Shadows on the Wall | Snow White

Snow White

dir Marc Webb
scr Erin Cressida Wilson
prd Marc Platt, Jared LeBoff
with Rachel Zegler, Gal Gadot, Andrew Burnap, Ansu Kabia, Andrew Barth Feldman, Tituss Burgess, Jeremy Swift, Martin Klebba, Jason Kravits,George Salazar, Andy Grotelueschen, Emilia Faucher
release US/UK 21.Mar.25
25/UK Disney 1h49

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Continuing to plunder its back catalog, Disney ambitiously remakes the pioneering 1937 animated feature. Director Mark Webb highlights the romantic comedy elements of Erin Cressida Wilson's script, plus superb new songs by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. The witty design and effects work are also first-rate, although rendering the seven dwarfs digitally badly undermines those characters. And the story's edges are dulled by relentless attempts to make everything inoffensive.

Without her kindly parents, Princess Snow White (Faucher then Zegler) is raised by her stepmother (Gadot), a greedy, vain queen threatened by Snow White's beauty and sense of justice. When she orders a huntsman (Kabia) to kill Snow White, he allows her to escape into the woods, where she's rescued by woodland critters and a lively household of dwarf miners. She also catches the eye of handsome resistance leader Jonathan (Burnap). Then when the queen sends her to sleep with a poisoned apple, only true love's kiss can awaken her to carry on the fight.

Yes, the fairy tale has been reordered as a female-empowerment fable, which isn't a bad thing. Sets and costumes are rendered with gorgeous storybook colours and textures, so the movie feels warm and cosy, with added silly comical asides, emotional beats and some scary stuff too. This mix works well, keeping us entertained, even if the film is never particularly funny or thrilling. And the plot centres around Snow White's sparky love story with the dashing Jonathan, who isn't nearly as heroic as she is.

Even if they are skilfully animated, the dwarfs and animals never feel real. By contrast, Zegler has terrific presence as this plucky young princess, and her voice soars in both new songs and classics like Whistle While You Work. This Snow White is feisty and strong-willed, and both her banter and silky duets with Burnap's likeable Jonathan are enjoyable. Meanwhile, Gadot oozes pure evil as the megalomaniacal queen who uses fear of outsiders to control the kingdom as she pillages it.

Everything on-screen feels adjusted for modern attitudes, such as the kingdom's melting-pot population. With some deliberate story changes, the film feels carefully constructed, leaving no surprises up its sleeve. And the themes get a bit entangled as they pit a determined woman against a power-mad one. More enjoyable is the amped-up romance, with its amusing interaction, knowing goofiness and swoony emotions. But even that can't make us stop wishing the filmmakers had cast actual little people in those seven key roles.

themes, violence 15.Mar.25

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