This isn’t your grandfather’s “Snow White.”
Savvy souls understand that going into Disney’s live-action take on its 1937 animated film. Judged on its own merits, the new “Snow White” delivers in ways live-action cash grabs films often don’t.
It can stand on its own, boasts strong performances and doesn’t bludgeon you with woke.
Yes, Rachel Zegler’s heroine is empowered in ways that are thoroughly modern, and Team Disney tweaked other factors to make it less “problematic.” Zegler’s performance still feels rooted in our storytelling past.
That matters. So does this “Snow White.”
Zegler’s Snow White, like the classic film, has a somber backstory. She grew up the child of a kind Queen and King (that order isn’t accidental on-screen). Her mother died when she was just a girl, and her father disappeared years later after remarrying a woman with less than noble intentions.
Yes, that’s Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen. The King, apparently, isn’t a great judge of women.
Snow White grows up under the Queen’s punishing glare, resigned to a life of misery. That changes when the Evil Queen’s talking mirror – unavailable even at Amazon.com – tells her she’s no longer the fairest of them all.
That honor goes to the now-adult Snow White, driving the Evil Queen to the brink of madness. She casts Snow White out of the castle, sparking an adventure that includes a noble warrior, seven CGI dwarves and a forest full of adorable critters.
Said warrior is Jonathan, played by Andrew Burnap. He’s not a prince, thank you very much, but a Robin Hood-esque figure warring with the Evil Queen.
The film feels uncertain about their love connection, torn between a feminist ache to eschew men (ick!) and fidelity to the source material. Jonathan’s presence is critical to the story, but “Snow White” keeps pushing him to the side.
This is her story, by golly, and no cisgender man will get in the way. Even his heroic, third-act escape is edited to lessen the achievement.
Offensive? Updated? Your mileage will vary. Just know that “Snow White” is shrewdly assembled, rarely dull and avoids most narrative clutter.
Most.
The screenplay is credited to Erin Cressida Wilson but she apparently had help. The dialogue isn’t whipsmart, and a few exchanges sound suspiciously like 21st-century banter, but it’s sweet when required and never insulting.
That’s a rave given the sorry state of screenwriting at the blockbuster level.
Director Mark Webb (“The Amazing Spider-Man” saga) had all that Disney cash to create a realm to keep our senses satiated. The film reeks of CGI splendor, but it’s rarely overpowering. Even the woodland creatures, who often do our heroine’s bidding, aren’t force fed to us.
Live-action tales typically drown viewers in ones and zeroes. Webb keeps them under control in “Snow White,” and we’re the better for it.
The film is mostly faithful to the original story up until the third act. That’s when The Zegler Effect takes over. Girlbossery ensues, yet it’s organic to the narrative up until that point.
Purists will revolt, and understandably so, but “Snow White” lacks the clunky mechanics of some woke films. There are no lectures about a woman’s place in society, no screenplay nods to fourth-wave feminism. Snow White is fulfilling her destiny in the only way she knows how.
Let’s not forget “Snow White” is a musical, cribbing classic “Dwarf” ditties like “Heigh-Ho” with several new tunes including the effective “Waiting on a Wish.” Zegler’s voice is wonderful, as is her attention to detail. She’s dialed in without appearing to break a sweat.
“Snow White” doesn’t buckle under the scars of its pre-release woes, including the addition of CGI dwarves. The latter are fine, but given the live-action nature of the story, a merry band of actual little people would have been better.
The “magical creatures” teased in that pre-release production still appear, but they’re integrated into the story. They still add little and, occasionally, hold the story back. And why is one of those “creatures” a little person actor when Disney refused to hire other little people to play the dwarves?
Weird!
“Snow White” features a moment or two that might scare little children, but its morally pure heroine delivers on the story’s ageless appeal.
That’s what family-friendly audiences still crave in the modern marketplace.
HiT or Miss: Yes, “Snow White” gives the classic tale a feminist spin, but sturdy storytelling and an on-point Rachel Zegler charm us anew.
