Ticketworthy! - Snow White

Live-action remakes of Disney animated films have developed something of a reputation over the years for being less than good and mostly unnecessary. Still, when the first true, feature-length animated movie of all time gets the reboot treatment, one can kind of see the justification for it. The original Snow White came out almost 90 years ago. It’s probably fine to update it and reintroduce it to modern audiences, so long as it’s treated with the reverence that it deserves as a piece of cinema history. 2025’s Snow White...does not do that. It does not do that at all.

It’s difficult to decide where to even start, as the movie is disappointing in so many areas. I believe that the biggest culprit is the script, so we’ll start there. It’s nonsensical and poorly written, with pointless narration and absolutely insane character choices, and packed to the brim with dialogue that wouldn’t have made the cut in a high-school play adaptation. The tone of the movie varies wildly, sometimes dramatic and tense, sometimes over-the-top goofy. That’s fine, shifting tones in a movie like this can work well. Just not when it’s done, repeatedly, in the same scene. Just as an example of the many times this happens, a character is believed dead from an arrow wound. Everyone is sad, until he emerges alive, to which Snow White actually says, “let’s dance!” Then they all do. It’s such a jarring change that I was concerned about whiplash. That kind of thing happens a lot.

There also seems to be some confusion about whether the writers wanted to stay true to the original story or do something new. Somehow, they manage to do neither. Some scenes feel ripped straight from the 1937 version, some are entirely new inventions. For instance, there’s no prince charming anymore. Instead, we get Jonathan (Andrew Burnap), the leader of a group of bandits Snow White encounters in the woods. You may be wondering whether changing the prince to a bandit meaningfully impacts the story, or improves the character, or matters at all. It doesn’t. That’s what is so frustrating. None of it matters. The dwarfs have expanded personalities, but they don’t affect anything. Snow has more agency as a character but never uses it and nothing about her story changes because of it. It’s all just meaningless changes for the sake of making changes, and it almost always makes the movie worse.

It doesn’t help that the whole thing looks terrible. The CGI is laughable, the dwarfs in particular look like they were made for a film-school final project, and the costume and set designs look amateurish at best. The movie moves from a dull village to a dull castle, to a dull forest, and back. There’s no creativity, no joy in any of it. That’s not even mentioning the blocking and camera work. Multiple times during the film I found myself having no clue where Snow was in relation to her surroundings or other characters. It all jumps around so much that it’s easy to get lost.

On the long list of issues the movie has, it has to be mentioned that Gal Gadot is wildly miscast as the evil Queen, and that’s probably being generous. Her performance is so over-the-top and cringey, it seems like she’s actively trying to become a cartoon. I cannot stress enough how much she is the worst part of a movie with many, many terrible parts.

By contrast, Rachel Zegler stands as the lone bright spot in this mess. She can’t fix the dialogue, the pacing, or the story, but her talent somehow still shines through. Some scenes she even does manage to elevate by sheer will and charm alone. The “Whistle While You Work” scene comes to mind. She’s clearly having a wonderful time and really sells it. The song isn’t a bad update on the classic version either, thanks mostly to her vocal chops. I can’t say that I liked all the songs, in fact I think most of them can be added to the pile of “things that don’t work”, but that one and “Waiting on a Wish” stand out thanks to Zegler. She’s good as Snow White, she really is, but saving this movie would have taken a lot more than just her.

To call Snow White a disappointment might be an understatement. As I said, I can see a good reason to remake the movie, and there was potential here. Somehow, the filmmakers found a way to waste that potential at every turn, including completely letting down a good lead actress doing what seems to be her best. I feel bad for Zegler, and I hope she gets more chances to showcase her talents. As for Snow White, it’s dead on arrival and no true love’s kiss is going to save it.