On Screen: “Snow White”
Snow White
Mirror, mirror on the wall, what Disney movie flopped the hardest of them all?
There’s no point in reviewing the live-action reimagining of “Snow White.” It’s a $270 million disaster — not including marketing — at the box office, and it’s become a lightning rod against “woke” culture.
So what went wrong?
In 1937, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” launched Walt Disney’s animated empire. Even today, Disney executives work in a building adorned with statues of the Seven Dwarfs, and Disney Animation offices are nearby on Dopey Drive.
The visually dazzling, morality tale revolved around a beleaguered, poisoned princess who was befriended by seven miniature miners and, in return, swept and cleaned their home — until a handsome prince kissed this damsel-in-distress and they lived happily ever after.
Since the fairy tale specifically describes Snow White’s facial features as being “as white as snow,” perhaps casting Rachel Zegler (“West Side Story”), a Latina actress of Colombian descent, wasn’t the brightest move but, given the Academy’s recent DEI imperative, it’s understandable.
Problem is: Gal Gadot is the Evil Queen who resents any comparison with Snow White. What? Gal Gadot was crowned Miss Israel in 2004 before she was cast as DC Comics’ superhero “Wonder Woman.” She’s gorgeous!
While it’s tempting to fault feisty, outspoken Rachel Zegler, who never misses a chance to proclaim “Free Palestine,” showing support for those who ignited the Oct. 7 terror attack in Israel, the blame for the basic creative decisions undermining this film rests with screenwriter Erin Cressida Wilson, director Marc Webb, producer Marc Platt and former Disney studio chairman Alan F. Horn.
Inevitably, the lilting “Someday My Prince Will Come” signature song was eliminated and replaced by “Waiting on a Wish,” written by EGOT-winning partners Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, heralding female empowerment and self-sufficiency — as dictated by the creators’ liberal sexual and class politics.
My question is: If the traditional love story in the original Grimm fairy tale is truly objectionable by contemporary standards — WHY remake it?
Does turning the Prince into a Robin Hood-like revolutionary (Andrew Burnap) make him a better companion for the fearless heroine?
As for being cared for by a septet of little men, this Snow White doesn’t praise and reward them; she berates them.
Even depicting the “Heigh-Ho” dwarfs has become a fiasco. Back in 2022, actor Peter Dinklage, who has a form of dwarfism, criticized Disney for “still making that backward story about seven dwarfs living in a cave.”
Combining performance capture, puppetry and CGI, the 2025 photo-realistic results are just weird: as a result, Doc, Grumpy, Sleepy, Happy, Sneezy, Dopey and Bashful now resemble lawn gnomes.
If you’re still morbidly curious, I’d advise waiting until “Snow White” eventually streams on Disney+.
Susan Granger is a product of Hollywood. Her natural father, S. Sylvan Simon, was a director and producer at M.G.M. and Columbia Pictures. Her adoptive father, Armand Deutsch, produced movies at M.G.M.
As a child, Susan appeared in movies with Abbott & Costello, Red Skelton, Lucille Ball, Margaret O’Brien, and Lassie. She attended Mills College in California, studying journalism with Pierre Salinger, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with highest honors in journalism.