Review: ‘Snow White’ – Disney Suffocates Us with Fake Happiness
by Tamara Khodova
March 21, 2025
At first glance, Disney’s new live-action Snow White movie brings to mind not the 1937 original, which marked the beginning of a new era for Walt Disney Studios, but rather the “evil” Mickey Mouse from South Park, who targets the most sacred thing of all — beloved childhood films. It’s clear that the portrayal of this entertainment corporation on that show is exaggerated, but when the new movie opens featuring cute digital animals on screen, it starts to feel like maybe not all that much. As years go by, the world keeps changing at a rapid pace, and the film industry struggles to keep up. A pandemic comes & goes, multiple strikes shake Hollywood, armed conflicts erupt, the streaming bubble bursts, yet Disney stubbornly continues churning out live-action remakes of its classic animated movies. Despite the ever shifting landscape, studio executives remain convinced that the only safe bet is existing IP. Oh right and Marvel. And while the comic book movie genre has been in a deep slump for years, remakes are still clinging to box office relevance, at least for now.
Marc Webb’s (director of 500 Days of Summer, The Amazing Spider-Man 1 & 2) seemed doomed from the very start. First, fans of Disney’s classic yet again found another reason to be pointlessly outraged when the role of the “white as snow” princess went to Rachel Zegler, a Colombian-American actress and the star of Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story remake. Then, Zegler fueled even more overblown controversy by calling the original Disney adaptation of the Grimm fairytale “outdated.” Adding to the backlash, Game of Thrones star Peter Dinklage criticized the studio for making another fairy tale featuring dwarfs. On top of that, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict escalated in 2023. Actress Gal Gadot voiced her support for Israel, while Zegler expressed solidarity with Palestine. The film became such a lightning rod for extra controversy that Disney scrapped its traditional star-studded red carpet premiere altogether.
All these controversies dragged out during production, and now when the movie is finally being released, it arrives in a world where an “updated and improved” Snow White feels oddly outdated & quite unnecessary. Screenwriter Erin Cressida Wilson kept the bare bones of the classic fairytale but layered it with entirely new themes and values. This Snow White is no longer a passive victim of circumstance. She doesn’t quietly wait in the forest, tending to the dwarfs and hoping for a prince on a white horse to rescue her. Instead, she learns to be a strong leader, take responsibility, and fight for her people. Gone is the prince; in his place is a roguish outlaw (played by Andrew Burnap) who steals in the name of the king. The story is re-framed as a battle between two powerful women: Snow White and the Evil Queen, a clash of ideologies rather than just good versus evil.
It’s an ambitious vision, but this concept clashes with the straightforward style of a generic Disney fairy tale, one built on grand yet unremarkable musical numbers, repeatedly spelled-out themes, and the movie studio’s signature exaggerated live-action performances. Everything in this enchanted world feels artificial: the flowers, the apples, the pain, the animals, the CGI dwarfs (added, presumably, to avoid controversy with casting real little people), even the glittering gemstones they mine. On one hand, this is exactly what you’d expect from a modern Disney movie (and not in a good way). On the other, it somehow feels more unnatural than the original animated fairy tale classic. Which provokes the question — why make it at all?
The sorrowful faces of digital dwarfs fail to evoke sympathy, Bambi-like creatures with oversized eyes offer no warmth, and the songs throughout are instantly forgettable. Early Disney live-action remakes had at least some creative spark (e.g. Maleficent, Aladdin, The Jungle Book), but after a decade of recycling old stories, the studio has completely lost touch with genuine human emotion. It was replaced with computer code and quarterly financial reports. One could argue Snow White’s empowerment message no longer fits in today’s shifting political climate, where the old-fashioned “waiting for a prince” narrative might actually resonate more. But Disney pushes its liberal values so pragmatically that its insincerity is too obvious. No matter who the princess is or what her intentions may be, as long as the money keeps rolling in… Yet, given its troubled production, its timing, its lackluster execution, even this once-reliable goldmine may finally be running dry.
Tamara’s Rating: 1 out of 5
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