Since Glenn Close’s star turn as Cruella DeVille made 101 DALMATIONS a live action hit in 1996, the Disney company has been obsessed with turning all their animated classics into similar successes. Some of those films have been truly accomplished, like director Kenneth Branagh’s take on CINDERELLA back in 2015 and Rob Marshall’s version of THE LITTLE MERMAID in 2023. Now, director Marc Webb has adapted SNOW WHITE from the studios very first feature-length hit way back in 1937, and, sad to say, it won’t join that select few.
Updating material from 88 years ago was certain to be a tricky proposition starting with the very title itself and the need to drop the derogatory “and the Seven Dwarfs.” Webb has done an earnest job here, but his result begs the question whether this adaptation should have been done at all knowing there were so many issues to overcome. My answer is a definitive “no.”
The original cartoon SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS comes with a host of cringeworthy attributes, for sure, not the least of them the idea that a vainglorious queen is obsessed only with beauty, the homicide attempts from the Huntsman and the Queen disguised as a wicked witch, and all the slapstick at the expense of the diminutive supporting players and their various traits that define them. The classic film was a well-done fairytale – funny, thrilling, and moving – with a top-notch score to boot, but trying to “fix” it by today’s modern standards was always going to be a Herculean task.
The idea of the princess Snow White being a prisoner of the evil Queen is retained, but in 1937 she was a clichéd damsel in distress where here, by modern necessity, such a representation of women would feel out of date. Thus, screenwriter Erin Cressida Wilson has turned Snow into a much stronger character who, at every turn indentured or not, teaches all those within ear shot life lessons about how to stand up for themselves. Rachel Zegler does what she can with the role, now more a symbol of activism than a genuine character, but it hardly fits with all the “once upon a time” clichés swirling around her.
The material has been updated as well to turn the prince into a commoner, now a charming bandit named Jonathan (Andrew Burnap), very much in the Robin Hood mode. He even comes with his own band of merry men. Unfortunately, while the updating may replace an issue of station concerning a princess-saving royal, this new character doesn’t feel so new. Instead, he’s quite repetitious, like the similar male rogues found in Disney’s TANGLED and FROZEN cartoon features.
Additionally, Webb, et al. have decided to do away with half of the original score because it seems that “I’m Wishing” and “Some Day My Prince Will Come” were perceived as too much about a woman depending upon a man to save her. Still, couldn’t the film’s new music composers Benji Pasek and Justin Paul have found a way to modernize the lyrics while retaining such beloved melodies? Instead, their new songs may have some clever rhymes and turns of phrase, but none of the new tunes really stick.
What is memorable is Zegler’s beautiful singing voice, some expert production design, and the adorable CGI creation of the forest creatures. The CGI dwarfs, on the other hand, are all as odd and unattractively designed as any animated characters since the human beings that marred the original SHREK. Adding hair to Dopey’s bald dome doesn’t help either when he looks like a bad blend of Alfred E. Newman, Howdy Doody and even Andrew Robinson’s Scorpio from DIRTY HARRY. (Google the pics to compare for yourself if you don’t believe me.)
Then there are the matters which haven’t been updated, like the Queen’s vanity. Despite Gal Gadot being game to play her, the character is hopelessly one-dimensional. Finally, there is the unfortunate timing of opening so close after the ginormous success of WICKED. On every level, from modernizing a classic tale to deepening the characters to making the production numbers truly sing, WICKED slays SNOW WHITE. Webb’s new take may try to be as adult but here it ends up being clunky, often strident, and an uncomfortable blend of modernity and old-timey storytelling.
I will give them all this at Disney – – they did what they could, but I think the work was hardly one that whistles. SNOW WHITE may be a noble effort, but its attempt is quite simply a very uneasy mix. Hence, my mixed review.
