‘Snow White’: What the Critics Are Saying
Ahead of the wide release of Disney’s Snow White, the film’s first reviews from critics have been rolling in on Wednesday, and they’ve been decidedly mixed.
Directed by Marc Webb, the live-action adaptation of the 1937 Disney animated classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs sees a princess, Snow White (Rachel Zegler), join forces with seven dwarfs to liberate her kingdom from her cruel stepmother, the Evil Queen (Gal Gadot).
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For years, the film has been under fire for a combination of controversies, including Zegler’s casting and her opinionated remarks about the original animated film. The star also drew heat for her hostile reaction to Donald Trump’s re-election (she later apologized) and her pro-Palestine stance. People on social media have also attempted to paint a feuding narrative between Zegler and Gadot, the latter of which has spoken out against antisemitism and advocated for the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza.
As of Wednesday afternoon, Snow White had a score of 48 percent from 80 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, and clocked in at 47 percent on Metacritic from 37 reviews.
Andrew Burnap and Emilia Faucher round out the cast, with Andrew Barth Feldman, Tituss Burgess, Martin Klebba, Jason Kravits, George Salazar, Jeremy Swift and Andy Grotelueschen lending their voices for the CGI seven dwarfs.
Read on for key excerpts from some of the most prominent early reviews ahead of the wide release of Snow White on March 21.
The Hollywood Reporter‘s chief film critic David Rooney wrote in his review, “None of that background noise matters in Marc Webb’s vibrant retelling, from a smart script by Erin Cressida Wilson that reshapes a story about a princess dreaming of her knight in shining armor into one in which she finds the courage to be a leader, capable of following in her noble father’s footsteps. That desire is expressed with passionate feeling in ‘Waiting on a Wish,’ the standout of the new songs by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul.”
IndieWire‘s Kate Erbland wrote, “It doesn’t always fit seamlessly together, but it’s far more entertaining than that might lead on. This is a spirited and sweet spin on classic material that deserves kudos for its balance of necessary updates and affection for the old ways. Mostly, it’s a reminder of what’s actually worth considering and critiquing: the final product. This one is good.”
Peter Bradshaw with The Guardian wrote in his review, “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.”
The Wall Street Journal‘s Kyle Smith wrote, “Disney’s first Snow White isn’t perfect — the prince is badly underwritten and doesn’t even get a name — but it is, by turns, enchanting, scary and moving. Version 2.0, starring Rachel Zegler in the title role and Gal Gadot as her nefarious stepmother, has been in the works since 2016 and already feels like it’s from a bygone era. After fans seemed grumpy about the rumored storyline and the casting of Ms. Zegler, Disney became bashful about releasing it last March and ordered reshoots to make everyone happy. Unfortunately, the story is so dopey it made me sleepy.”
Vulture‘s Alison Willmore wrote, “I don’t actually know how to judge these live action Disney remakes on any relative scale of quality. The bar is so low, and what people seem to want from them — a tickle of nostalgia, the familiar rendered new on a technicality, 109 minutes of child-friendly distraction — feels so different from the usual standards. So: Snow White is not as bad as it could be, while not being anywhere near good? It’s better than, say, 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. But while the movie itself is devoid of delight, there is something delightful about getting to actually see the thing after the years of culture war skirmishes that have preceded its release like a wrathful red carpet, and discovering it’s about lefty infighting.”
USA Today‘s movie critic Brian Truitt wrote in his review, “Not only does the new Snow White avoid being the poison apple of Disney live-action redos, it actually manages to put some extra musical mojo on a ubiquitous fairy tale. Director Marc Webb’s vision honors but also blows up the template of the original Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The better-than-expected revamp strips away some of the forgettable matter — no charming princes here! Most importantly, White gives an inspired Rachel Zegler a different character arc and a smattering of original songs to let Snow strut as the fairest of them all.”
Johnny Oleksinski with the New York Post wrote, “Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the laziest of them all? That’d be Disney, the creativity-starved studio that has seemingly lost all ability or inclination to make new hits and would rather rifle through its back catalog instead. This time, the House of Mouse has gone all the way back — to its first full-length feature film, 1937’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. The result? Heigh-ho-hum. The timeless classic, a groundbreaking achievement for animation, has been turned into another pointless and awkward live-action automaton that vanishes from your mind the second it’s over. Modernizing the lovably retro Snow White was a dopey idea to begin with, and, while the execution isn’t horrible, the formulaic update is sleepy.”
Empire‘s Helen O’Hara wrote in her review, “It’s no shame on Zegler, Gadot or even Webb, who you can feel straining for impact in bits of zippy dialogue or a fun comic moment. There are scenes and sequences here that work beautifully, thanks to them. But the film feels compromised and so small; like it’s been Frankensteined into submission in the edit and cut and recut 100 times. You can sense studio interference, scared to put dwarves in the film but also frightened to leave them out; afraid to focus on a princess but reluctant to reimagine her too far; terrified to lean into cartooniness or to rely on realism. Disney has attempted to just replicate the past instead of trying to do something new. That’s the greatest folly of all.”
Ross Bonaime with Collider wrote, “Considering the pressure this movie has going against it in remaking one of Disney’s first true masterpieces and their first-ever animated feature, it’s surprising how well Snow White pulls off this update. It’s not nearly perfect, and it can get sloppy at times in trying to bring this story up to date, but its earnestness and heart mostly make up for these flaws. Snow White deserved an update of sorts, and this is an admirable new take that certainly is one of the better live-action remakes from Disney. It might not be the fairest Snow White of all, but it’s an admirable effort nonetheless.”
The Los Angeles Times film critic Amy Nicholson wrote in her review, “Ten years ago when Disney started releasing live-action adaptations of its animated classics, its executives must have thought remakes were a no-brainer way to print money and please fans. This one has been assailed at every turn. So much for a happily-ever-after. As it turns out, today’s Snow White isn’t even that galvanizing. The new songs are forgettable and the animation is cluttered with every pixel competing to show off. There are too many leaves, too many petals and too many pores on the fully animated dwarfs, who bound into the movie with noses the size of pears.”
David Fear with Rolling Stone wrote, “The whole thing feels so bland and perfunctory to a fault that it’s surprising to think that this was the movie that caused such an uproar for nearly two years and a dozen news cycles. You can feel the strain of trying to appeal to everyone, court both the purists and the pro-modernization contingent, be as non-offensive as possible — and still manage to satisfy next to no one. This Snow White may not be the worst live-action adaptation of an animated touchstone, though it’s a strong contender for its blandest. The movie does earn points as a bedtime story, however, because it will definitely put you to sleep.”
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