The live action Snow White premiered in theaters on March 21, 2025. The film is supposed to be based off of Disney’s original fairy tales, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), but it seems like many of the viewers were disappointed after seeing the movie. The director of this movie, Matt Webb, has directed movies such as (500) Days of Summer, The Amazing Spider-Man, and Spider-man: All Roads lead to No Way Home. The actress that played Snow White is Rachel Zegler. In an NBC News interview Zegler expressed that she wanted to portray Snow White as a strong, independent, and modern figure, not just a damsel in distress waiting to be rescued by her prince. While Webb delivered an interesting live recreation of the classic Disney movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, does it deliver?
In this film we are following the story of a discarded princess, Snow White, who tries to find herself in a kingdom ruled by her evil stepmother. The evil stepmother tries to keep Snow White hidden from the world because she is jealous of Snow White’s beauty, but one day Snow White is able to escape to the forest where she finds a cottage in the woods. This is where she finds her new companions who all benefit from Snow White’s presence, until the evil stepmother becomes aware of this new situation. The evil stepmother turns into a witch and poisons Snow White with an apple, and the prince finds Snow White in a death-like sleep, and wakes her with a kiss. In the original film this was where Snow White has her “happily ever after” but in the live action, the magical kiss is the turning point of the plot.
Two unique elements that the director featured the most in his film are the music and the visuals. One of the new songs that did not appear in the original Snow White was Waiting on a Wish sung by Rachel Zegler. This song was quite different from I’m Wishing in the original Snow White film. With a bolder and powerful presence, and definitely gave a new and more independent look for the character Snow White. Another thing that was very unique in this new film was the CGI that was used to make the seven dwarfs, instead of using real actors the creators of the film decided to use special effects to make the seven seven dwarfs. But is this what made Snow White stand out in a good or bad way?
Of course, this movie was made for children to watch and enjoy but many older fans of the original Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs watched the movie as well, and the reviews were quite disappointing. Darren Picauly, a senior from Cypress High school said, “ I found the movie very underwhelming, and I expected much more from a Disney movie.” After looking at more media reviews, you can see that a lot of viewers just wanted a nostalgic feeling from this live action movie, but were met with disappointment. Other viewers just didn’t agree with the new storyline and felt like since it is a remake of the Movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs it should still be the same as the original plot just in live action.
After reading the reviews and watching the media and interviews, this movie isn’t the best to watch if you want to see a magical recreation of the original film. The production of this film was so disliked by viewers, that Disney is now not continuing their production for the Tangled live-action movie. If you still desire for a new and modern Snow White played by Rachel Zegler, then head on to the movie theater to see the film!!
