Upfront, this film has received a lot of backlash, especially with its choice casting of Rachel Zegler as Snow White, and other aspects like CGI dwarves. However, I am make my opinion on this film solely on the film itself - story, setting, CGI, casting, and the whole shebang. This means I am putting aside popular opinions negative and/or positive aside. Now this doesn't mean I will completely ignore it. I will certainly acknowledge and address them, but I will do so with the other aspects into consideration.
This past Friday night, I sat down and watched Snow White (2025). Off the bat, it isn't a bad film, but it isn't great either. In other words, nothing to write home about. For Disney, adapting one of their most iconic classics that made history, it is kind of disappointing. However, standing on its own, it was satisfactory.
There were certainly things I enjoyed about about this film, in terms of how it addressed many of the outdated issues of the first one. Now, I'm aware many found this is very annoying, considering the film being woke to many people and destroying what made the original Snow White film what it is. I get that we won't get the feel of the nostalgia, but honestly, I feel this world has become a little hypocritical. People constantly slander the original Beauty and the Beast for displaying Stockholm Syndrome, which it doesn't, The Little Mermaid for telling girls that they need to change for their man, and while I see the angle, people forget Ariel wanted to be human before seeing Eric, and of course, Cinderella gets attacked for making children believe that love at first sight is real, and you can marry that person the next day. The latter, I am happy to back that claim one 99%.
There's nothing wrong in addressing outdated themes. One example I loved was that Snow White had the dwarves clean their own home, and she helped them. So, she wasn't above joining them in the labor of cleaning their home, but neither beneath them in doing it all for them. Snow White was equal to the dwarves in this way.
The one worry I had prior to watching this film was that Snow White would be too far removed from her Hufflepuff qualities found in the original. Thankfully, they kept them, and the changes they made only strengthened those values, rather than weakening them.
While, I can't speak for others on this matter, but I am glad that they tweaked Dopey's character. I was apprehensive, but it seemed to work well here, and really helped represent those with learning disabilities or people like Dopey, who feel more aptly represented in an empowering way.
These were certainly the film's golden qualities, but not I wish to address the areas where I am feeling rather mixed about and feel aren't working in the story's favor. One of which are the clothing of the bandits. They appeared too modern for my liking, especially Johnathan's, which felt jarring in this fairytale setting set in a German-like location.
Upon the casting of Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot, I originally expected the setting to be in Spain rather than Germany. There's nothing wrong of changing a setting to film that never truly specified, and felt more generic. However, from some of the tunes to the architecture, it is very clear that it is set in Germany or a setting inspired by Germany. So, the casting choices now make little sense. While, I don't mind their point of fairness is something found within you rather than being the color of your skin, but Snow White has always been associated with fair skin. Zegler is not deeply tan, of course, but not fair enough in complexity for me to kind of feel irked at times when I watched the film. Returning to the setting issue, I found the forest to be very German. I visited the Black Forest once, and the setting reminded me of that very real forest. Yes, so did the cuckoo clock in the dwarves' home because I know cuckoo clocks originated from Germany. Yet, many of the new tunes and the cast are not German.
The bandits with their modern clothing didn't help with the setting either. Even their presence was a little confusing. It was difficult to get a feel of their purpose in this story. The plot since encountering the bandits, honestly, became more rushed and confusing. I understood what was happening, but I couldn't understand why. Why was it taking Snow so long to journey to another kingdom to find out if her father was alive or not?
On the downside, the newly added musical pieces were not catchy and fell flat. Snow's and Jonathan's relationship felt rushed and not so passionate as I found in the other Disney remakes. Snow was placed to rest on a big rock. I'm surprised Snow didn't complain about it after waking up. On the other hand, some of the nods I loved, like Jonathan imitating the Snow's funeral scene during the song. Though when that did happen, it felt like a checklist item rather than a plot point. Honestly, Maleficent did this better.
In conclusion, this is why I am giving this film a satisfactory middle mark. It was reasonably entertaining, but there were certainly areas that could be improved like the CGI animals and dwarves. I get the animated cartoon feel for them, but it just didn't work for me, and it would have been nice to cast some actual little people for the roles.
While I'm aware this wasn't the most beloved live action remake, I'd love to hear your thoughts and comments on the film with politeness and textual evidence to back it up (meaning specific examples from the film).
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