the heart and soul of the film. One would hope that would be obvious, given the fact that she is in the titular role, but she really excells in the material. While the overall script isn’t perfect, she manages to push through some of the worst lines to rise above when the material fails her. She’s entirely genuine and charming and whenever she’s on screen, the film actively becomes better. The same goes for the vocal performances for the dwarves. Lead by a really charmingly goofy performance from Jeremy Swift (“Ted Lasso,” “Downton Abbey”) as Doc, this septet of miners keeps exactly the same kind of oddball energy you’d expect from their borderline comedic-relief roles. With Martin Klebba (“Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl,” “Pacific Rim: The Black”) as Grumpy, George Salazar in his film debut as Happy, Jason Kravits (“The Practice,” “Our Cartoon President”) as Sneezy, Andy Grotelueschen as Sleepy, Tituss Burgess (“Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,” “Schmigadoon!”) as Bashful, and Andrew Barth Feldman (“No Hard Feelings,” “Saturday Night”) as Dopey, the group all sound great singing and otherwise.
Burnap is less memorable than Zegler or the dwarves, sliding into an archetype that seems more like a live action version of Eugene from “Tangled” got mixed into the fray, but he’s still a good presence, as is Ansu Kabia (“Miss Scarlet and The Duke,” “The End We Start From”) as the Evil Queen’s Huntsman, although he seems to be forgotten by the film by the end. Gal Gadot is the big sore thumb sticking out of the cast. She’s just plain bad. Numerous scenes involving her are punctuated with bizarre facial expressions and vocal deliveries. Her song is the worst in the film, both from a writing and performance standpoint. She’s just not compelling or delivering an interesting performance, or even a mediocre one. Her delivery is stilted and wonky, as if you fed her voice into an AI and had it dub over the lines for her. She’s, without a doubt, the worst part of the film.
Visually the film is a very mixed bag. Cinematographer Mandy Walker (“Elvis (2022),” “Hidden Figures”) keeps things clear and moving, sometimes paying homage to shots from the original film while also working well within the visual effects heavy world. Where the mixed bag comes into play is in the film’s effects and production design. Anything in the kingdom has exceptional production design and effects work, it's simply gorgeous to look at. Outside of the kingdom, in the forest with Snow and the dwarves though, things are far more garish and ugly. The dwarves themselves aren’t terrible, but they also stand out even amongst the rest of the CGI due to their uncanny nature. The forest also has a bizarre dayglow lighting effect on everything. In the dwarves' house, for example, it's constantly lit as if the sunrise is shining in through every window, from every angle. It just looks very odd, almost like a lighting tech demo.
While still containing a few iconic songs, the original “Snow White” has a less remembered soundtrack overall compared to previous Disney films. Songwriting duo Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (“La La Land,” “The Greatest Showman”) have updated some of the classic songs really well, with “Whistle While You Work” and “Heigh-Ho” getting fantastic updates. Zegler’s solo song “Waiting on a Wish” is also excellent, and the rest of the songs are good, if not as good as those three. Almost ironically consistent though, the only bad song in the film is Gadot’s solo villain song “All is Fair.” Her singing isn’t just subpar, the song itself just feels out of place and like a blended concoction of every other Disney villain song. The choreography, planned by Mandy Moore (“La La Land,” “Babylon”), is great across the board though, and it makes you wish Webb and Moore will team up in the future for an original, better musical.
“Disney’s Snow White” is certainly not the train wreck some were predicting, nor is it the second coming of these live action remakes. It isn’t even the worst of said remakes either. Rather, it's a film with plenty of issues and plenty of good things as well. Zegler completely captivates and is the reason to watch the film itself, and the new and updated songs are delights. Apart from that, the rest of the film manages to be a fun distraction but never rises to replace the original in any way. It’s hard to tell if that was ever the point, but it does mean that in the years to come, after all the “controversies” die down, you’ll be hard pressed to find anyone to watch this over the original in most contexts. 3/5