Disney has many classic stories and is no stranger to turning these classic animated tales into often mediocre live-action movies. The most recent film added to this collection is the 2025 live-action adaptation of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
Marc Webb’s 2025 film “Snow White” is a modern retelling of the classic tale of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. While most of the main plot points remain the same, this musical movie uses elaborate musical numbers to expand on many characters and plot points that are glossed over in the original story.
The musical sequences are very hit-or-miss. While many musical sequences are elaborate, colorful, and whimsical, many are dull and poorly made. The songs range from catchy songs intentionally written to hits that stick in the viewer’s head long after the film, to mediocre and forgettable songs that add very little to the film and the story being told. Most of the musical sequences feel like they would be better suited for an on-stage musical production than a musical movie. This is caused by them usually concealing themselves in one small area and a minuscule cast of characters.
Many aspects of the film share this inconsistent quality; what is the best in one scene is the worst aspect of another.
One of the biggest perpetrators of this inconsistency is the visuals of the film. Some scenes contain beautiful and vibrant colors, while others are very dull. While this often does have a story reason, at other points, the colors are inconsistent with the place in the story where the scenes are placed.
Director Marc Webb has a history of working on films that use the visual aspect of film in a lively and unique way, such as “500 Days Of Summer” and The Amazing Spider-Man films. The visuals are often the highlights of his films, and this visual style is present across many scenes but is also lost in others.
Another flaw in the film’s visuals is the computer-generated imagery and visual effects. These effects are overused throughout the film, and at times, they look so obviously fake that they can ruin the viewer’s immersion.
The film often feels like it’s dumbing down its story for the audience, which helps support the storybook vibe that the film is attempting to capture, but this greatly hinders the viewing experience of the film at crucial moments throughout the film. While this may not be an issue for small children watching the film, watching through a more critical lens makes this evident and cheapens the story.
One of the most important aspects of any film is the cast and the characters, and like most of the film, the performance given by the cast of characters is very hit-or-miss. Snow White is played by Rachel Zegler, who delivers one of the film’s better performances. The highlights of her performances are her songs. When it comes to her normal dialogue, it often seems as though she is trying too hard to use the language of the period the film takes place in, which leads to her line delivery being stale and boring. The best performances in the film are delivered by the seven dwarfs, whose voices express lots of emotion, and since their bodies are CGI, they can express massive amounts of emotion with their faces alone.
The film differs greatly from Disney’s last attempt at a live-action adaptation of Snow White back in 2012, “Snow White and the Huntsman.” where that film chose to take the classic story in a more mature direction utilizing darker colors and themes as well as avoiding musical aspects as a whole, the 2025 version brings the story back to its child-oriented roots with bright colors, often relying on the musical portions to hold the film together at times, while overusing the music at other points throughout the film.
Marc Webb’s “Snow White” continues Disney’s trend of reimagining classic animated tales, though it falls short in several key areas. While the film’s colorful visuals and occasionally lively musical numbers show promise, they are often inconsistent. The simplified storytelling detracts from what could have been a far more interesting story. Despite strong performances from the dwarfs and Rachel Zegler’s portrayal of Snow White, at times, the film falls short when it comes to many other elements. While “Snow White” may have many issues, the film intends to retell the tale of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs for a new generation of children, and it does succeed at achieving this goal despite the numerous flaws.
