A One Mann’s Movies review of “Snow White” (2025).
Brace, brace, brace. “Snow White” (or “Disney’s Snow White” as they seem to be insisting on calling it) is a film that came with a lot of PR baggage, long before the CGI hedgehog was ever stirred off its storybook. Much of this has been through Disney exec decisions that seem to be pointedly unnecessary. I mean, they did the whole diversity thing with Halle Bailey in 2023’s “The Little Mermaid“: did they really need to reopen that can of worms again by casting a person of colour in this one?
The film also suffered from a spat with Peter Dinklage about the representation of the “D-words” (the word “Dwarf” only appears once in the whole film… in relation to the original source material in the end titles). This resulted in the CGI atrocities inflicted on the film, much to the ire of the union of Little People who would have very much liked to have had 7 plum jobs for their members!
To round off insult to serious PR injury, the two leading stars: Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot, ended up on conflicting sides of the Israeli/Palestinian war leading to a – some perceived frosty – joint presentation at the Oscars.
Phew. So, in some ways, it’s a relief to try to park all of that and go in to see the film, trying to carry as little of that mind-baggage as possible to form an independant view. And I can report that, although it’s not great, I’ve seen far worse films this year already than the critic hyperbole would suggest.
Bob the Movie Man Rating:
“Snow White” Plot:
You all know this story! Snow White (Rachel Zegler) grows up in a loving royal family in an abundant and happy kingdom. Roll forwards a few years and her mother is dead and her father missing, presumed dead, on a war mission. She is left to the mercy of her cruel stepmother (Gal Gadot) who is the “fairest of them all”. Until, that is, the young Snow White reaches maturity. Sadly, then the Queen’s magic mirror tells a different story. The Queen is certain: the princess must go.
Certification:
UK: PG; US: PG. (From the BBFC web site: “Mild violence, scary scenes, injury detail”.)
Talent:
Starring: Rachel Zegler, Gal Gadot, Andrew Burnap, Ansu Kabia, Andrew Barth Feldman.
Directed by: Marc Webb.
Written by: Erin Cressida Wilson (Based on the fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm).
Running Time: 1h 49m.
“Snow White” Summary:
Positives:
- It has its occasional moments of great charm.
- The transition from the Queen to the Witch is really impressive.
- Some of the new songs work.
- What’s wrong with a female-centric twist?
Negatives:
- The CGI ‘D-words’ are a disaster: soulless and sometimes unintelligible.
- Some very strange logic lapses.
- Many of the new songs are forgettable.
- Some genuinely scary moments for young children.
Review of “Snow White”:
Occasionally charming.
For all of the shit being thrown at this film, I thought I’d start with something positive. There are a few moments in this film where the script and the performances come together to make for some really charming scenes. For example, the backstory behind the film’s narration (by Andrew Barth Feldman) I thought this was a nice twist to the story. (If you are in the die-hard-animated-traditionalist camp, you will no doubt lose your shit over it and vehemently disagree!)
The finale is also one of those fun, exuberent adverts for Persil Automatic that takes you out on a positive note.
The acting is variable
Rachel Zegler plays the wide-eyed look very well. But she struggles to convince with her acting against the CGI ‘D-words’ and was accused of being “very wooden” by the Illustrious Mrs Movie Man for her opening exchange with Robin Hood… sorry, Jonathan of Loxley (Andrew Burnap). Although I’m generally a big fan of 23-year-old Zegler (“old perv” mutters the IMMM under her breath), I do agree on this occasion. There’s something a bit distant and aloof about her performance in this. Where Zegler does again shine, as she did in “West Side Story“, is in the quality of her singing voice which I thought was terrific.
Gal Gadot is fine as the imperious Wicked Queen, but I never felt the script gave her any chance to demonstrate how evil she really is (other than the whole #poisonedapple yada-yada thing). For example, when she is openly betrayed by her Huntsman (a good performance by Ansu Kabia), she has the perfect opportunity to “cut his heart out with a spoon” (to quote another castle-living tyrant). But instead, she sings a flaccid Disney-baddie-tune (like Scar’s “Be Prepared” from “The Lion King” but without the teeth) and you are left to imagine the horrible death that the Huntsman is made to endure. (Actually, no… it turns out that he’s just chained up in the dungeon and fed three meals a day!)
Grimm sanitisation
This is just one example of a film that feels overly sanitised. I know it’s a kid’s film, but its a PG kids film – not a U – and the story in general lacks bite. Snow White’s ‘heart’ in the box is no longer a pig’s heart, but an apple (as if the Queen wouldn’t bother to take an intrigued look!) A big bust up in the woods between Robin Hood – sorry, Jonathan of Loxley – and his ‘Merry Men’ (bizarrely featuring a token real-life ‘D-word’!) is utterly bloodless. In a drawbridge showdown scene, the Evil Queen doesn’t resort to any form of Maleficent-style magic to cut down her naysayers… she just shrugs a bit (“Oh well!”) and rushes inside to take it out on her magic mirror. Bland, bland, bland.
Unspecial effects.
Which brings us to the seven ‘D-word’s. It is a real shame that these were not done with live action ‘little people’. For what we have are soulless CGI representations that you feel no warmth or emotion from. For me, their antics are more sigh-inducing than funny. To cap their visual appearance, their introduction involves a bastardisation of the “Hi Ho” song where 90% of the lyrics are completely incomprehensible. I’m sure there was some clever stuff in there, but whether through poor singing or poor sound mixing, I’ll never know.
Elsewhere, the forest’s creatures are not a patch on the charm and realism of the efforts in “The Lion King” or “Mufasa“. The only time the VFX team really earned my respect was in Gadot’s transformation into the old crone. It’s REALLY well done and one of the highlights of the film for me.
But the shoddy special effects are extraordinary given that the list of VFX artists on IMDB extents over – wait for it – 51 full pages of names. This should have been peak perfection given the money thrown at it.
The Tunes.
Most of the old tunes are back, although in this one, the Prince never comes (“oooh, matron”!). But added into the mix are a bunch of new songs composed by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, the guys behind “The Greatest Showman“. While many feel lightweight and insipid, it is “Waiting on a Wish”, sung by Zegler, that stands out as the ‘Oscar nomination song’. “Princess Problems” was also quite catchy.
Logic inconsistencies.
The film also suffers from some baffling logical inconsistencies. When the Huntsman takes her into the woods to ‘collect apples’ (aka knife a young girl to death and cut out her heart) there’s a comment that they had “better get back as it will be getting dark”. Yet a brief jog through the scary woods and a sweep through an underwater tunnel and suddenly dawn arrives! WTF? And in a diversion tactic some of the CGI enchanted forest bluebirds occupy Snow White’s blue blouse and yellow skirt to give Snow White a chance to get away on horseback. What? In her bra and knickers? (Bored Dads immediately perk up.) No… in her blue blouse and yellow skirt! (Sorry Dads.) What, she packs a spare set in there somewhere?
Parental Guidance.
All kids are different with different sensibilities. But this is a film I would NOT take my 5 year old grandson to.
- Whereas “The Little Mermaid” kind of brushed over the ‘parents killed in a shipwreck’ thing, here the mother and then the father’s reflection in the wishing well dissolve away: a scene that I can see being quite distressing for kids going through the ‘worried about death’ phase.
- Remember that scary as hell “Snow White” ride that they used to have at Disneyland Paris that traumatised a generation of toddlers? The ‘scary wood’ section of this film is likely to have sensitive kids under the seat faster than you can say “a week of nightmares”.
- The demise of the Evil Queen is very much in the ‘demise of Voldermort’ model as well, which is pretty horrific for kids not yet exposed to that sort of special effect.
What’s wrong with a bit of wokeness?
Where I disagree with some of the social commentary that I’ve read is in the critcisms of the film for being too “woke”. As if being a strong assertive woman and having empathy for other people’s feeling is a bad thing! Re-watching the original 1937 original portrays Snow White as a passive doormat who needs a prince and/or some angry dwarfs to come to save the day. Here, she is an active participant in her story and is the central driver behind defeating the Queen and reclaiming her kingdom. What’s wrong with that?
It’s difficult not to reflect US politics into any film at the moment, even though you know these films have been in gestation for long before the Orange buffoon started destroying America’s reputation around the world. But here again, you get a whiff of that. A self-centred, cruel, narcissistic leader leading an authoritarian state and a beloved and powerful woman trying to get the country to remember the good qualities of life they used to have. (Michelle Obama … are you watching this?!)
But it’s not a film for adults.
Above all, its a bit sad, all the wailing and gnashing of teeth from adults about a movie that is squarely aimed at kids. So what did the kids think about it? I turned to my 8-year-old granddaughter Eva Jones, who also went to see it on Saturday evening. Here’s what she had to say:
“The reason I’m not giving it 5*s is that I don’t know why the prince here is a bandit and not a prince as in the original movie. And there are some scary scenes that made me jump a bit. But the good thing about it that I really liked was that it was really, really funny and I loved the songs.”
Summary Thoughts on “Snow White”
OK, so it’s not great. But I will sit through, and indeed have already sat through, far worse films than this in 2025.
Will it make any money for Disney? With a reported $350 million budget, it certainly needs to. But the screening I was in was less than 50% full on an early Saturday evening… so at the moment I think it is struggling despite being No. 1 at the UK box office. But I’ve learned to never bet against a kid’s film to pack them in during the school holidays and I suspect this one will be no exception. We might yet be surprised by its success.
Where to Watch it (Powered by Justwatch)
Trailer for “Snow White”:
The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iV46TJKL8cU .
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