88 years after the animated original, Disney's Snow White returns to the big screen

Disney owes almost everything to the original Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.

Being the media giant’s first-ever animated feature-length film, Snow White paved the way for other iconic characters like Pinocchio, Sleeping Beauty, Dumbo, Cinderella, Peter Pan and Bambi to all join the cultural zeitgeist throughout the 1940s and 50s.

With all this said and done, it boggles my mind that nearly 90 years after the film that made Disney what it is today, it would release a rather shallow live-action remake with PR that acts almost ashamed of its history.

Snow White, Disney dropped the Seven Dwarves from the title for some reason, was announced in 2022, and since then, it has faced massive backlash online.

Originally, the iconic dwarves weren’t in the film at all and were replaced by diverse bandits. This sparked controversy within the dwarfism community, which was confused as to why Disney would strip little people of the chance to portray the most iconic dwarf characters in history.

Disney ‘rectified’ this mistake by adding the dwarves back into the film but as CGI characters, leading to a ton of reshoots and added scenes. *Facepalm*

Lead actor Rachel Zegler also caused chatter online, calling the original film “weird” and “outdated” due to the nature of the prince kissing Snow White in the original. *Double facepalm*

Finally, the casting of Gal Gadot as the evil queen caused many to scratch their heads as to why an actor who is known as not a great singer would lead a musical.

With all this controversy now addressed, I can safely say, this film is … fine.

I went into this with a friend, and we were both honestly expecting a dumpster fire. In that regard, we were both pleasantly surprised.

Don’t be confused, though; this does not excuse this film’s shortcomings, of which there are a few.

Starting positively, despite Rachel Zegler’s best efforts to undermine the film in the press during the lead-up, she was fantastic as the title character.

This was never really a worry of mine as her experience on Broadway and work in Spielberg’s West Side Story cemented the fact she could carry a musical and perform well.

Her time on screen was the best of the film and her charm seeped through the screen, particularly her time spent with the dwarves.

Each of her musical numbers was great, and there are even a couple of new songs I can see becoming crowd favourites. It’s something Moana 2 somehow messed up.

I also think this is one of the better-looking Disney remakes. There were several scenes shot on practical sets and flash mobs that reminded me of last year’s adaptation of Wicked, a movie modern Disney should take notes from.

I thought the modern update of Prince Charming was also fun, adding a bit more interest into what is normally a fairly nothing character.

This leads me to the bad.

There is no doubt in my mind that public scrutiny of the lack of dwarves as originally planned caused turmoil within this film’s production.

The CGI characters make no sense as one of the aforementioned bandits, who are present in the film, was an actor with dwarfism. It completely took me out of every scene with the CGI characters, despite the scene with them being some of the best.

It also didn’t help that the seven characters dove too far into the uncanny valley, looking akin to a Playstation game cutscene.

The reshot scene also looked among the worst in the film. So many locations got it right, too. Many were shot in real forests or big stylistic courtyards, but again, they were undermined by CGI locales, which have become all too common with Disney properties.

Gal Gadot was also incredibly miscast. My cinema was laughing all too frequently at her line delivery and her characterisation, which felt out of place in the rest of the film.

The final act was also a tad rushed, which is frustrating because the first two acts, in particular, were pretty well-paced for the most part.

Snow White is far from the worst of Disney’s live-action remakes. It’s nowhere near as good as The Little Mermaid or Cinderella, but it is leaps and bounds above Lion King, Mulan and Pinocchio.

It’s just a bit disappointing that the film that was supposed to honour the property that made Disney the icon it is today, was just all a bit heartless.

Snow White is showing in cinemas across the country.