It was finally going to happen. From 2010 with the release of “Alice in Wonderland” from Tim Burton, the Disney entertainment complex discovered that they could make billions of dollars by redoing their most popular animated films using live actors and a modern CGI. Over the past 15 years, the company has joyfully cannibalized its own catalog, siphoning nostalgia for the millennial brain as so much cerebrospinal fluid. It was a curious practice, because most of the films they redo were already based on folk tales, old stories or children’s literature which is frequently adapted by filmmakers around the world.
The raison d’être of these remakes (with the exception of nostalgia money) was apparently to allow Disney to keep their property flag deeply planted in tales like “Cendrella”, “Aladdin” and “The little mermaid”, assuring the public that, yes, their version was the “official” version. Hans Christian Andersen is only an old hack, and there is no need to readjust the source material. Disney cannot have stories in the public field, but they can use their powerful octopus marketing department to ensure that the public considers their own films as the default version. This ethics applies mainly to features, however, and their many mythical short films from the 1930s tend to be overlooked.
Example: the first feature film released by Disney in 1937 was “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”, adapted from the history of 1812 published by the Grimm brothers. This film, directed by David Hand and with (The Invavely Treaty) Adriana Castelotti, was a massive success and established the standard for all the future visions of the character of Grimm. Disney the “possesses”, despite the dozens of “Snow White” adaptations that have since come.
With the remake of Marc Webb in 2025 of “Snow White”, Disney again affirms their property on their own equipment, updating it for a modern audience. The result is, despite the mercenary motivations, in an affectionate manner. It’s hollow, but unlike more recent remakes, he seems to have thoughts in his head.
The reason why Disney continues to redo their own works
Another reason for Disney remakes has been to meet online criticism of their films. “Beauty and the Beast” was often (a little lazily) criticized as a story on Stockholm syndrome, which Disney’s remake treats. Some have complained that the servants of the beast did not deserve to be cursed in the animated version of 1991, so the live remake / CGI explained that yes, they did it. Some criticisms opposed the fact that “Aladdin” concerned the characters of the Middle East, but presented largely white actors, so the remake of Guy Richie corrected this. Disney fans complained that Cinderella and Prince Charming did not have romantic chemistry in the 1950 animated film, so the remake of Kenneth Branagh gave them some. And, thanks to Tim Burton, we now have an authorized version of “Dumbo” without racist caricatures.
The criticism that Marc Webb seems to be tackling in “Snow White” is that the story previously maintained the beauty of the title of title. In the 1937 film, Snow White was soft, innocent, almost childish in his naivety, and his most notable characteristic of character was his beautiful pale skin (hence the name). Webb not only gives Snow White (Rachel Zegler) more agency and activity – it participates in a largely bloodless revolution – but bends back to redefine its name and what it means to be “the most beautiful of all”. In this version of things, Snow White was born during a snowstorm, a situation that his royal parents considered miraculous. They named it from the snow. It no longer has the burden of bearing the name of its fair skin (which, to remind readers, was a norm of beauty from the European aristocracy of the early 19th century).
These redefinitions allowed Webb to launch a charming and talented main actress who had no pale complexion. Zegler is perhaps the culmination of “Snow White”, bringing a lot of joy and charm to a fairly luxual part.
Fair is just
Webb also aims to redefine the word “just”. When The Evil Queen (Gal Gadot) asks his magic mirror (Patrick Page) which is the most beautiful in the country, the mirror stresses that “fair” can mean “beautiful”, but also “just”. The Queen is the most beautiful, but Snow White, having been raised by the benevolent Royals of her kingdom, has a stronger sense of justice. She also celebrates a kingdom based on mutual kindness and the sharing of work. Snow White promotes a communist ideal, while the wicked queen hates the wealth of the kingdom and transforms its inhabitants of bakers and farmers into soldiers. It is peace, community and proliferation of apples against vanity, greed and violence. These are not revolutionary ideas, but webb plies them at least in a somewhat graceful way in a fable that had previously been about vanity exclusively.
The intrigue of “Snow White” is more or less the same as the 1937 film. Snow White, a princess, loses her mother against the disease, only to see her replaced by a nasty mother-in-law. The new mother-in-law instantly transforms the kingdom into a violent and draconian place, sending the king (Hadley Fraser) to a dangerous war mission which he does not return. Snow White becomes a servant in the castle, attracting the queen’s anger only when her magic mirror informs him that Snow White is more equitable than she. Snow White flees the inevitable attempt at the Queen’s assassin and ends up hiding deep in the woods with a septut of minors. In this way, “Snow White” is a remake of Don Siegel’s film in 1971 “The Beguiled”.
The additional webb wrinkle is that the Prince of Snow White Charming, a new character named Jonathan (Andrew Burnap), is also hiding in the woods with a group of ragot of harms and burglars. Like Robin Hood, he caused a mischief for the Queen’s itinerant soldiers and claims to fight in the name of the king, hoping to restore the communist idyll by a violent revolution.
Snow White Policy
Webb does not look at the policy of “Snow White”, but it is a bit refreshing that the film has a political point of view. It means equality and denounces greed. Kindness is a revolutionary tool. The dialogue is clumsy and Mawkish, and “Snow White” is very often distracted from its political points (mainly by prolonged scenes of dwarf fantasy), but it is more than the remakes of “Alice in Wonderland”, “Beauty and the Beast”, “The Lion King” or “The Little Sirène”.
The seven dwarfs of the 1937 film are also present here. They can sing a prolonged interpretation of “Heigh Ho”, which still does not correspond to the glories of Tom Waits cover. This time, however, the seven characters are CGI creations with magic powers; The gems they dig up with mines have unfains magic properties that have no impact on the plot. They have realistic textures of flesh, but characteristics of disproportionate cartoons, which makes them human and nightmarish in turn. Dopey (Andrew Barth Feldman) looks so much like Alfred E. Neuman, one might think that Mad Magazine could continue. They are not small human people, but mystical gnomes, a change is probably made to deal with any uncomfortable mischievous treatment of young people; Peter Dinklage opposed a “Snow White” remake for the same reason. Now, minors are no longer human, unlike George Appleby, very real (and very funny), a small actor who plays a masterful crossbow hunter.
The seven mystical minors do not seem to have much personality until they start to interact with Jonathan and his suite. They work better like background figures, not stars. It is a shame that Dopey receives an emotional story, because it is difficult to worry about him.
Snow White less nostaglia
Despite all the aforementioned politicking, “Snow White” is ultimately an intermediate drama. Gadot, as a nasty queen, tries ham at best of her capacities, but her scenes are too high to become really deliciously evil. She is legitimately bad in the role. Some of the new songs are fun – I like “Princess Problems”, a whining hymn that Jonathan shares with Snow White – but others are sinking into the background. The design of production is dull, relying on the animated palace of simple primary colors. Only the nasty queen is allowed to dress mainly in black and purple.
The additional lines and characters also make “Snow White” too busy at the end. The scene in which the nasty queen uses black magic to transform into a grone occurs incredibly quickly, serves a single function, then is just as quickly defeated. The 1937 film’s poison apple became a footnote in the remake. Too bad, as Marc Webb had every opportunity to play with edenic images. It was almost as if the poison apple scenes could have been cut for the rhythm. It is a bad way to feel a scene which, in 1937, had defined the photo.
In the end, “Snow White” is better than “Beauty and the Beast” and “The Little Mermaid” – by a long time – but it is not as good as “Cinderella” by Branagh or “Dumbo” by Burton. And, unfortunately, he always carries the boring brilliance of a corporate mandate. This is another cynical company, explaining certain nostalgic images in the hope that we will pay the same high as we only had the children. Marc Webb does what he can to bring thought and personality in the mixture, and Zegler is a defined film star, but at the end of the day, “Snow White” looks like a little trifle. It didn’t make me happy, but at least I was not grumpy.
/ Film score: 6.5 out of 10
“Snow White” opens the rooms on March 21, 2025.
