Magic mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all? On Mar. 28, 2025, Disney released a live-action adaptation of Disney’s 1937 animated movie “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” continuing their pattern of live-action adaptations.
From the beginning, Disney has made it clear that this adaptation would be focused on making Snow White a “stronger” character, with an emphasis on how the princess was going to be in action packed moments, to be more appealing to a modern audience. While this is true, the way in which the moments fit in the film are out-of-place. Additionally, Prince Florian is nowhere to be seen in this film, but instead a rebel bandit named Jonathan is Snow White’s true love. While it was the correct choice on Disney’s part to change the ages of the characters and allow for Snow White to have a more established relationship with her love interest before she takes a bite out of a poisoned apple, Jonathan is very reminiscent of Flynn Ryder, making the character feel unoriginal.
Acting in the film was fair, with only three main human characters: Snow White (Rachel Zegler), the Evil Queen (Gal Gadot), and Jonathan (Andrew Burnap). All three gave surface level portrayals, making the audience believe that they were the characters, but not necessarily building an emotional connection toward them. Going into the film, many people on social media have expressed concern for Gadot due to her stale line delivery in her previous films, but it actually fits in during some points of the film as the fantastical nature of the movie allows for cold and shrill dialogue from the Evil Queen. On the other hand, Gadot’s musical performance was also the lowest part of the movie, making itself apparent in her song, “All Is Fair.”
Music is an important part of almost any Disney film, and this movie is no different. In the film, there are 13 songs sprinkled throughout, but only three of them (“Heigh-Ho,” “Whistle While You Work,” and “The Silly Song”) are from the original 1937 classic. The other ten songs are written by Beni Pasek and Justin Paul, who are known for writing music for “La La Land,” “The Greatest Showman,” and “Dear Evan Hansen.” While the duo have a repertoire of making iconic songs, many of the songs were nothing special. The tracks blended together and it would have been better if more iconic songs from the original soundtrack were included.
On a different note, the Evil Queen’s costuming was exceptional. The jewels, sequins, and glitter in combination with her dark color palette were truly beautiful to look at. While her song was a low point in the film, her glittering lipstick as she sang was gorgeous. However, on the contrary, Snow White’s dress could have been better. The dress looked ill-fitting and the tulle bottom was bulky and did not blend well with the bodice and the puffed sleeves. It was unnaturally saturated in comparison to the animated version and the world around her.
While the movie has a one hour and 49-minute run time, the movie seemed to move too fast, even though certain scenes were slow. The film goes from her being a young girl for the first few minutes to her being in her late teens. It is not clear whether it takes place over a couple of days or a few weeks, and there is discrepancy in pacing of the film and the story’s timeline.
Additionally, the digital and visual effects in the film also had high highs and low lows that average out each other. For example, the animated dwarfs give an almost uncanny valley effect, and did not mesh well with the live-action actors, which is disappointing seeing as Disney has also created some of the most impressive animated animals, such as in their recent adaptation of “The Lion King.” The woodland creatures that Snow White interacts with are the perfect balance of cartoony cute and realistic, and the forest was enchanting. The saturation and color grading was amazing, with bright warm colors in the magic forest contrasting with the gray and cold colors in the castle and the village. Additionally, the green screen background added to the fantastical feel, but during the wishing well portions, the green screen distracted from the movie because it did not blend well with the physical sets.
Despite the film’s beautiful color grading, exceptional animated animals, and popular predecessor though, it’s beauty did not go below the surface, quite like the Evil Queen, and experienced issues with plot and pacing, making it not the fairest of all of Disney’s live-action adaptations.
