When it comes to Disney’s live-action films, they end up being pretty good or pretty terrible. For the most part, I have felt positive after watching the live-action adaptations. The newest addition to this film universe, “Snow White,” is a great film with some unfortunate flaws — spoilers ahead.
The film opens with a backstory of Snow White’s family, the origin of her name and the beginning of the Evil Queen; it’s something I really liked, but it is very similar to other Disney Princess films such as “Cinderella.”
In the “Cinderella” live-action film from 2015, the same backstory was provided in the film, as the villains are both “evil stepmothers.” This factor in the new “Snow White” just feels very unoriginal.
Directed by Marc Webb, the film provided great visual aspects within the magical forest and the kingdom, but I did not like that some of the animals looked unrealistic, such as the deer and bunnies.
I personally think New Jersey native Rachel Zegler was a good choice to play Snow White. At 23, she still looks like the teen Snow White. I also think that Zegler’s voice made the new original songs great.
Many critics and social media users have been bashing Zegler online for her “terrible” performance. I do not agree with these comments one bit — in fact, Zegler is the one who made the movie enjoyable.
Online users also had an issue with the film not sticking exactly to the original story, but I really like the new story. Snow White is an independent woman who does not need a man to take all of the credit for saving and helping her out, especially during these times.
Gal Gadot definitely has the look of the Evil Queen, but not the acting. There were some scenes where Gadot is expressing her anger with strange facial expressions, which makes the scenes almost laughable.
“No Hard Feelings” star Andrew Barth Feldman was a good voice acting choice for Dopey. Feldman is known for playing awkward and silly characters and this was very fitting. I think it was a good idea for him to be the narrator of the film as well.
However, I did not like the casting choice for the “prince” or Jonathan, played by Andrew Burnap. He looks visibly older than Zegler on screen, which makes the character’s romantic relationship in the film look weird. Burnap is also 10 years older than Zegler. They could have cast someone a little bit younger.
After the film ended, there was a showing of “A Minecraft Movie” in the next theater. I decided to take a peak just to see what was going on based on the TikTok videos I have seen.
Although I only watched the last 30 minutes of the film, that was all I needed. Seeing all of the chaotic and fun energy from the video game movie made me realize how bland the look of the new “Snow White” movie was. The Disney live-action film was not very colorful, as the magical forest just looked yellow.
Both films contain heavy amounts of visual effects and computer-generated images. The effects in “Snow White” looked a lot cleaner, but also a little creepy when it came to the seven magical creatures. The visuals in “A Minecraft Movie” did not look totally clean at times but rather fun and creative. I find the cleaner look to be actually less interesting than the “fun” look.
These few factors kind of made me wish I went to “A Minecraft Movie” instead, but the “Snow White” tickets were $7 cheaper.
4/5 stars
jcaramag@ramapo.edu
Featured photo courtesy of nyt.com
