Snow White (2025) Movie Review - Spoiler Free

So here we are; this is rock bottom for Disney, which took its original premise, twisting & turning it into something unrecognisable. This is not a fairytale!

Genre: Adventure / Fantasy / Musical

Director: Marc Webb

Cast: Rachel Zegler, Gal Gadot, Andrew Burnap, Jeremy Swift, Martin Klebba, Andy Grotelueschen, Titus Burgess, Ansu Kabia, Emilia Faucher & Patrick Page.

Run Time: 109 min.

US Release: 21 March 2025

UK Release: 21 March 2025

German Release: 20 March 2025

After much commotion, controversy about comments by the lead actress, delays due to the pandemic and then strikes, reshoots due to poor testing, as well as complete premier cancellations, it is finally out, the live-action remake of the House of Mouse’s first animated feature. Let me tell you right now, I did go into the cinema with an open mind back in March, telling myself not to expect much. Still, I ended up deeply disappointed by this new version of the Brothers Grimm's children’s recital. So let’s stroll through my review, as we sing “Hey-Ho” to figure out if this apple is truly poisonous. 

Snow White, princess of a prosperous kingdom, is forced to run away from home, as her step-mother, the Evil Queen, takes control over the land. Joining forces with seven dwarves, plus a group of rebels, she prepares to fight, to take back control of her home. 

Plans for a real-life adaptation of this princess had been at work way before the success of Cinderella and The Jungle Book. At one point, execs even opted to turn it into a martial arts film, set in China. So who knows, maybe this would not have been the worst adaptation. The project finally started obtaining real traction after the first successful re-launches of some of the studio's original films. By 2019, Marc Webb had signed on as director. In June 2021, Zegler was cast as the protagonist, while Gal Gadot was cast at the end of the same year as the villain. 

To be fair, the first half of the movie did feel like the fairytale we know from our childhood, with the beginning containing more meat to sink one’s teeth into. Nonetheless, the quality quickly declines once the titular princess escapes, fearing for her life. Disney does once again what it did the last couple of years, water down the original story, but this time fill it with a paper-thin contemporary topics of patriarchy, leadership, plus kindness, containing a lot of bland filler in between. 

From here on, we obtain a short sequence with seven computer-generated creatures that Disney refuses to name “dwarves”, due to the bad connotation the word has on little people, even though it was coined for mythical creatures that are of a different race from humans. It also becomes preachy in its objective to hammer in its message into every viewer's head, in any way possible.

Where it goes completely off the rails, though, is the second half, when it introduces the bandits. Reshoots become obvious by now, as it feels like a stitched-together picture, with a bad, muddled storyline, containing severe pacing problems. It shortly finds its footing again, with the poison apple segment. Unfortunately, the ending feels rushed, containing the most laughably bad resolution, magically fixing everything. Oh, and the romance still feels forced. 

Dialogues aren’t better, sounding artificial, or too on-the-nose with specific subjects. The line delivery by the Evil Queen is absolute cringe, just as overall conversations sound unbalanced, struggling to find an even tone.

Let me be absolutely clear in one aspect: this is by no means Rachel Zegler’s fault. In fact, despite some awkward facial expressions, she gives the best rendition in this dumpster fire of a remake, not that there is much competition. She explicitly shines in musically induced moments, displaying her strong vocal performance. Snow White is depicted as a young female royal with clear, strong moral values, just like an uncanny kind heart. 

Gal Gadot, whom I was yearning to see in this role, was the most disappointing. She gives a remarkably bad performance that borders on cartoonish. Her line deliveries are a disaster, her musical cues even worse; one can not help but feel embarrassed at witnessing her acting. It doesn’t help that the writing didn’t support the character with enough depth.

Finally, we have Andre Burnap, playing a variation of the prince charming archetype, named Jonathan. He is supposed to be the leader of a justice-driven group of rebel bandits, yet he comes off as goofy. Having said that, Burnap gives an acceptable rendition of the flat characterisation he was given; however, he has no real chemistry with Zegler to sell the romance.

Characters are introduced, just to vanish for longer periods, then suddenly reappear again, making them feel like one-dimensional chess pieces on a chequered board: Simply integrated to obtain an outcome.

The camera work isn’t much better! Granted, while some key scenes contain the correct colour, as well as light, to emote the original's atmosphere, talking specifically about the forest sequence, most of the premise has a bland look. Despite strong, vibrant hues, the composition feels hollow, with overly polished texture plus zero field depth. Simply put, it feels unnatural. The incohesive plot structure impacts the editing, grappling to build a steady flow with tension. 

The visuals become even worse when real elements are blended in with computer-generated imagery. This is especially true when it comes to the seven dwarves, which, even if trying to recreate the look of the 37 cartoon, seem unfinished and out-of-place, as if added last minute. The artificial sets, such as the cottage or some of the castle’s interior, are murky, lacking in depth. The costumes, though accurate, contain aggressively oversaturated colours and look cheap. 

The musical angle of the picture is a mixed bag. While the new spin on the classic songs is fitting, most of the newly integrated ballads fall flat, not suiting the rest of the soundtrack, failing to become new, memorable sing-alongs.  

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Verdict: From a crammed plot, underwritten characters, incredibly bad performances, and forgettable new songs, to the bland, sterile cinematography, aggressive colours, just like unpolished CG. This remake of Disney’s first animated feature might be the worst of the bunch, and there have been some true stinkers! The screenplay, by Erin Cressida Wilson, is perceived as the artistic quintessence of personality disorder. With a good start that fleshes out the background of the princess’ childhood, the calibre of quality quickly drops once it gets to the Huntsman chapter. The fact that the flat VFX settings and the ugly rendered dwarves clash with real-life elements has a lot to do with it; however, the reshoots left a deep scar, as the second half seems to be a completely different movie, containing a contrasting tone. Save your time, save your money. This isn’t worth watching if it were for free! 3.0 out of 10. 

Have you seen Snow White already? What did you think? Agree or disagree? Leave a comment in the section below to let me know. As always, thank you for reading, sharing & subscribing.