In a far-off realm, the Good King (Hadley Fraser) is called south to lead his army in war, leaving behind his daughter, Snow White (Emilia Faucher) to be raised by her stepmother (Gal Gadot).  Weeks turn to months, turn to years, and the Kingdom falls into despair, all but forgetting that Snow White, now grown (Rachel Zegler), is the true heir to the king’s throne. After Snow White releases Jonathan (Andrew Burnap), one of the Queen’s prisoners, and begins to openly question the iron grip which her stepmother rules the once-prosperous kingdom, a plot is devised to lure the princess into the orchard and kill her.  Tipped off by her would-be assailant, (Ansu Kabia), Snow White flees into the enchanted woods surrounding the castle to hide from the wrath of the Evil Queen. 

Marc Webb directs Snow White from a script written by Erin Cressida Wilson, adapting the story from The Brothers Grimm, working in service of the Walt Disney classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (1937), supervised by David Hand.  Jeff Morrow delivers a new original score borrowing themes from Larry Morey and Frank Churchill’s original songs as well as Benj Pasek and Justin Paul’s updated tunes.  The original story, just shy of 3,000 words, was already heavily adapted and sanitized by Hand et al some 85+ years ago. Wilson again filters the story to appeal to modern audiences, stretching the already bare 83-minute animated classic to its absolute limits and turning in a script 109-minute film that gives a little more depth to the otherwise anonymous prince charming of the original, and padding the runtime with a handful of new, modern songs. 

It is beguiling why Disney keeps putting out these live action remakes of their beloved classics.  They are an easier sell than those based off of rides, perhaps, as Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) was the only successful launch they had going that route, and on paper these titles should draw cross generational appeal, but so often they are mired in questions of their existence that they fail to capture and enthrall any audience at all.  At this point, the shot-for-shot remakes are panned for adding nothing new to the story, while the ones that are expanded on are panned for deviating from the beloved classic.  Snow White falls into the class of the latter, and it is not difficult to tell what aspects of the film are new, even for those who may have never before seen a VHS tape before in their lives, leading it to feel disjointed instead of a singular work.  This is most evident in the music, and beyond just the nostalgia for the original songs, there is a simple lyricism that is so charming about the classic verses that the new entries and expanded lyrics just do not hold up.   

While we can all be thankful that Lin Manuel Miranda was barred from writing a rap number for the woodland bandits, the real surprise comes in Zegler’s performance of the songs.  She does not struggle to hit the notes, but in fact that is the exact issue with the performance.  She is singing like she is on stage and that there is not a massive 5.1 sound system – at least – pumping those notes into auditoriums and eventually living rooms when the title hits Disney+ later this year.  Notably, though, she is much more comfortable singing and is able to seem a little more natural in her delivery than her onscreen nemesis is.  To be fair to Gadot, her songs are some of the weakest lyrically, reaching towards the tones of the Renaissance era villain songs but never quite achieving those same heights, and even if they did, that tone and style of the 1989-99 songs still would not fit into the storybook nature of the Golden era film upon which this is based. 

Typically, the tonal mishmash of these live action remakes blends well into the nebulous swirls in the bath water that these titles have been washed in, wiping away all of their charm and originality.  That we notice there is a discontent here is proof that the craft departments are all working on following a single vision as Webb dares to tweak the modern house style that has plagued these last few releases.  Snow White opens as so many of the classic toons did on a storybook, and it maintains that illustrated feeling throughout.  Cinematographer Mandy Walker’s lens is quick to capture the artistry, especially Sandy Powell’s iconic replications of the costumes and production designer Kave Quinn’s realization of these beloved locations.   

There is a scene early on as Snow White is fleeing through the enchanted forest and getting ensnared in the branches of the gnarled trees that feels like a more practical approach as the negative space of the background is filled with a flashing red light.  He shies away from puppetry when Snow White’s path is blocked by a sentient oak, but this moment can hopefully be a pivot point for Disney moving forward and setting their live action films in the world of imagination and delight that practical effects and filmmaking can create.  They have the budget to support artists and filmmakers that want to work in the vein of luminaries such as Powell and Pressburger or Jim Henson, but somewhere along the line the executive suite had followed the shining star of CGI and, having since lost their bearings, now are wandering aimlessly through the uncanny valley. 

Once in the forest, the CGI really takes over.  One can almost forgive the frightening, wide-eyed animals as just part of the film’s style, but then later once real horses can be seen, our ability to cope with the design of the woodland creatures is shattered.  This disparity between what is real and what is generated flows into almost all of the scenes which Zegler shares with the dwarves for this same reason.  Somewhere along the line, the decision was made to utilize CGI for all of the dwarves, and while there are some isolated moments where this works on screen, oftentimes they look soulless behind the eyes, especially Dopey who seems to have walked right off of The Polar Express (2004) and into the enchanted woods. As with most visual effects, they work best when everything else in the frame is generated so the scenes in the mines are a highlight if you can excuse the fact that you paid good money for a movie ticket and are watching a videogame cutscene.  When they are not in focus, they often bop up and down in an effort to appear alive, but again, they are about as alive as the background characters in GTA are, and they share the same patterns of movement. 

As the film draws to a close, it begins to take its wildest liberties in a way that lands so soft and with none of the thrilling images of either coal hot shoes or lightning strikes on cliffsides.  This modern conclusion of talking through one’s differences is not surprising, and for the youngest in the audiences it still delivers a valuable message, but for those – yes, even the younger ones – who are able to comprehend a little more of what is going on in the upper echelons of power across this country, this idea of compromise seems even more far-fetched than the spell of a magic apple being broken by true love’s first kiss.  Wilson seems to know this as the ending of the script is so stationary, and though she spurs the towns people to march towards the castle while singing the scales of angry men, the action is driven to a halt in this climax.  While the queen is ultimately felled – ironically enough by Quigg (George Appleby), a live-action role played by a little person – the overwhelming message from the weak-kneed Mouse seems to be that recognition of repression is resistance enough; had the film faced yet another delay there might have been time to film a post credit scene of Quigg being perp walked through the Kingdom as a final warning to anyone that dares stand up against the powers that be.