Snow White – movie review

Rachel Zegler as Snow White in DISNEY's live-action SNOW WHITE. Photo courtesy of Disney. © 2024 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

With charming characters and impressive special effects, the reimagined Snow White is delightful. The original 1937 animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, helped established Disney as an animation powerhouse. Based on the classic fairy tale by The Brothers Grimm, the movie introduced the iconic characters of Snow White, the Evil Queen and the loveable dwarfs. It spawned ear worms like Heigh-Ho and Whistle While You Work.

Reworked for current day audiences, the story pivots around a young woman who is learning to stand up for herself. In fact, in this case, it is more than that. She is learning to be a leader … to be the queen. The kingdom where she was brought up was a gentle, caring, harmonious place, ruled by her mother and father, the king and queen. Both were decent and respectful. They did what was right by the people.

Then the queen died and the king’s head was turned by the arrival of a woman whose greatest and only real concern was herself. He married her and she became Snow White’s evil stepmother, who possessed magical powers she could use to her advantage. In no time, she made sure to get rid of her husband, the king, leaving her in total control, subjecting Snow White to a life of servitude. All were subjugated by her dictatorial ways and the kingdom fell into misery.

Snow White’s life takes a decided turn when a petty thief turns up at the castle. The Evil Queen can’t countenance the fact that Snow White is prettier than her and plots to have her killed by the Huntsman. Intent on doing so, he relents at the eleventh hour and tells Snow White to escape into the woods. That is when the woodland creatures lead her to a picturesque cottage in which live the Seven Dwarfs – Bashful, Doc, Dopey, Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy and Sneezy.

The petty thief who turned up at the castle is also in proximity. He, the bandit leader, is no fan of the new regime. The bandits and the dwarves end up in cahoots – the intent being to see the Evil Queen banished, Snow White assume the mantle of queen and the people happy. Screenwriter Erin Cressida Wilson has teamed effectively with director Marc Webb to make Snow White an easy watch and a relatable story of good versus evil.

Rachel Zegler makes for an enchanting Snow White. She has a wonderful voice and brings a beautiful balance to her realisation of a young queen finding her way. Gal Gadot gives the Evil Queen an appropriately wicked, self-centred edge, comfortably stepping into the role. Andrew Burnap transitions his character, Jonathan, nicely. He moves from dismissive to focused, as the relationship with Snow White evolves.

Notwithstanding the controversy over little people being overlooked for the roles, the CGI animated dwarves used in the production meld well. Each, of course, comes with his own distinct personality. The production design elements of Snow White are incredibly detailed. For instance, the dwarves’ cottage is thatched with a wood interior. There are carved owls in the beams, both awake and asleep, as well as carved birds and a hand-painted, intricate wooden owl chandelier, with lanterns. The wooden, carved piano is designed to look similar to the piano from the animated film.

The woodland animals that live in the forest were created by the visual effects team in post-production. These include owls, rabbits, birds, turtles, squirrels, mice and bats. Real horses, donkeys, and chickens are featured in the village scenes. For the central deer, puppeteers were employed on set during principal photography.

New ear pleasing songs for this live action remake of Snow White are the work of Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. They previously wrote a couple of new tunes for Disney’s 2019 rerun of Aladdin. Snow White is a neat blend of personality and creative artistic poise by virtue of new technology. As a story, it continues to resonate.

Score: 7.5 out of 10.

Alex First

Here are Greg King’s thoughts about the film:

Disney continues to plunder its extensive back catalogue of animated classics for live action remakes, hoping to reintroduce their tales to a new audience. 1937’s Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs, the studio’s first full length animated feature, helped establish it as the animation powerhouse for 50 years. And if one ignores the controversies surrounding this remake – the outcries over the colour-blind casting, the tone-deaf comments from stars Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot – Snow White is  quite entertaining and much better than expected. 

This remake remains reasonably faithful to the spirit of the original, which was based on the fairy tale written by the brothers Grimm, albeit with a few tweaks, to give it something of a more contemporary flavour. The script still contains many of the darker elements of the story. With the help of the dwarfs and Jonathan’s band of outlaws, Snow White inspires her people to rise up against the queen’s tyranny and oppressive rule, a sentiment that has plenty of resonance, given events in the world today. 

Director Marc Webb maintains a fast and breezy pace throughout. This a colourful and lively production that has been beautifully shot by Australian cinematographer Mandy Walker, who creates some wonderful visual contrasts for the different settings. Kave Quinn’s production design is superb, especially the creation of the interiors of the palace and the dwarf’s cottage.  The dwarfs have been brought to life via some CGI effects. Their antics provide plenty of moments of slapstick humour.  

A couple of familiar songs from the 1937 original are reprised, with new material added  by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (who wrote the songs for The Greatest Showman, La La Land and Dear Evan Hansen). 

Zegler (from Spielberg’s remake of West Side Story) gives her Snow White a feisty quality, suffusing the character with strength and a positive upbeat attitude, but also with a hint of naivety.  Gadot gives her wicked queen a cold and steely demeanour. She is a bit of a one-dimensional character though and Gadot’s performances is appropriately one note, without much in the way of subtlety. 

Score: 6 out of 10

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