Snow White review: Revamped for a modern day audience whilst keeping the Disney magic alive!

Starring Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot, Snow White’s live action adaptation hits all the right notes. Here's why!

Snow White review: Disney has been in its live action remake era for quite some time now. And avid Disney fans have been debating over whether or not it is a good idea to keep remaking classics and tamper with their childhood memories. Since then, some remakes have lived up to the expectations and some have just felt like a soulless adaptation. Thankfully, Marc Webb’s Snow White falls in the former category, even after all the controversy that surrounded it. When Rachel Zegler was announced to play the titular role, a huge section of people were not pleased with it as her skin color wasn’t snow ‘white’ enough given that she is from Colombian and Polish descent. Then there were feud rumours between both Gal Gadot and Rachel Zegler. As a result of all of this, the movie was in the headlines even before its release. 

Hence I approached this film with not many expectations and it clearly let the work speak for itself. We all know what the story of Snow White really is. We’ve heard of it, read it and watched it growing up. The Disney princesses were shown to be this beacon of purity and magic, but there’s a lot they always had to give up for that and as kids we didn’t know better. But Marc Webb weaves the same story with changes that are digestible to a newer generation and surprisingly those bits are what keep you hooked to the film. 

First and foremost, Snow White is named ‘Snow White’ not because of her fair skin but because she was born during a snow storm. Unlike in the books or the animated film, Snow White is shown to be much more opinionated and strong. She is raised to inherit a kingdom and treat her people with kindness and justice, she is no damsel in distress and stands up to her evil stepmother. Rachel Zegler has a phenomenal singing voice and reminds you of that quintessential Disney magic while bringing something of her own to the character. That should be answer enough for anyone who thought only a white skinned girl can play the character! Today’s Disney princesses don’t fit into just one description of what they should look like, there can be multiple people from multiple races who can play it as long as they know how to play the part well. 

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Gal Gadot, on the other hand, is seen playing the evil queen. She is decent in the film as the antagonizing character but there was a lot she could have played around with for a character so twisted and feared. Even her musical numbers did not help elevate the character on-screen as compared to Rachel Zegler’s renditions that helped you escape into a whole new world. I wish she would have created a more fierce aura for the evil queen given that the hype around this film was more about her playing the antagonist than any other character in the story! The changes made for her character were when she asks the mirror on the wall ‘who is the fairest of them all?’, she actually means fair in terms of justice (even though her definition for what’s fair is rather flawed), and not fair in terms of skin color. 

A major part of Snow White also surrounds the dwarves and while the internet isn’t happy about the CGI generated dwarves, I feel they go quite well with the story even though it’s a live adaptation. They helped remind me that this is just a Disney classic at the end of the day. Another pivotal role that has been changed in the film is the prince. There’s no prince waiting to fall in love with Snow White, rather he is swapped for the leader of the bandits - Jonathan (Andrew Burnap). He has a charm of his own and builds palpable chemistry with Zegler. You root for them to re-unite and take the queen down. 

Snow White’s production design, especially Snow White’s castle from when she was younger and the dwarves’ house, is exactly the kind of Disney-esque location we think of while watching a story like this. It made me feel like even I am in the garden amongst the rabbits, squirrels and sparrows and what I wouldn’t give to live in a house like that! It succeeds in painting that magical world for the kids which is an ode enough to the original story. This also includes the iconic blue and yellow dress that Snow White wears which this film nails to the T! When you see her in that attire for the first time, it actually feels like she has come straight out of the storybooks that described her! 

Overall, even after a lot of discussion, decoding and unnecessary drama around this film, Snow White proved to be an entertaining live action remake for me and surely can be something the future generations grow up on!

Snow White is currently playing at a theatre near you!

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