Disney really need to pick a lane and stick to it.

Snow White, surviving princess of the kingdom, finds herself a target of the Evil Queen. After fleeing into the woods, she finds a band of freedom fighters who can perhaps help her retake the land.

This live action remake of Walt Disney’s seminal work is directed by Marc Webb (The Amazing Spider-Man) and stars Rachel Zegler (2023’s The Hunger Games prequel) and Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman). The film has undergone substantial rework during its development, and has received the ire of audiences across the Internet for many, many reasons. But does it deserve an IMDB score of 1.6/10? Worse than an Uwe Boll movie? Well…

There have been many Snow White movies over the years. 2012 saw several released, the two notable ones being Mirror Mirror, directed by visionary Tarsem Singh. The other one being Snow White & The Huntsman, directed by Rupert Sanders (the recent The Crow remake…) Both of these movies are unique takes on the Snow White story. While neither are perfect, they stand out as discussion points for stylistic and storytelling choices. This new interpretation doesn’t add anything distinct, in fact it is more a Frankenstein creation of several. All of which we’ve seen before.

Disney’s live action remakes have rubbed many audiences the wrong way. One of my angriest reviews is of 2014’s Maleficent, which reinterpreted the character until she was unrecognizable. To Snow White‘s credit, there is less character assassination at work. The dwarves are still dwarves. The Evil Queen is still resoundingly evil. And while Prince Charming is no longer a prince, he and Snow still fall in love and he revives her. As per the classic tale. To have to exposit all of this seems redundant, but understand: I went into this film fully expecting any or all of these to be removed or inverted. Low expectations make for higher appreciation, and all that. Heck, I even felt emotions when Snow White is incapacitated. So there are bright spots here and there.

Why would any of that be called into question? Well… that is the uncomfortable underbelly of this production, and why it has such low scores. A lot of development troubles inspired a lot of ire from people before it even released. Plus, a rather aggressive PR disaster from lead actor Rachel Zegler who was quoted in saying she had no time or respect for the 1937 original movie. That the character was outmoded and the story was sexist. It practically lit the internet on fire. Sufficed to say, audiences had an axe to grind before the film released, and Disney has clearly modified and changed the movie in desperate backpedalling.

As a result, we have a Snow White movie that feels spliced together. The elements that shine brighter are the elements from the original – such as the dwarves’ mining song and the mirror. The ending is something more than the original, but it feels underwhelming overall. Changing Prince Charming to a Robin Hood-esque figure (played by Andrew Burnap) who has personality of his own, is not unwelcome. Snow White herself isn’t a warrior-maiden, but someone who empathises with people, which does add dimension. Although at the same time she seems bossy and contrarian. Burnap’s song is when character motivations becomes most confused. Speaking of which…
All the principle characters, including the Evil Queen, get an original song or two. Transforming the movie into a musical. The songs written by those behind 2017’s The Greatest Showman. These songs are… fine? They are very plot-centric in their lyrics.

For visuals and performances, the film is very hit and miss. There’s a scene where Snow White is apparently mopping without any water. Gal Gadot’s wardrobe appears to be a mix of trash bags and plastic gems in several scenes. The dwarves are entirely CGI, which will age as well as early Robert Zemeckis CGI movies.

Overall, the film is one step forward and several steps back. That is without contending with the development hell it has been through. I personally wasn’t miserable throughout it, but then I don’t have the same affection for Snow White & the Seven Dwarves as I do Sleeping Beauty. But there is definitely confusion in this movie; a lack of confidence. Considering this is defacto “Disney” IP, one would think Disney would know what they wanted from it, and not butcher it so much.

These live action remakes long ago left me cold. They are cold replications at best, with unnecessary additions giving them bloat. It was only this one’s infamy that got me watching it at all. A remake should improve on the original, not at best scrape by on its predecessor’s good graces.

Additional Marshmallows: The only live action remake I mostly enjoyed so far was 2016’s The Jungle Book.