As it turns out, the seemingly bone-headed casting was an inspired choice that perfectly suits the wonderful, necessary changes the film has made on the original material.
This review contains story spoilers.
Let’s cut to the chase. This is not the ugly Disney live-action adaptation that many people probably feared or even expected. Far from it. But it’s also not the fairest of them all.
Much of the conversation surrounding Snow White has centered on 23-year-old actress Rachel Zegler taking on the iconic title role. It has not been favorable to the star, who is of mixed ethnicity (her mother is of Colombian descent, her father of Polish lineage). And it started even before any footage has been seen. It doesn’t even have anything to do with her acting and singing skills.
Everything looks so seamless the film actually achieves a rarity in live action-animation hybrids—there is a palpable chemistry between the actors and their animated co-stars, specifically Dopey who pulls one of the biggest emotional moments of the film.
A lot of it is about the color of her skin; not “white as snow” as immortalized in the animated film classic. The rest is about how she does not measure up at all against, much less stand taller than co-star Gal Gadot, playing the part of the Evil Queen, in the traditional definition of beauty of face that’s a hallmark of this beloved tale. People snicker that not even a fantastical magic mirror would consider someone who looks like Zegler fairer than Gadot.
As it turns out, the seemingly bone-headed casting was an inspired choice that perfectly suits the wonderful, necessary changes the film has made on the original material.
The new Snow White is no longer just a damsel in distress waiting for her prince to come someday. She has been raised by her royal parents to be not just “fearless and fair, brave and true” but to be all of that as a leader of her people. The love interest has also been altered, from a prince to a rebel leader fighting the Queen. Perhaps, sadly for some fans of the 1937 film, this has left no room for the iconic song “Someday My Prince Will Come” in the new movie’s soundtrack.
The kingdom itself has seen a change: it’s not anymore the exclusively White enclave we can deduce the 1937 film portrays it to be, whether by design or circumstances of the time. It’s now open, diverse, and inclusive, with people of color taking space alongside others. In fact, Snow White raises this issue of “othering” in a speech against the Evil Queen in the film’s climactic confrontation.
The film could’ve used as much teeth in the show part of this narrative world-building as it does in the tell. It opens promisingly enough with the movie’s first musical number. The Disney template has the heroine going about town intoning her thoughts and feelings and they’re usually about how she doesn’t fit in and her longing for something more or better or just something else.
Good Things Grow trips that up and celebrates the kingdom as it is as a place of bounty and goodness, “A kingdom for the free and the fair” where “there are wonders to be found.” More interestingly, the song is sung mostly by the townspeople, with young Snow White as a wide-eyed wanderer, and a satisfied and happy wonderer.
You’d wish the film pushed the revisions some more. A notable missed opportunity is turning that classic “true love’s kiss” trope on its head and pulling a surprise by having another character deliver it the way Frozen reinvigorated the genre with girl power energy. As it is, Snow White rather pales in comparison to Disney’s own Wish from 2023, which tells a similar tale of a young woman leading her people in standing up to a tyrant. That underrated animated film, itself inspired by and both a wink and a nod to the studio’s long history of princess movies, feels a bit more fully realized.
But the film’s charms are undeniable. There’s the lush, painterly, classic children’s illustrated book look of the enchanted forest and the eye-popping CGI of the bejeweled mines where the dwarfs work. There’s Gadot’s delicious playfulness and glee, which compensates for her limited vocal range in her musical numbers. There is also the fine character and digital work on the dwarfs, especially in scenes with Snow White and the practical set.
Everything looks so seamless the film actually achieves a rarity in live action-animation hybrids—there is a palpable chemistry between the actors and their animated co-stars, specifically Dopey who pulls one of the biggest emotional moments of the film.
Even the restraint from going totally revisionist and unapologetically woke is endearing.
Above all, there’s Zegler. The script partly addresses the issue of her skin color right off the bat (the narrator says she was born during a snowstorm, although it doesn’t really explain why she has darker complexion than her outwardly very white parents), allowing her the freedom to own the role.
Under the direction of Marc Webb (500 Days of Summer, The Amazing Spider-Man), Zegler does turn the traditionally vacuous character into a quietly confident young woman who isn’t afraid to speak her scrappy mind and sing her good heart out. She shines particularly bright in the musical numbers, imbuing her soaring soprano with a captivating mix of tender warmth and quivering passion.
As far as Disney adaptations go, Snow White is neither a giant nor a dwarf. It’s a fair 7 out of 10.
