Snow White And the 7/10-Star Reviews

ABLUpdated 1 day Ago4 Mins read0

So what kind of apple is Disney offering with this remake of Snow White? Is it poison? Over-engineered-yet-delectable Honeycrisp? Or the dreaded, basic Red Delicious? The film, starring Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot, has been drawing controversy since Zegler’s casting announcement irked racists. With reactionary Splash Mountaineer-types decrying the film for being too woke, and folks on the left side-eyeing Gal Gadot’s pro-Israel stance, this has felt like a film truly for no one. Maybe it’s for critics, or maybe their opinions will be as divided as the general public’s.

With the review embargo finally lifted, there are enough opinions to fill the Nile! While the overall vibes are mid to good, the main through-line of many reviews is how weirdly timely the film feels. As Vulture’s Alison Willmore says in her review, the film makes the Evil Queen more explicity fascist, and Snow into more of a centrist #resistance leader. Weird choice for a weird time in history. But is it good cinema? Here’s what critics are saying about Snow White.

“Snow White is not as bad as it could be, while not being anywhere near good? It’s better than, say, 2019’s Aladdin, which was awful but nevertheless made a literal billion dollars. It’s garishly ugly and padded out with new tunes from Pasek and Paul that are as smooth and unremarkable as river rocks, all of which may or may not matter to its target audience, who could just be basing their decision about whether to see the movie on how unacceptably woke social media has informed them it is.” — Alison Willmore, Vulture

Snow White doesn’t quite crack the top-tier, with Cinderella and Pete’s Dragon and the 1994 version of The Jungle Book. But it lands solidly in the upper end of the spectrum, alongside movies like Mulan, Beauty and the Beast and Cruella. That puts it a long way from such soulless efforts as Dumbo, Pinocchio or either of the recent Alice in Wonderland movies. Or, ugh, The Lion King. — David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter

“Gadot’s Evil Queen doesn’t just oppress Snow White. She’s a fascist who brings a chill to the land, plundering its riches and trashing the humanity of the people. Does that make her the film’s conscious metaphor for our current regime? You could say that we’ve seen other fairy-tale rulers a lot like this one. Yet movies connect in mysterious ways. Who would have thought that a Disney live-action remake could seem this pointedly political? In the end, the most resonant romantic feeling Snow White leaves you with may be: Someday my chintz authoritarian will come tumbling down.” — Owen Gleiberman, Variety

“And in the end, the controversy that’s been drummed up around this curiously lifeless retelling from director Marc Webb (500 Days of Summer) will almost certainly be the only thing folks remember about this particular take on the fairest of them all. After the lights went down, the hope was that the brouhaha happening outside the theater would fade into the background and all that would matter would be what was happening onscreen. Instead, you may find yourself wishing that one-seventh of the high drama playing out behind the scenes had somehow made it into what feels like a nightmare pandering to Disney adults.” — David Fear, Rolling Stone

“Webb’s Rachel Zegler-starring film is good. Not great, but certainly good, spirited and sweet and filled with wonderful songs and some canny updates to extremely dated material. And while that might not be good enough for some potential audience members, let’s be honest: There are just some people who were never going to loosen up to a ‘colorblind’ fairy tale or one that dared ask, ‘Hey, what if a woman could like, do stuff, too?’ If it hurts you to see an updated version of a story you loved — if your childhood is ruined because of the existence of this film or the new Little Mermaid or the new Aladdin or whichever new spin on literal fairy tales has so wounded you — that’s fine. You don’t have to watch. That’s not mean; that’s the honest truth.” — Kate Erbland, IndieWire

“[Snow White is] a more fully realized tale that can justify a 109-minute runtime. Additional musical numbers help even the pacing, too, as do the rearranging and lengthening of songs first written for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. It allows Snow White to feel more like an ensemble piece, though the results can feel awkward at times. The expanded ‘Heigh-Ho’ makes room for individual introductions to the Dwarfs – but only about half of them. Another downside of this augmented songbook: Not one, but two Evil Queen solos for Gadot to belt in the flat, monotone register that haunted social-media timelines at the beginning of COVID-19 lockdown.”
— Siddhant Adlakha, IGN

“In her latest blockbuster project, Zegler (West Side Story, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes) continues to prove she is a star of the highest order. Whether she’s acting opposite CGI dwarfs or belting out a heartfelt solo, she commits fully to the role and embodies the true ideal of a fairytale princess. So much of Snow White’s plot hinges on characters being willing to risk everything for her because of her compassion and good heart, and Zegler portrays it all so beautifully that we don’t doubt for a second that others would fall under her spell so easily.” — Rachel Labonte, ScreenRant

“Here is a pointless new live-action musical version of the Snow White myth, a kind of un-Wicked approach to the story and a merch-enabling money machine. Where other movies are playfully reimagining the backstories of famous villains, this one plays it straight, but with carefully curated revisionist tweaks. These are all too obviously agonising and backlash-second-guessing, but knowing that at some basic level the brand identity has to be kept pristine. This is particularly evident in the costume design, with which the wicked witch gets a pointy dark crown and skull-hugging black balaclava and Snow White is lumbered with a supermarket-retail tweenie outfit with puffy-sleeved shoulders. Those otherwise estimable performers Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot are now forced to go through the motions, and they give the dullest performances of their lives.” — Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian