“Can you point me in the right direction?”
By now there have been so many different iterations of the classic Snow White story that I literally don’t know where else filmmakers would be able to take the well-worn tale. There have been four reworkings of the story in the last 12 years, including White as Snow, the modern French take starring the great Isabelle Huppert. After reviewing the first (maybe) Snow White spinoff, The Huntsman: Winter’s War in 2016, I thought I had seen the last of this story. I was wrong. With the wave of live-action remakes that have been coming to us in the form of everything from Pinocchio to Mulan, it was only a matter of time before the studio gave one of its earliest classics the same treatment. Well, that time has come, and anyone who finds themselves walking into a theater to see 2025’s Snow White is in store for such a chore, they may as well be humming “Heigh-Ho” on the way in.
Directed by Marc Webb, Snow White stays close to the classic tale of the titular beautiful princess (Rachel Zegler) who lives as a prisoner in her own castle thanks to the Evil Queen (Gal Gadot), a woman with dark powers who has presided over the kingdom for years. As the magic mirror she possesses declares Snow White the fairest in the land, the Evil Queen orders her killed. However, Snow White manages to escape into the forest where she encounters handsome bandit Jonathan (Andrew Burnap) and seven dwarfs who come to her aid.
The quality of live-action remakes of classic Disney animated films has been all over the place. Talking to other people about the subject, it’s easy to forget that there have been more entries into this sub-genre than we realize. Naturally, with so much cinematic revisiting, the range is all over the place from the good (The Little Mermaid) to the bad (Dumbo) and plenty in between. Interestingly, Snow White falls into neither category as it’s just too lifeless and uninspired to register in any way. The movie is so even-keeled that the need to check for a pulse does come up from time to time. Snow White‘s lackluster quality stems from its plentiful problems. The pacing is beyond sluggish, the comedy is completely flat, and all of the new songs are just abysmal. The fact that one of them is called “Princess Problems” says something. Elsewhere, the use of modern-day speech patterns gets in the way, especially when used as a half-hearted attempt to get laughs. “Is the dungeon still an option,” Jonathan cheekily asks at one point. Animals with CGI personalities and a mo-cap animation design that makes the dwarfs look like older versions of The Garbage Pail Kids only bring the movie down further.
Every now and again when reviewing movies, a critic has no choice but to concede that what’s ultimately wrong with the movie they are having a negative reaction to is that it simply wasn’t made for them. Snow White definitely would have fallen into this category were it not for the fact that even the kids at my screening seemed bored as there were little-to-no reactions of any kind from the mostly silent audience. This could possibly be because Webb feels kind of out of step with the project as a whole. There are some bright spots: the movie’s reimagining of the two classic songs does work, and the overall aesthetics of Snow White are stunning, with the feeling of classic Disney coming alive in a way we haven’t seen in years. Yet despite being a director who showed great promise with his feature debut, 2009’s (500) Days of Summer, the time Webb served in the comic book world with his two Amazing Spider-Man movies brought forth a kind of by-the-numbers approach to his filmmaking that’s present here, guaranteeing that Snow White never had a chance.
As the title character, Zegler is certainly a lovely enough presence on the screen. But despite the camera loving her, and radiating genuine warmth, even she can’t help but succumb to the movie’s kryptonite-level of blandness. She’s at least better suited to the world of Snow White compared to Gadot, who is appallingly miscast and turns in a performance so misguided that you can’t even have fun watching her be bad. Burnap as Jonathan was most likely chosen for his role because he’s attractive (and probably because he fit the costume), yet brings nothing to a nothing character. If there’s anyone who does manage something in the way of emotion, it’s Andrew Barth-Feldman’s sincere turn as Dopey, who somehow carves out a surprisingly moving arc for himself.
I have to stress that a version of Snow White starring a Latina actress in the lead role cannot be dismissed. It’s both a milestone and a revelation that reinforces the notion that representation will always matter and that strides like these should be applauded. What shouldn’t be applauded are performers of color being placed in features that are clearly beneath what they are capable of. Zegler’s mesmerizing turn as Maria in 2021’s West Side Story earned her a Golden Globe nomination and truly was the kind of Star is Born moment for the young actress. It’s hard to call her presence in Snow White a total misstep simply because of what her visibility in the role will mean for young girls who look like her, but there’s unquestionably something better out there for an actress of her caliber. I’m excited to see what Zegler does next and, after breaking through one of the most unbreakable glass ceilings in the industry, that could almost be anything.
