Rating: 2.5/5 stars

The backlash for the live-action “Snow White” (2025) has been the driving force of the media’s outlook on the movie, so the release was anticipated for negative reasons.

The controversy came from comments from the star herself, Rachel Zegler, about the movie, Gal Gadot’s beliefs about Gaza and the CGI seven dwarves.

Yet, this review will not focus on these controversies and there will be no slander of Rachel Zegler either.

Zegler’s performance was well done with what she was given. She has the Broadway voice as seen in her breakout role of Maria in “West Side Story” (2021). Her singing voice stunned in the classic songs like “Whistle While You Work,” while also sounding powerful in new songs like “Waiting On A Wish.”

Something that did not do well in the movie were the costumes. Zegler’s first dress is a simple pink gown, signifying her working in the castle and not receiving anything from the Evil Queen. When we see her in the iconic yellow and blue dress, it looks very cheap, like you would purchase it at a Party City.

It seems that maybe the costume designers were trying to stick to the original very strictly, even with Zegler’s bob haircut. The dress still could have had the classic look to it, while adding something new and making it look like a princess gown. Disney has done a great job making live-action princess gowns with Cinderella and Jasmine, so it was disappointing to see what they did with the classic Snow White dress.

The sets transported you into the classic fairytale. The haunting design of the forest where Snow White flees is dark and spooky, like the original cartoon. The cottage that Snow White discovers was beautiful, feeling like a fairy tale with vibrant colors and animals all around.

While in the cartoon, Snow White falls in love with a somewhat generic prince, the live-action movie took a different approach with a man named Jonathan (Andrew Burnap) who is fighting against the Evil Queen to save the kingdom. This switch felt necessary to the movie and made the love story stronger. The love interest being a man who actually has a name and important backstory gave a more rational reason to Snow White falling in love with him.

Gal Gadot’s performance as the Evil Queen was a big reason this movie failed. Her acting was subpar, giving no real emotion or feeling of anger and jealousy. Also, Gadot’s singing was quite bad and it feels that Disney could have hired a much stronger singer to star in a musical.

The seven dwarves CGI was unsettling. It definitely takes a bit to get used to the uncanny feeling the CGI gives. Besides this, Dopey (Andrew Barth Feldman) was touching as well as the friendship and understanding between him and Snow White.

Zegler did a beautiful job capturing the kindness and beauty of Snow White. Her mannerisms and acting transcended into the themes of the movie which were Snow White’s father’s words “fearless, fair, brave and true.”

There were many positive and negative things about the new live-action “Snow White.” Without all of the controversies, the movie would still fall into the category of average live-action Disney movies, a simple cash grab. If you are not trying to watch an Oscar level performance, “Snow White” may be the perfect movie to feel like a kid again and watch a princess movie.

Image via Disney via YouTube