The Reel Review
When Snow White’s stepmother, the ruthless and power-hungry Evil Queen, attempts to have her killed, Snow White flees to the forest where a merry band of dwarfs and some woodland bandits help her reclaim the family throne. Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot star in this live action musical reimagining of the 1937 animated classic fairy tale.
Zegler is by far the best thing about this earnest adaptation of the beloved classic. She charmingly and convincingly channels the sweet innocence of her character and belts out both classic tunes as well as several mostly forgettable new songs. Some classic songs that haven’t aged as well over the years (“Some Day My Prince Will Come”) got the ax, which makes sense, since there is no prince in this more feminist, modern reimagining. Bedazzled costuming certainly has Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman) looking the part of the Evil Queen, despite a wooden performance and her painfully obvious shortcomings as a singer. 🥴
The dwarf CGI is admittedly disconcerting at first (real actors would have been way better), but after a few minutes it becomes less jarring, especially given the solid work of the Broadway voice actors as well as some super cute animal CGI. While this film also slides into the pitfall of Disney live action adaptations falling a bit short of the original animated classics, this more modern, anti-fascism take on the story is still very entertaining and is one of the better-done live action Disney films, alongside The Little Mermaid and The Jungle Book.
REEL FACTS
• After her performance in 2021’s West Side Story, director Steven Spielberg suggested that Snow White director Marc Webb cast Rachel Zegler in the title role.
• It took four hours of makeup to transform Gal Gadot’s Evil Queen into the Old Hag with the Apple.
• This adaptation of Snow White has been hammered by controversy, from the casting of Latina Rachel Zegler as the title character, the use of CGI for the dwarfs, the casting of Gadot due to her pro-Israeli politics and Zegler’s support for the Palestinians and criticism of Donald Trump.
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