Disney Snow White Live-Action Spoiler Free Review: “It’s Fine”

Rachel Zegler’s Snow White performance, with her singing and dancing, evokes the classic Disney magic, a world of vibrant hues, charming animal companions, and those unforgettable, quintessential Disney Princess melodies. There are callbacks to the classic animated version of Snow White that Walt Disney himself had a hand in creating. As a Disney blog writer, those nostalgic moments are what kept me hopeful throughout the entire film.

There are moments in Snow White where you don’t know if you should be in awe of how beautiful the scene is or annoyed at the overly sickly sweet Eyes wide open version of Snow White on the screen. That is a reflection of the day and age we live in, where you watch this and think this can’t be real! No one is this optimistic, but that also works for the movie, maybe we need more movies like this, meaning movies with Disney Magic. That good always wins over evil, if we work together we will overcome it, we just need a leader trope.

The Seven fka Dwarfs are magical, funny, and not distracting. Doc shines as the “leader”, and wisest of them all. Grumpy, being misunderstood and a big softy underneath his gruff appearance and demeanor is also a highlight. You only notice a CGI feel to the characters once in a while, but nothing that is distracting to the movie as a whole.

One of the highlights of Snow White, and the most disappointing thing on Disney’s part is the same thing. The love interest, Johnathan. Yes, there is a love story in Snow White. But, you would not know this with how Disney themselves advertised this movie. No, it is not the Prince Florian story of the guy coming along during the “Some Day My Prince Will Come” song, and then kissing Snow White to wake her up. It is a true love story of becoming friends, seeing strengths in each other, making each other better, then falling in love, then kissing the girl to wake her up! Just with some great singing and dancing.

Let’s make a mention of a few things before wrapping up the positives, the woodland creatures are scene stealers every time they are on screen! Doesnt matter if it is the two blue birds, or the Bambi-looking deer, all of them are so cute. The Mine scene makes you feel like you are riding the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train at Disney’s Magic Kingdom. Then there is the cottage, which is almost a perfect resemblance to what it should look like.

Our highlight of what makes Snow White a must-watch: is Rachel Zegler singing, and the soundtrack to Snow White. When Rachel Zegler is at the high point of the song “Waiting on a Whish” you are transported into this beautiful world. I am not trying to be overly dramatic, but it has that Jodi Benson as Ariel from the Little Mermaid singing “Part of Your World” feel. Full of emotion, you can feel the emotion of the song come off the screen. Whistle While You Work is fun and playful as it should be, and Princess Problems will have you snickering along.

Finally, the audio of Snow White was ear candy to me! Subtle little things can make me happy, like Snow White humming “Some day my prince will come” when she is opening a door for the old hag, or when she is singing into the Wishing Well and the audio sounds like she is in a tunnel. The animal sounds swirled around your head when they were on screen. Also, the colors and camera shots were well done. There was one scene where Snow White is in the forest and you feel the weight of the trees coming from the screen from the wonderous shot of a panorama view.

And then Gal Gadot appears on the screen and opens her mouth.

THE END!

Is Gadot pronounced Gadot as ga DOT like a dot on a dress, or is it Gadot with a silent T? Because I don’t know if I should say Gal Gadot, you mean Gal Ga-NO, or Gal Ga-Not! Full credit goes to Michele at The Main Street Mouse for starting that joke and permitting me to use it!

Let’s wrap this up: I wanted to like this movie more than I did. The Evil Queen is not evil, she is just annoying in a vain way and adds nothing to this version. Every time she shows up on the screen and speaks it takes you right out of the movie. Yes, we do know that English is not her first language, and we are not saying her accent has anything to do with it. It is just BAD acting, that ruins any scene she is part of. Which means half the movie is ruined because she is in the scene. BTW, a small spoiler: Disney CGI ruined the “poison apple scene. Also, Disney, way to RUIN Dopey!

Rachel Zegler as Snow White is spot on. Her wide-eyed look as Snow White is beautiful, and her voice is a reflection of what made being a Disney Princess something special. Her strength holds the film together. Andrew Burnap as Johnathan is a fantastic addition to the story, his voice comes close to matching Rachel Zegler’s which makes the duets fabulous.

Walt Disney Studios did not do a proper job of explaining this version of the movie. For months people have been fighting on social media with comments about the story not including the love interest, and yet it was all included. Disney did a disservice to this movie by not promoting it, and an even worse job pulling back from full-scale movie premiers. We love Walt Disney Studios, but Disney you dropped the ball big time on this movie, and this movie should be seen and is going to be ignored.

Where are the ties into the Parks? Where is the Disney Eats guide to Disney Snow White snacks in the Parks? Where is the Snow White live-action meet and greet in the Germany Pavilion at Walt Disney World? Disney has let the apple rot in more ways than one. So maybe my problem with this movie is twofold. Gal Gadot, and Disney themselves!

With all that word salad, we walked out of the theater and thought “It’s Fine”. This makes this the 3rd Disney Studios movie in a row where it wasn’t the greatest but it wasn’t the worst. Moana 2, Mufasa, and now Disney Snow White all are in the How was the movie? “It’s Fine.” Our new scale of rating movies is not a numerical scale of out of /5 or out of /10, but a ‘it’s fine” scale with “it’s fine” being the median or dividing line between good and bad.