Snow White

Review by Ryan Michael Painter 

There has been a wall of white noise surrounding Snow White since it was announced nearly a decade ago. Disney found themselves in a situation where they were going to be criticized regardless of their decisions. The company, along with director Mark Webb (The Amazing Spider-Man) and screenwriter Erin Cressida Wilson (The Girl on the Train), made the decision (eventually) to update the narrative, cast a diverse group of actors with different ethnic backgrounds, use CGI to make the seven dwarves look like the animated versions featured in their 1937 animated film, to use some of the original songs and have Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (The Greatest Showman) provide new ones.

Snow White (Disney)

149 Minutes, Rated PG
Written by Erin Cressida Wilson, Jacob Grimm, Wilhelm Grimm
Directed by Mark Webb

Synopsis:

A princess joins forces with seven dwarfs to liberate her kingdom from her cruel stepmother the Evil Queen. A live-action adaptation of the 1937 Disney animated film ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’.

The results are mixed. That said, the film is far from the disaster that many were predicting. It certainly feels more cohesive than Captain America: Brave New World.

The story itself is housed in the original mold that sees Snow White (Rachel Zegler), the kind-hearted daughter of a kingdom’s missing king, taken into the forest by command of her evil stepmother (Gal Gadot) to be murdered by a huntsman (Asu Kabia). Unable to kill Snow White, the huntsman tells Snow White to flee the kingdom. Snow White does as she is told and finds, with some help from the forest’s animals, the home of seven dwarves.

The major change being that the “Some Day My Prince Will Come” aspect of the story has been dropped. Instead, Snow White, before being sent into the forest, meets Jonathan (Andrew Burnap), a less idealistic version of Robin Hood, who she catches stealing potatoes from her mother’s stores. Complain if you like, but the change knocks off the whimsical notion that Snow White would love a stranger simply because he was a prince. From a writer’s perspective, it is a stronger, more realistic decision. Considering the amount of whimsy that is built into the narrative, I don’t know that the change is necessary. More troubling is that Burnap tries to channel Cary Elwes but lacks the wit to be confused with Westley from The Princess Bride. Like most Disney princes he’s smarmy kind of vanilla. Regardless, it’s not a deal breaker for me.

The bulk of the songs are new and sound very much like Pasek and Paul’s back catalog. They are decent enough but stylistically they don’t sit well with the originals. A stronger choice might have been to not use any of the 1937 songs. I imagine that would have really ruffled the feathers of audiences who wanted a scene-for-scene adaptation. The Disney live-action remakes have been lessons in compromise.

Zegler is great. Gadot is a disappointment. Gadot’s take on the evil queen is never frightening. That’s likely a product of the direction and the writing, rather than an assessment of Gadot’s talent. Ultimately, the film’s lack of frights keeps it from being remotely as effective as the original. Remember when Disney made villains so frightening that they became as popular and as iconic as the heroes? Those were the days.

The dwarves’ scenes are the truest to the animated film. The CGI is strong, but I wish that actors had been used. Yes, there are behind-the-scenes reasons for the use of computer-generated characters. That’s a discussion for another time.

Snow White is a watered-down take on the 1937 classic that suffers from its unwillingness to be frightening. I don’t mind the modern flourishes. The ideas are good, the execution isn’t always there. Nonetheless, it is a serviceable romp that is carried by Zegler, satisfying songs, and the wonderful art direction. Despite my criticisms, it is better than most of Disney’s other live-action remakes. Families will likely enjoy it. Kids who haven’t seen the original film won’t know what they are missing.

And remember, if the BEST thing you can say about a movie is that it’s “visually stunning,” then they’ve done something wrong.

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