Let’s get my least favorite part of this review out of the way and run down all the controversies that have dogged the live-action Snow White remake. There’s the usual convoy of racists who hate the idea of a Latina actress (Rachel Zegler) portraying Disney’s original heroine, who are as predictable as they are unwelcome anywhere. Then there’s Rachel Zegler’s anti-Trump comments following his re-election, which I have absolutely no problem with. Meanwhile, Gal Gadot, who portrays the evil queen here, seems to have confused loyalty to her native Israel with thinking of Palestinians as subhuman.
In the face of all this, Disney has been pusillanimously paralyzed out of fear of this hateful and incompetent new administration, which goes to show that while large corporations are nice to have as allies, they can’t be relied on when things get the least bit tough. They’re like that friend who crows about you when you receive a big promotion and then suddenly has other things to do when your kid gets sick. Also in the face of all this, it’s easy to lose the actual movie. Well, I’ve seen it now, and if it’s too flawed to drown out the noise, it is good enough to obscure it for quite a long stretch.
If you look at the original Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs from 1937, you’ll be struck by how little story it has over its 83 minutes. No doubt audiences 88 years ago were blown away by the sight of an animated feature in color, when most cartoons were 5-10 minutes and in black-and-white. Still, the new version wouldn’t work if it followed the original beat for beat, so screenwriter Erin Cressida Wilson (who wrote decidedly not-for-kids movies Secretary and Chloe) is tasked with providing a story about a princess locked away from the public by her wicked stepmother. She can’t make the opening anything but dramatically flat, though the dark color palette does give the movie a look that we don’t get from the other live-action Disney adaptations. Zegler bores us in the soundtrack’s designated showstopper, “Waiting on a Wish.” I have a problem with the CGI dwarves around her, too (voiced by Titus Burgess, Andy Grotelueschen, Martin Klebba, Jason Kravits, George Salazar, and Jeremy Swift). Actual dwarf actors would have been far less distracting, and 2012’s Mirror Mirror handled the dwarves with greater creativity. (For the record, the movie does have an real-life dwarf actor in George Appleby, who portrays one of the outlaws rebelling against the evil queen.)
The movie kicks into life with the evil queen’s aria, “All Is Fair,” and if Gadot isn’t the most comfortable bursting into song and dance, the movie and its Oscar-winning songwriters Benj Pasek and Justin Paul allow a sense of humor to creep into the proceedings that’s more than welcome. That’s followed by an enhanced version of “Whistle While You Work” that inspires Zegler to bring the right energy as she dances around with those dwarves. Then Jonathan (Andrew Burnap), the leader of the outlaws who’s the equivalent of the prince from the original story, sings “Princess Problems” and busts Snow on her royal privilege in a gratifyingly pissy way. The CGI magic makes itself useful in the reprise of “All Is Fair,” as the queen uses her sorcery to transform herself into the old crone before our eyes.
It’s too bad that the energy from that stretch peters out before the end. Maybe it’s because director Marc Webb doesn’t come up with anything that matches the dance number he did from (500) Days of Summer, but more likely it’s because the story of Snow White taking back her kingdom doesn’t land. I doubt anyone’s going to this expecting a political thriller, but that’s how the movie sets itself up, and it fails. Furthermore, we just saw Wicked, a better Disney musical than any recent live-action musical actually put out by the Mouse House, and one that handles its grown-up themes better than this movie does. Snow White may not deserve the hate, but I can’t call it a success, either. How I wish I could.
Snow White
Starring Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot. Directed by Marc Webb. Written by Erin Cressida Wilson, based on Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm’s fairy tale. Rated PG.
