With the new “Snow White” movie coming to theaters, there has been a lot of controversy surrounding the film and the cast, including political anger and personal feuds between the main stars, Rachel Zegler (Snow White) and Gal Gadot (the Evil Queen). The whirling controversies have severely diminished the film’s Box Office performance, making $182 million against a budget of (at least) $240 million — a majorly disappointing result for one of Disney’s most expensive productions of all time.
Ahead of the film’s debut, Disney found itself at the center of political drama. Both sides of the political aisle are unhappy in different ways with the different actresses in the movie. Zegler has upset conservatives by wishing Trump supporters “no peace” after his election win, and many liberals dislike Gadot for her pro-Israel stance and service in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).
People are also unhappy because Rachel Zegler has said in interviews that the original “Snow White” story is dated, weird and creepy. She also called the prince in the classic a "stalker."
“Snow White” has received one of the lowest IMDb scores possible with an abysmal 1.6/10. With the many different controversies swirling, I wondered whether the film was rated poorly because it is actually bad or if the ratings were bad because of its controversies.
I enjoyed the love story between Snow White and the Bandit, Jonathan. Jonathan (Andrew Burnap) was probably my favorite part of the film due to the humor element he added to the plot. I also thought some of the transitions worked well, like when the Evil Queen turned into an old woman. Furthermore, I like how the film is more action-packed than the original and that Dopey narrates the story.
While there were many things I enjoyed, the film also lacked in some areas. Rachel Zegler is a
fabulous singer, but in this film, she did not have the right/original tone for “Snow White.” I was incredibly disappointed because Zegler is capable of singing with a lighter tone, as we see from her performance in West Side Story (2021).
On the other hand, Gal Gadot’s voice does not fit the role of the Evil Queen. She is not a terrible singer, but her voice is just not strong enough for a lead role in a musical film, especially when singing beside Rachel Zegler. With that being said, the songs in the film were still enjoyable.
Though I was not as impressed with Zegler’s singing as I usually am, I do have to admit her acting carried the film. I am extremely impressed with her performance, especially due to the fact that many of her scenes are filmed with CGI characters (the dwarves and animals) — meaning that she had to act with puppets, do the scene completely by herself or act with people in green screen suits. So, being able to act the way she did in the movie is extremely impressive. On the other hand, Gadot’s acting was not very notable.
Another thing about the film is that it was very modernized. This may upset fans since “Snow White” is such a classic, but it honestly did not bother me. I feel that it brought more personality to the film and made it more relatable, especially because I think that the original film is a little boring (which is understandable since it was the first Disney film ever made).
After watching the movie, I am unsure whether the actual quality of the movie or the controversies created audiences’ distaste with the film. Personally, the film was not as bad as I thought it would be.
There were a lot of things I disliked, but there were also many things that I enjoyed. Though, if I compared this movie to other live adaptations (such as 2019’s Aladdin), then this live version severely let me down.
I, personally, would not rate that film as low as a 1.6/10. All in all, the film was fine.
3/5 Stars
