Director Marc Webb adapts the beloved animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs for his sixth film in Snow White. Erin Cressida Wilson pens the screenplay for the live-action reimaging, which features a score by Jeff Morrow.
The live-action adaptation follows the template of the animated version, Snow White (Rachel Zegler), with a few minor changes. It opens with a storybook motif. It quickly introduces us to a young Snow White (Emilia Faucher) and her parents, the king and queen of a faraway land. They are a happy family, but when the queen falls ill and passes away, Snow White's father falls in love with another (Gal Gadot), who later reveals herself to be evil when she gets the throne.
The Evil Queen locks away Snow White and sets her dubious plans in motion for the land. One day, when the queen inquires about her Magic Mirror (voiced by Patrick Paige), who is the fairest of them all, the mirror replies that Snow White is. Furious, the evil queen decides that her stepdaughter must go and orders the Huntsman (Ansu Kabia) to carry out the deed.
Naturally, the Huntsman fails to do so. Soon Snow White finds herself in the care of seven dwarfs: Bashful (voiced by Tituss Burgess), Doc (voiced by Jeremy Swift), Dopey (voiced by Andrew Barth Feldman), Grumpy (voiced by Martin Klebba), Happy (voiced by George Salazar), Sleepy (voiced by Andy Grotelueschen), and Sneezy (voiced by Jason Kravits), who quickly takes a liking to her.
Snow White also catches the eye of Jonathan (Andrew Burnap) and his band of merry bandits, who are looking to end the queen's reign. However, when the Evil Queen learns that Snow White still lives, she sets out to end her, forcing Snow White and her new friends to band together to overthrow the queen.
I will admit that I am not the key demographic for the latest adaptation of Snow White. While I was aware of the film's controversy, I wanted to go in with an open mind as a fan of the lead actress and the director. Unfortunately, the film turned out to be a mess.
Let's start with the good. Rachel Zegler makes for a good Snow White; her singing voice is still fantastic. Zegler also has a natural innocence that bodes well for the role. That said, it's a shame that she doesn't have better material to work with. I'm still trying to wrap my mind around Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, who did a wonderful job with Dear Evan Hansen and phoned it in this time when it came to the songs.
Gal Gadot is enjoying her role as the villain, but it is puzzling that the studio chose to give her a considerable musical number, especially since singing isn't her strong suit. Additionally, Andrew Burnap's portrayal of the prince feels underwhelming, lacking any sense of charisma. There's no chemistry between the leads, and even during the big kiss, it feels more like they're pushing each other toward the friend zone. I also couldn't help but notice the Huntsman's terrible haircut. Was there no barber with expertise on set?
Finally, the dwarfs are entirely CGI, which is rather distracting since the voice actors fail to imbue them with any personality. This choice is truly disappointing and disrespectful to the talented dwarf actors in the industry, such as Tony Cox, Warwick Davis, and Peter Dinklage, who, along with some lesser-known actors, could have brought depth to this film.
While I'm sure this version of Snow White has an audience for this critic, it was a rotten apple.
Final Grade: C-
Snow White opens in theaters tomorrow.
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