Snow White (2025)

Dir: Marc Webb

Cast: Rachel Zegler, Andrew Burnap, Gal Gadot, Ansu Kabia

Rachel Zegler gives it her all as the titular princess, but shoddy production values, an underwhelming love interest and a terrible Gal Gadot ultimately are the undoing of the latest Disney live-action remake

For almost a century now, Disney has been at the forefront of family entertainment, with the ever-growing media establishment dominating the global box-office thanks to their prolific, and historically impressive, theatrical output. This has seen Disney become a force to be reckoned with, and even when they are challenged for financial dominance by rival production companies, such as Marvel, LucasFilm or Pixar, Disney are quick to snap up their opposition, distancing themselves even further from the competition.

Having celebrated their 100 year anniversary in recent years, Disney are still continuing to find ways to broaden their content, one avenue that they have been exploring for a number of years is that of live-action adaptations of their beloved animated classics. Technically Disney have been producing live-action adaptations of their own since the 1990’s, with releases such as “Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book” (1994) and “101 Dalmatians” (1996), but it wasn’t until Tim Burton‘s re-imagining of “Alice in Wonderland” grossed over $1 billion in 2010, that Disney saw these live-action remakes as a potential money making machine. The success of “Alice in Wonderland” has resulted in the release of a further 19 live-action Disney remakes, some better received than other by critics and audiences, but I doubt I am in the minority in saying that the majority of these remakes are unnecessary and fail to even come close to recreating the magic of their animated counterparts.

I am not disregarding every Disney live-action remarking, especially those still in the pipeline (of which there are plenty), but barring a couple of exceptions, I have found myself rather underwhelmed by them, and more worryingly I struggle to see the point in their existence outside of a money making scheme for Disney. The media giant have stated that these remakes are a way of introducing younger audiences to childhood classics of past generations, almost serving as a gateway into Disney’s older back catalogue, worrying that their classics may be perceived as being dated by modern audiences. There is some truth in these, particularly thematically, where there are some notable issues regarding Disney’s older content, particularly with some rather outlandish examples of racial stereotyping that would never be accepted in modern society. Artistically however, the modern remakes cannot hold a candle to the originals, and in all honesty, it is the beauty of the classic hand-drawn animation that made Disney synonymous with movie magic.

Having already faced some backlash for their live-action remakes, Disney and their marketing team really faced an uphill battle with their latest release, “Snow White”, which with the exception of the abysmal “Snow White and the Huntsman” and its forgettable sequel, marks the first major live-action adaptation of classic Grimm fairytale. Once upon a time audiences would have been crying out for a modern re-imagining of Disney’s first ever animated feature film, but following years of live-action fatigue, not to mention a disastrous marketing campaign, “Snow White” was pretty much doomed from the outset. The film’s early announcement in 2016, and premature release of marketing material, ultimately saw the film scrutinised by the masses before production had even wrapped up. Some criticisms were definitely more justified than others, with both the film’s stars Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot facing scrutiny for controversial comments during pre-release. These include Zegler’s criticism of the original film itself, while Gadot faced death threats having publicly declared her pro-Israeli stance amongst the ongoing Israeli-Palestine conflict.

One controversy that was uncalled for, but unfortunately I have come to expect due to modern day sensibilities, was the casting of Zegler as the titular Disney princess due to her Latin descent. As the source material describes the character as having skin “as white as snow”, many took to social media criticising the casting, much like they did following Halle Bailey‘s casting of Ariel in 2023’s “The Little Mermaid”. Having seen the film over the weekend, I can confidently say that Zegler’s performance as “Snow White” is by far and away the most impressive aspect of the film, and despite receiving criticism following her public slandering of the 1937 original, there is no denying that the 23-year-old gives it her absolute all as the Disney princess.

For those not familiar with ground-breaking 1937 original, the tale follows the young titular princess, who in this instance was handed her enchanting name having been born during a snowstorm, as she lives happily in her kingdom with her benevolent parents, the King and Queen. Years later, following the Queen’s death from illness, the King hastily remarries a beautiful and mysterious woman (Gal Gadot), before mounting on a military campaign from which he never returns. With the King gone, his new bride, revealed to be an enchantress, usurps the throne conscripting the local farmers into the royal guard, under her rule as The Evil Queen. A now adult Snow White (Rachel Zegler) is confined the palace as a scullery maid, and having freed the leader of a local gang of bandits, Jonathan (Andrew Burnap) – who had been caught stealing from the Queen’s royal pantry – she is deemed “the fairest one of all” by Queen’s Magic Mirror, who had previously always responded in her favour.

An enraged and threatened Queen orders the Royal Huntsman (Ansu Kabia) to kill Snow White in the woods, and return with her heart in a jewelled box. The morally conflicted huntsman instead frees Snow White, warning her of the Queen’s intentions, causing her to flee deep into the forest. Having been lead to their secluded cottage by woodland creatures, Snow White comes across the Seven Dwarfs (now known as Seven Magical Creatures), who aid her in her time of need. Having learnt of the huntsman’s betrayal, The Evil Queen sets out to rid Snow White once and for all, to once again make herself the fairest of them all, whilst Snow White, the “magical creatures, Jonathan, and his seven bandits set out to free the kingdom from the Queen’s tyrannical rule.

Admittedly, I may have gone into my weekend screening of “Snow White” with low expectations, which is not the best approach to any film as a film reviewer. However, this has resulted in me being pleasantly surprised in the past, notably with some of Disney’s previous live-action remakes, such as “The Little Mermaid”, “Cinderella” (2015), “Cruella” (2021) and the best of the lot “The Jungle Book” (2016), but in the instance of “Snow White”, my reservations proved to be warranted as I found myself increasingly perplexed by some of the ridiculous creative choices that Disney have landed on with their latest live-action adaptation.

As stated earlier, I cannot criticise Zegler for her performance, as the “West Side Story” proves she is a formidable young talent, who can sing as well as she can act, as she continues to light up the big screen. As for her supporting players however, the same cannot be said. Firstly, relative newcomer Andrew Burnap is way out of his depth as “Jonathan”. For those not aware, Jonathan is a new character created specifically for this latest adaptation, who is partially based on the Prince from the animated classic, as well as incorporating a new rebellious persona, more akin to Flynn Rider from “Tangled” (2010). I am unfamiliar of Burnap’s previous acting credits, and despite this being his first major Hollywood role, the 34-year-old fails to convey the charisma or cynicism of a successful Disney love interest. Having recently seen Jonathan Bailey absolutely nail his performance as a fictional, fantasy Prince in “Wicked” on the big screen, Burnap’s shortcomings as a performer here are only more evident, and this lack of charm or emotion from the character results in a relationship with Snow White devoid of any romantic chemistry.

Then we move onto Gal Gadot, who delivers an embarrassing performing as The Evil Queen. Playing a Disney villain should be one of the most fun and exhilarating experiences an established star could ask for, and despite some of my criticisms towards the live-action remakes, they have boasted their fair share of memorable villainous performances – this is not one of them. Gadot was excellent as “Wonder Woman” in the 2017 film, but since has struggled to establish herself as a competent performer in Hollywood, with several media platforms posting montages, highlighting some of her worst line deliveries. While her performance as The Evil Queen may not be her worst, it is definitely one of the most forgettable, which is inexcusable given the scale of the project and the significance of the role. Her performance sees the Evil Witch come across as more incompetent than scary, and her run-ins with Snow White exhibited no sense of real peril or threat, resulting in no tension or real stakes, regardless if the audience knows how this fairytale plays out.

Worryingly, it is not just the supporting performers that seem to be putting in little effort neither, the production values are incredibly poor for a $250 million motion picture, with the costume and set designs lacking any whimsy or magic. It has been completely blown out the water by “Wicked” in terms of production values, despite boasting a considerably bigger budget than the Oscar-winning “Wizard of Oz” prequel.

It is hard to defend Disney, and their live-action adaptations, when this is the level of content they are producing. They will never replace the originals in terms of legacy, artistic beauty or entertainment, and without exploring something new and topical, there existence remains unjustified. Disney’s next remake is only a few weeks way, with 2002’s “Lilo & Stitch” undergoing the live-action treatment – I do admit I am looking forward to that one more though, who doesn’t live Stitch.

Snow White is now showing in UK cinemas.

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