Snow White review

SNOW WHITE: 

RACHEL ZEGLER SHINES IN MIDDLING DISNEY REMAKE! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: ** ½ out of 4

DISNEY

Rachel Zegler and the Seven Dwarfs in Snow White (2025)

 

            Rachel Zegler (West Side Story (2021), Shazam! Fury of the Gods, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes) dons the iconic yellow dress and angelic singing voice in Snow White, the latest of Disney’s live-action remakes based on their 1937 animated classic, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Let me be honest with all of you, the original Snow White has never been one of my all-time favorite Disney films but I appreciate a lot that it did, the obvious one being that it was the first full-length animated feature and it’s still an impressive film today on both a technical and emotional level. 

            Now we have this remake directed by Marc Webb ((500) Days of Summer, The Amazing Spider-Man 1 and 2, Gifted) which I’m pretty sure I went into great detail about my thoughts on them in previous reviews so, I won’t try and repeat myself too much. The Disney remakes have been hit-or-miss to me, enjoyed some like The Jungle Book and Cinderella, but was not a fan of Aladdin or The Lion King (and its prequel, Mufasa). 

            I didn’t know what to think of Snow White when it was announced, not even Rachel’s casting choice nor her comments on the original movie that somehow transformed into controversy (Because everything on the internet is controversial these days!) steered my opinion on the film’s production. Then the trailers came out that featured hideous CGI dwarves that looked right out of a Robert Zemeckis motion-capture film and then I became skeptical…that, and the movie seemed to be another beat for beat remake that’s banking on Disney nostalgia. 

            Well, I’m relieved to say it’s nowhere near the dumpster fire the internet probably wanted it to be and there are some standout aspects of it like Zegler’s performance (Sorry guys, but she wasn’t the complete train-wreck you were hoping for), but it’s still…not…that…good. It isn’t Lion King 2019 or Pinocchio 2022 bad, but it’s a mostly standard and pretty forgettable re-imagining that can’t quite recapture the Disney magic of the original or stand out on its own that well. 

            The film follows Snow White (Zegler), the stepdaughter of an Evil Queen (Gal Gadot-Fast & Furious franchise, DC Extended Universe, Ralph Breaks the Internet) who has taken over the land and desires to be “The Fairest One of All”. When the Queen’s Magic Mirror (voiced by Patrick Page-In the Heights, Spirited) tells her that Snow White is destined to surpass her as the fairest, she orders a Huntsman (Ansu Kabia-Last Christmas, Back to Black) to kill her only for him to warn Snow White that her stepmother is evil and she must flee into the forest. 

            While escaping through the forest, Snow White stumbles across a little house of Seven Dwarfs consisting of Doc (voiced by Jeremy Swift-Boy A, Mary Poppins Returns, Descendants: The Rise of Red), Bashful (voiced by Tituss Burgess-The Angry Birds Movie, Smurfs: The Lost Village, Dolemite is My Name), Dopey (Who doesn’t speak, but his sound effects are provided by Andrew Barth Feldman-Dear Evan Hansen, No Hard Feelings, Saturday Night), Grumpy (voiced by Martin Klebba-Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, Feast II and III, Oz: The Great and Powerful), Sneezy (voiced by Jason Kravits-Sweet November, The Stepford Wives (2004), Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile), Happy (voiced by George Salazar-Impeachment: American Crime Story), and Sleepy (voiced by newcomer, Andy Grotelueschen) who take her in and she becomes like a mother figure to them. However, the Queen does find out that Snow White is still alive and has teamed up with the Dwarfs and a bandit named Jonathan (Andrew Burnap-The Chaperone, The Front Room; who is basically this movie’s version of the Prince) to take the kingdom back and hatches another dastardly plan to get rid of Snow White for good, a Poison Apple. 

            Overall, Snow White (2025) isn’t a complete disaster and certainly isn’t rock bottom on the Live-Action DisneyRemake totem pole. But aside from expanding upon a few characters and plot points, it doesn’t really stand out as a unique re-imagining nor does it work as a retelling of the classic Disney adaptation. 

            I will give the film credit that it for the most part does a decent job at recreating scenes from the original animated movie such as with the Heigh-Ho and Whistle While You Work song sequences and the Magic Mirror’s face is ripped straight out of the animated film but brought into 3D. I definitely see the hard work that went into these moments, but more often than not it just made me wish I was watching the original instead. 

            Despite the internet flipping out over her casting and comments she made about the original movie; I thought Rachel Zegler played a good Snow White. She captures the kindhearted personality of the animated character while making it her own and does have some charming moments with the Dwarfs, not to mention a lovely singing voice. 

Bottom line, I don’t care about the race or interview comments, what matters is the performance and much like Halle Bailey in the 2023 Little Mermaid, Zegler carries the film. A black girl can be a mermaid and a Latina girl can be Snow White and that’s okay, it all boils down to their performances and both Bailey and Zegler did good with what they were given. 

            Gal Gadot who is an actress I really like (Have not followed any of her political views though so, I don’t really have any thoughts on the controversy surrounding her), her performance here I’m on the fence about because on one hand, she does the elegant, more restrained villain performance part of the Evil Queen well and she is clearly enjoying what she’s doing. But then, she’ll have this bombastic and hammy villain song sequence that does not match up with the character we saw and kind of ruined the character for me despite Gadot giving her all and having decent choreography during it. 

            The Dwarfs are hideous and I get that they’re trying to resemble their animated counterparts, but man, looking at these Hellspawns that are more frightening than delightful just makes you wish they were written out of the picture…the downside to that is they still have the most entertaining moments of the film. The Seven Dwarfs from Shrek looked more appealing than these guys and they were supposed to look a little off in that movie. 

            Sadly the Dwarfs aren’t my only problem with this movie, the film feels like it’s on autopilot with its pacing and often rushes through plot points like Gal Gadot barely getting an introduction as the Queen, once you see her it immediately cuts to her putting on the iconic outfit. It doesn’t stop there, Snow White eating the Poison Apple and essentially dying which was the emotional highlight of the original pretty much gets resolved a couple scenes later and it’s nowhere near as impactful as the original. 

            Snow White (2025) isn’t a terrible remake as there are things to admire about it, but it lacks the emotional weight of the original animated version nor does it do much that special to stand on its own. It’s a middling Disney remake and I can only say…Good luck, Stitch!