Disney’s 1937 animated classic “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” clocks in at one hour and 23 minutes. Disney’s 2025 live-action remake “Snow White” runs for one hour and 49 minutes. The 26 minutes are a necessity, so parents can get some extra sleep while taking their children to the cinema.
The original has been ridiculed for its damsel in distress storyline, while the larger Disney princess canon has been critiqued for its promotion of whiteness as the standard for beauty — a sentiment especially echoed by a character named Snow White.
“Snow White,” starring Rachel Zegler as the titular character, attempts to right the wrongs of the original by casting a Latina actress to play Snow White, refocusing the narrative to pose Snow White as the heroine of her own story and notably cutting “Some Day My Prince Will Come.” The changes invoke a modern take on the tale; however, they do so to marginal returns.
Zegler plays Snow White with a timidness that eventually lends itself to self-assuredness. Her lyric soprano wonderfully brings to life a key aspect of the character from the animated film — vocals so beautiful that they can command nature and rid the world of the unnatural or, in the film’s case, the Evil Queen played by Gal Gadot. Zegler’s vocal range, sadly, is never given much time to shine in the film. Instead, director Marc Webb opts to give ample time and musical numbers to side characters, including the Evil Queen and Andrew Burnap’s Jonathan.
Gadot terribly misses the mark. For good reason, she is given one musical number that is repeatedly reprised. Compared to Zegler, Gadot’s vocals remind the audience why it is important to cast actors who can sing in a musical. It is unclear where exactly she is going with the role. She waltzes around the sound stage with a highly contrived earnestness as if she is on the set of a Disney Channel original movie rather than a film meant for the silver screen, yet it is not the worst the film has to offer.
Gadot’s mind-numbing performance pairs nicely with costume design so uninspired that one may wonder what exactly the $250 million budget went to. Her dress is glammed up with sequins and cheap costume jewelry. The Evil Queen has one costume change in the film — surely, someone so vain would be weary of repeating outfits.
Unlike the minuscule costume department, the screenplay has a plethora of narratives; not a single one is explored — resulting in a conclusion that lacks catharsis. Snow White’s father might be alive; he is dead. A rebellion against the Evil Queen forms. There is no need for such politics, for Snow White defeats the queen with the power of friendship; she knows the names of the queen’s soldiers. Disney’s fairy tale magic immediately squanders every original idea for the Snow White story. Not even the nightmare-inducing CGI dwarves can save this terrible attempt at modernizing a simple, magical tale.
“Snow White” is projected to have a $45 million opening weekend — a far cry from its ludicrously expensive budget. Regardless of this film’s critical and box-office success, audiences can try to sate their CGI-live action Disney blockbuster appetite when Disney’s “Lilo & Stitch” hits theatres on May 23.
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