Snow White

 

“Magic mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest one of all?”

Colourful, reimagined and magical, Snow White takes the classic Disney story and adds modern elements that sit uneasily beside the original elements, but don’t detract from the ultimately entertaining, vibrant and musical princess tale. 

Discussion Points:

I wanted to go into this with an open mind. Despite the political firestorm surrounding the film and the continued creative bankruptcy of Disney exploiting their classics for capitalist gains, I always thought the trailers for this actually looked rather good. I have no issues with a reimagining of the story that gives Snow White more agency and place in her own story. I’m a big fan of Zegler as an actress and trusted that she’d knock the musical elements out of the park. And I knew Sandy Powell’s costumes would be magical and colourful. And all of that has rung true. Zegler is great, especially during the songs and her Snow White has far more to do as a character. The film is visually colourful and vibrant. I’m more mixed on whether or not I fully support the mixture of older elements with newer ones. I liked the new songs, but they definitely feel out of place with the old ones. I liked the romantic subplot between Snow White and Jonathan, but I missed “Someday My Prince Will Come” and Ferdinand. Despite the uncanny valley that the dwarves sit in, I actually really enjoyed their characterisation. But the band of forest rebels I felt no attachment to. And then there’s Gal Gadot’s Evil Queen - which is a big swing and a miss. Looks the part, but cannot play the part - a tonal mess. However, overall, I didn’t hate this. I wasn’t left confused at the creative decisions. I didn’t feel bored to death. I wasn’t exhausted by bad re-editing or sloppy CGI. The film looks good. Zegler is great. And it still tells the classic story, just with some superfluous updates that I don’t think improved nor demoted the film. Ultimately its heart may be in the right place, but it’s not quite the fairest one of all.