Disney’s Snow White – Review

Cert – PG, Run-time – 1 hour 49 minutes, Director – Marc Webb

After escaping from the kingdom ruled by her evil stepmother (Gal Gadot), Snow White (Rachel Zegler) plans to free her home and restore it to the caring community it once was.

The design of the dwarfs in Disney’s milestone 1937 take on Snow White was specifically sculpted to show off just how expressive animation could be. When the same physical characteristics are wiped across squat, CG replications, with imitated human flesh and skin, the effect from their first appearance marching one by one round a corner in a mine, towards the camera, is somewhat unsettling. With their introductory number of Heigh Ho being stretched out to almost five minutes and each figure being given some form of musical introduction each time the details seem to have settled down another is thrown directly into a close-up to try and capture a cartoon sensibility but simply adding to the horror-inducing nature of the number.

It’s a sequence that feels as if it was approved heavily by multiple studio executives after much back-and-forth between the ranks. While not the most present characters, when the likes of Doc, Sneezy and Dopey are on screen they just feel completely out of place with the various CG backdrops. Their scenes are largely confined to the familiar Snow White story which makes up much of the first half of Disney’s latest live-action remake – the first to be presented by them in the title.

The studio influence seems clear as, once again, the original segments in a remake are the strongest and somewhat save the film – although here there’s a lot of lifting to be done. Like with Guy Richie’s darker sections of Aladdin, often feeling the studio reins pulling it in, or David Lowery’s underrated take on Pete’s Dragon, Marc Webb’s film succeeds in the moments which take a step away from the familiar mould. As Rachel Zegler’s Snow White (more than holding up a tune or two throughout and bringing some life to some of the more lacking numbers – Disney have, somewhat understandably, tried to push character ballad Waiting On A Wish despite the presence of better songs from Pasek and Paul on the soundtrack) gets to know bandit and freedom fighter Jonathan (Andrew Burnap) a brighter, more energetic form comes to the narrative.

Kicking off with the film’s best song, Princess Problems, there’s a likable bounce back and forth between the pair. Zegler’s allowed to bring more to her character while still displaying the same through-and-through good-heartedness, and as a whole the film seems to shift and change. It becomes more wholly likable to give the lead star’s shoulders a break from carrying much of the weight. There’s just a brighter burst as Webb can play around with new material instead of the familiar beats of the original story as told by Disney all those decades ago, and watched by plenty of people young and old since. All by doing something different, and indeed giving the director that bit more freedom.

While we have to jump back to some familiarity by going back to Gal Gadot’s take on the Evil Queen, Gadot seems to be trying to replicate a panto villain but can’t quite muster the campness or energy. Yet, thanks to the mid-section there’s at least more of an original angle to things once the final key story beats have been ticked off. Zegler has discussed in many interviews in the build-up to the film’s release about the more empowering side to this film, the title character’s journey to becoming a leader and spreading fairness in her home kingdom, taken away by her stepmother who shut her away from the rest of the world as a servant for years. While the film itself might not go into this as hard as these interviews might suggest there’s still something more present which helps to move things along. Helped by the lead performance at the heart of much of the film’s events, and creating that initial spark of engagement when things are wandering around in what we’ve seen before.

These moments are generally fine, albeit while including the nightmare-creating sight of the dwarfs, but it’s very clear to see the elements that are holding things up, and the want to be more creative with this take on Disney’s oldest feature property. It means that Snow White is a largely amiable film which certainly has its standout moments but leans on two or three key elements to hold the weight of the heavily studio-influenced surroundings.

As with a number of Disney remakes, Snow White is at its best when leaning into originality. The bounce and energy of these sections, alongside Rachel Zegler’s central performance, lifts up the heavily studio-manufactured surroundings which while watchable have clear issues, and truly unsettling CG dwarfs.