In the pantheon of Disney characters, the only one as iconic and enduring as the Mouse of the House himself is perhaps Snow White, the fabled parent-less princess and star of the studio's first animated feature film, 1937's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Since then, the Grimm fairy tale (which, per usual, is actually much darker than the version Walt and crew created) has been retold any number of times.
But Mark Webb's Snow White, starring Rachel Zegler (West Side Story) as the princess mistreated by an evil Queen (Gal Gadot) and taken in by seven (in this case CGI) quirky dwarfs, marks the first time Disney itself has reimagined their own legacy character, over 80 years since its original. The result, featuring new music from musical movie darlings Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (The Greatest Showman, Dear Evan Hansen) and a reworked plot to avoid all that pesky "one day my prince will come" malarky, is a mixed bag at best of impressive visuals and catchy songs with a choppy, superficial plot.
Most of what you remember about the 1937 original is still here, but screenwriter Erin Cressida Williams has updated the proceedings capably enough to include a feisty band of rebels camped out in the mysterious woods beyond the castle, led by Jonathan (Andrew Burnap), not a prince, exactly, but apparently still capable of (spoiler alert?) true love's kiss. And here, once Snow White's parents are gone, she grows into a young woman with 21st century ambition and autonomy, her new song about wishes no longer sung longingly into a well; "Waiting on a Wish" is about what might be if she's given the opportunity to create it.
The film spends surprisingly little time on the darker aspects of Snow White's story, namely the scene where the Queen's huntsman (Ansu Kabia) shows mercy in defying the Queen's orders to kill the girl. It's ultimately toothless and, like much of the rest of the film that bops from one plot point to the next without much connective tissue, an approach apparently geared mainly toward the six-year-olds who will demand this colorful, often silly adaptation is streamed on repeat once it hits Disney+. That's not to say the film should have gone into horror territory; but it's true that the best of the studio's classic films aren't afraid to get a little scary, even for little viewers (see: Sleeping Beauty, The Lion King).
The silliness is primarily on display when the dwarfs arrive on the scene; the CGI is solid (a calculated risk, because bad CGI can sink even a great film), and the updated rendition of "Hi Ho, Hi Ho," is the closest thing this film has to an animated sequence. As the seven short men are singing through the mines and swinging their pickaxes, one can practically picture the new, immersive park ride probably already in development. Same goes for the "Whistle While you Work" number in their cottage, a fun little dance ditty that will have toddlers to tweens twirling around in front of the TV.
There's a kernel of depth introduced in a recurring theme about holding out hope, believing in the best possible outcome and fighting for what's right. It could be just the particular timing of the film's release, but this proved to be the only part of Snow White that elicited even a glimmer of an emotional response from me, aligned as it is with my own efforts to keep the faith in these dark political times. Certainly neither Zegler's or Gadot's performances manage any real connection, though this may be (and this is not a compliment) the best acting I've seen Gadot do to date. She's clearly been working with a dialogue or accent coach, and she even manages some simple choreography in the Queen's big number that resembles human more than cardboard. Zegler's performance is fine (and her singing is better), but one is left wondering if she was cast more out of a bid to capitalize on her West Side Story popularity than anything.
There's no point in begrudging a studio like Disney their choice to invest a lot of time and money into revamping known IP in the hopes of milking a bit more profit from it. Indeed, Snow White's popularity has not surprisingly endured for generations (if you see me in a bar, ask me about my first trip to Disney as a pre-schooler and the story my mom loves to tell about seeing Snow White in person). Webb's version aims to modernize a fable that, in past versions, had instilled an unhealthy Prince Charming complex in easily influenced (aka young) audiences (this writer included).
That in the process he and Williams seemed unwilling or unable to also give the Grimm fairy tale a bit of depth, trusting that their audience would come with them if they did, is a missed opportunity but not, for plenty of people, a reason to write the whole thing off.
Snow White is now in theaters.
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