Snow White (dir. Marc Webb)

By: Adam Freed

It is distinctly possible that way back in 1937 when Walt Disney released its first feature length animated film, Snow White that Walt himself had no idea the chain of events that would follow.  It wouldn’t take Disney long thought to realize that the young studio was on to something special.  The string of iconic feature length animated films to follow in the wake of Disney’s original masterpiece would go on to shape Hollywood for the next century.  Sadly, times have changed.  Be it profit chasing or creative bankruptcy, for the past decade plus Disney has fallen into the habit of producing live action remakes of some of their most beloved properties, to varying degrees of success.  Their latest, Snow White (2025) directed by Marc Webb (The Amazing Spider Man) and starring the endlessly gifted Rachel Zegler (West Side Story, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes) and Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman), should act as defining proof that the system is broken.      

The problem with Webb’s Snow White live action disaster isn’t so much with Snow White herself, because if there is anything that Rachel Zegler has made crystal clear, it is that when given substantial musical material to work with, she is an elite level performer.  One needs to search no further than Zegler’s work as Maria in Stephen Spielberg’s West Side Story (2021) as validation of the young star’s aptitude at carrying a screen musical. Snow White wisely retains the legendary “Whistle While You Work” but also adds no less than five new musical numbers, which range in impact anywhere from forgettable at best to downright bothersome.  Zegler will undoubtedly be caught in the crossfire of blame assigned to Webb’s production, which for those who take in her performance, will surely see is not her cross to bear.  Zegler’s co-star, Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman), for everything that she has to offer a big budget film, from her undeniable beauty to her gravitational presence, is not a singer.  It presents as disingenuous that the production would force Snow White’s nemesis, The Evil Queen, into carrying her own song, especially when Gadot has such myriad strengths outside of song and dance. Her song, like the rest of the new musical additions, adds no value to the film itself.

Most abhorrent of the decisions made within this ill-fated Disney reproduction pertain to the seven little characters that make up the second half of the film’s original title.  Snow White’s septet of gem mining compatriots are astonishingly rendered in the CG nightmare zone that occurs when the appearances of digital characters fall between appearing far too realistic to be animated and far too animated to be real. The result is that the seven musical mining friends carry a ghastly appearance from their first belting of “Heigh-Ho” which comes across as a disappointing ho-hum.  What elements remain of the original masterpiece are undoubtedly the portions of the live action remake that work the best, but each and every decision made to round out the story to its nearly two hour length come across as trimmable fat rather than reimagined improvements.  The problem with this CG laden production is that it never breaks free of the artificial environments that imprison it. So much of Snow White’s, legendary adventure takes place in a forest or a grassy glen surrounded by wilderness.  What should’ve been an easily visible connection to the tactile natural world, instead feels as if it were shot in a plastic shoebox diorama.  The most obvious opportunity to make Snow White feel like an expansive “live” rendition of the classic story, would have been to utilize wide angle shots of naturally occurring environments, but instead Webb’s film settles for clearly manufactured sets shot in controllable environments draped in green screen drudgery. Quite the opportunity squandered.

There is enough evidence at this point to determine the Disney Studios live action remake experiment to be a failed one. However, with the box office success of Mufasa (2024) and with Lilo and Stitch (2025) coming this summer, it would appear that the entertainment juggernaut isn’t as concerned with quality as it is the bottom line.  Marc Webb’s Snow White was gifted an endlessly talented star and blessed with the unfathomable beauty of nature herself, and instead, they have delivered their own version of a poison apple.

Target Score 3.5/10  Rachel Zegler is special, Gal Gadot is a commanding presence, but somehow, Snow White is a massive misstep.  Marc Webb’s live action remake adds nothing of value when weighed against the magnificence of its 1937 original counterpart, a reality that falls somewhere between forgettable and frustrating.