Honest Review – Disney’s Snow White!
Last night I saw an early screening of the new film, Disney’s Snow White. Snow White has been surrounded by various controversies for a few different reasons, but I went in with an open mind. Snow White stars Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot, as Snow White herself and the Evil Queen. I wasn’t sure if Disney had stuck with the original story or if they changed it up, but now I know! I have thoughts on this new Snow White film, so I plan to tell you my honest opinion. Stop here if you don’t want to read spoilers, there’s no way to explain the movie without a more detailed explanation. Let’s discuss!
SPOILERS AHEAD—————
Like many of you, I have read and heard all of the controversy about Snow White. There was a lot, but I wanted to give it a fair shot. Within the first couple of minutes of the film, I quickly realized that this was not going to be like Walt’s original version. Yes, that fast! We find out how Snow White got her name, and it had nothing to do with how the animated feature explained it. It’s about a snow storm the night she was born. This was just the first of many changes throughout the movie.
As the story develops, more changes from the original are revealed. In this version of Snow White, Rachel Zegler plays a Princess who of course loses her parents, and is locked away by the Evil Queen, Gal Gadot. A thief from the outskirts of town, Jonathan, gets caught at the castle and Snow White sets him free. This character becomes her love interest rather than a prince, like its predecessor. The Evil Queen’s magic mirror tells her that Snow White has become the fairest in the land, which doesn’t sit well to say the least. She orders a huntsman to take her to the woods to and make sure she doesn’t come back. He doesn’t hurt her but rather lets her go. That’s when she meets the dwarves with help from a group of adorable animals.
About the dwarves… I was assuming I would not like them because of their CGI appearance rather than live action actors. They had such huge personalities, I enjoyed their scenes. Wait until you see what they did with Dopey, way off script! I don’t want to give away all the ins and outs of the movie, no major details, so I’ll proceed to summarize the rest.
Snow White makes friends with the dwarves, ends up falling for Jonathan, the hag gives her a poison apple… mostly on par with the original. Jonathan kisses her to wake her up, the previews never told audiences that part. Snow White and her friends go back to the kingdom, she recruits the huntsmen to turn against the queen so she can take her rightful place as ruler. The Evil Queen dies but now how you think. The kingdom rejoices and it ends on a happy note. Here comes my honest opinions about this movie!
As an old school Disney fan, I originally didn’t like the changes from the classic Snow White. I don’t like change usually, so I wasn’t surprised at my feelings. I guess the best way to think about this, is to NOT assume you’re watching a retelling of the 1937 classic. Look at Snow White as a stand alone film. It’s a familiar story but not the same as you remember. Speaking of stories, this film had parts that reminded me a little bit of a different one… Tangled. Jonathan is very much like Flynn Ryder, the criminal aspect and personality. Snow White, like Rapunzel, was basically held captive by an evil stepmother. Even the dancing in the kingdom seemed like a nod to Tangled. Just my opinion!
Yes, Jonathan does wake Snow White up from her death sleep, but in this story, she’s the brave hero. In this version, Snow White isn’t waiting for her prince to come, she met a man stealing potatoes from the castle. She ends up being the one who saves the day and restores happiness to her people. Again, not the Snow White from our childhood. It wasn’t bad, just different. Rachel Zegler did a decent job as Snow White, her own version. There were glimpses of classic Disney here and there, endearing scenes like with those precious woodland creatures or dwarves. Gal Gadot, however, just didn’t cut it as the Evil Queen. I tried to like her, I really did, but just couldn’t. Pretty bad. Keep in mind these options have nothing to do with the actors personally, it’s the characters. I left the theater with so many thoughts swirling around in my head, trying to take in what I just watched. Whew!
All in all, I thought Snow White was fine, just as a separate version from what Walt Disney originally released. Similar but different. I do love Tangled so there’s that! The chatter outside the theater from others was that the movie was just ok. Not because of what people think of the actors themselves, it’s the way the story was portrayed I believe. In the spirit of transparency, I can admit that I wasn’t a Rachel Zegler fan (weird? weird) and never had seen a Gal Gadot movie. Afterwards, I thought Rachel’s singing was beautiful, yet wished I still hadn’t seen a Gal Gadot movie. The Evil Queen was the worst part, I was really rooting for a fun new villain too. If I was grading Snow White on a scale from one to ten, I’d give it a 5.
My recommendation would be, if you’re going to the theater to see Snow White, keep in mind that it’s different. If you love the story of the original version, you MAY not care for this one. Maybe you’d be better waiting for it to hit Disney+. I think if Disney did more press for the film and explained more of the story, perhaps people would be more interested in the movie. Unfortunately, comments from Rachel Zegler and others kind of made people get a preconceived notion and decided they weren’t seeing the movie no matter what. It’s not that bad, I was entertained. Is it outstanding? No, in my opinion, but you may disagree. Feel free to give it a go and decide for yourself later this week when Snow White officially releases.
Disney Scales Back ‘Snow White’ Hollywood Premiere
Michele also contributes theme park news for Fox 35 Orlando 11pm news and on the radio on WDBO.
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