Snow White (Live-Action)

[Thumper_93]

I have to go today again to watch it because my friends haven't seen it yet. This time I'm going to watch it in Spanish. Let's see what I think abut it after this second time.

[Disney's Divinity]

I would probably rate it a 5 or 6 out of 10. I don't really think a 1 or 2 is a fair rating having seen it, but I know a lot of casuals probably rate most things a 1 if they didn't like it or a 10 if they did without much between, I guess.

[Thumper_93]

Saw it again yesterday. I have to say that this time I had the feeling that it's really long but maybe It was because I saw it at night and I was really tired.
The adaptations of the song into Spanish is really bad. The voices are all right but sometimes you can hear the music more high than the voices.
I still think that the main problem with this movie is the raccord. The wig changes a lot and even my friends noticed about it. In some scenes is shorter or it has another color. I don't know who was responsible for that but they made a really bad job.
I gave more attention to the fabric of the skirt and it's really beautiful once that you see the details and the glow that it has. It's a pity that she doesn't have the bow during all the film.

[UmbrellaFish]

I finally went to see this last night. I took my mom with me and we were the only two in the theatre. My mom liked it— overall, I thought it was mediocre. My review follows.

I thought Rachel Zegler as Snow White understood the assignment. She played the character well and it was a joy anytime she sang. I thought Gal Gadot was mostly good. I thought she was directed poorly during her big song number. The mugging she was pulling was too big for the Evil Queen character.

The biggest thing I liked was the expansion of the love interest character. I just really liked the actor playing him (interestingly, I did not know who Andrew Burnap was going into the project, but I was surprised to see he has a number of pretty substantial credits to his resume. I remember when The Inheritance was the hot play on the West End and later came to Broadway. He won the Tony for that apparently. And his cast album of Camelot has been in and out of my Amazon cart a few times, as well. He certainly has more bona fides than the average actor playing the “Prince” character in one of these remakes!) I was really surprised when he took an arrow to the shoulder! Although the fake out with Doc making it seem like he couldn’t save him was boring and contrived. Overall, the writing for this character was pretty flat (I didn’t buy that this cynical, ne’er do well was so inspired by the hereditary monarch’s kindness) but I thought that Burnap injected personality and charisma into the character and was charming to watch. Burnap has a new fan in me!

The dwarfs. Woof. They were hard to look at it. The performances were fine, but I just thought it was such a shame that Disney passed up an opportunity to hire 6 more little people to play these roles. Martin Klebba’s Grumpy was definitely the best. What do I think about Dopey speaking? I don’t care. I mean I guess if I had thought about it beforehand and tried to guess which character could be a “surprise” narrator— I would have 100% guessed Dopey and I think so would everyone else. My problem with Dopey, and I really did not like this, was making Dopey a victim of emotional abuse. That’s not who the character is or what his purpose serves in the story. I didn’t mind giving him a character arc, but that was the wrong arc to give him. If you gave me a magic wand and told me I could fix one thing, but only one thing, in this movie— it would be that.

The bandits were superfluous. It was a sin to hire all those actors and give them so little to do. I would have liked to have seen more of their personalities, to have heard more jokes from them— like the one with his arms full of pretzels who makes a point to thank Snow White for having their group over. I would have liked to have seen more of their characters’ personalities!

I have longed to see more anthropomorphic animals in these live-action remakes. I’ll be honest, I was afraid my wish might become a Monkey’s Paw moment— but they worked! They were adorable, a great tribute to the characters in the original film, and my favorite part of the movie. I would rewatch just to see the woodland creatures shimmy again during “Princess Problems.” I was reminded very much of Pip in Enchanted.

I wish they had included more songs from the original soundtrack. The original songs were the highlight of this score and I was yearning to hear “I’m Wishing,” “With a Smile and a Song,” and “Someday My Prince Will Come.” I’ve stated previously that I’m not a fan of Pasek and Paul’s previous work, but I thought they acquitted themselves well here. It was probably my favorite musical of theirs so far— I left the theatre humming “Where the Good Things Grow.”

I was disappointed that the scary scenes did not live up to the original. Chiefly, Snow’s flight into the haunted forest and the Evil Queen’s transformation into the Old Hag. I appreciate that they tried, the Haunted Forest was better done than the transformation scene. The transformation scene is maybe my favorite from the original, and man, is it so much better in the OG film. I also thought the finale was so much less exciting than the original movie’s finale. I haven’t seen the Kristen Stewart Snow White movie or its sequel. I purchased Mirror Mirror on Blu-ray last week but I haven’t had time to finish it. So this is my first time watching Snow White as a character working to liberate her kingdom, and I think it’s an interesting and justifiable way of giving her character more purpose in the story. I’m interested to see how those other films handled it.

It is hard to believe that the same costume designer who did Cinderella did Snow White. More than anything, Zegler and Gadot were let down by their costumes, hair, and makeup. Zegler’s Snow White costume was downright ugly (on the other hand— I think it works really well in doll form, perhaps because this design is clearly mostly taken from early 2000’s Princess franchise version of Snow White, not the actual 1937 movie) and I thought most of Gadot’s costumes were so uninspired and boring! The Evil Queen deserved costumes on the level of Lady Tremaine’s in the 2015 Cinderella. The only costume of the two leads which I liked was the Evil Queen’s dress during “All is Fair.” Andrew Burnap’s costume wasn’t any better, did he have a hoodie? I love white and cream colored clothes so I liked the costumes in the finale, but again, uninspired… why just give them white versions of their regular costumes? What a letdown this film was in the costuming area!

When I was watching the movie, I kept thinking this film had a particularly big hurdle in that its source material is a true masterpiece. I kept thinking that as far as remakes go, it was pretty run of the mill. But it absolutely pales in comparison to its source material, which is a shame but also perhaps unavoidable. So yes, all in all, a mixed bag and a pretty mediocre movie. Did it deserve the vitriol and hate from the internet’s most revolting trolls? A resounding NO. Would I be sad if this movie was the death knell for big, expensive Disney remakes? Also… no.

[carolinakid]

Umbrella,
Off topic, because I haven’t seen this travesty and have no desire or intention to, but thank you for mentioning Camelot. I had no idea Andrew Burnap played King Arthur in the recent revival of the Lerner and Loewe classic.
I have the cast recording as I am a Broadway completist of my favorite shows. I will say that although this recording comes nowhere near the level of the 1960 OBC recording, I didn’t hate it except for the race swapping of Lancelot and the fact that TPTB gave him one of Guenevere’s songs and “woke” some of the lyrics. I’ve only listened to it once, but will listen again now that I know who Burnap is. Thank again. If you’re a completist as I am and you’ve got the extra bucks I would buy the recording, otherwise I wouldn’t bother...
I enjoy your comments...

[Vlad]

Great review, UmbrellaFish, happy you enjoyed it!

[PatchofBlue]

I think it works really well in doll form, perhaps because this design is clearly mostly taken from early 2000’s Princess franchise version of Snow White, not the actual 1937 movie

I think that's the best description any of us could make about how they approached the costuming.

I also thought the woodland animals worked really well. Goes to show we could have gotten a LA Flounder who was actually endearing to watch.

[Farerb]

LA Flounder was the ugliest character in all these remakes and it's quite an achievement when you consider these terrible dwarfs and the terrible creatures from Maleficent. I don't know how they could have designed him better. A realistic fish will never be as cute as woodland animals. They should have just cut the character. He's useless anyway.

Regarding the costumes. It seems to me that 10 years ago or so, the people who worked on these films had more creative freedom. I think that Beauty and the Beast wasn't supposed to be a musical and it was changed after the success of Frozen. I also think that Guy Ritchie and Jon Favreau wouldn't have made Aladdin and The Lion King musicals if they had full control of the projects (Guy Ritchie isn't known for directing musicals and the Lion King songs didn't fit the realistic design of the movie). So when it comes to the costumes I think that Sandy Powell had much more creative freedom on Cinderella with the exception of the color of Cinderella's dress, even though she claims otherwise, I don't believe her, while Snow White's costumes seems to be designed more for selling merchandise. Honestly, if they weren't going to keep the original's songs, I would have much preferred if they had done this movie more like Cinderella, without music and sort of do their own version with a few easter eggs to the original film.

[Patricier21]

Umbrella,
Off topic, because I haven’t seen this travesty and have no desire or intention to, but thank you for mentioning Camelot. I had no idea Andrew Burnap played King Arthur in the recent revival of the Lerner and Loewe classic.
I have the cast recording as I am a Broadway completist of my favorite shows. I will say that although this recording comes nowhere near the level of the 1960 OBC recording, I didn’t hate it except for the race swapping of Lancelot and the fact that TPTB gave him one of Guenevere’s songs and “woke” some of the lyrics. I’ve only listened to it once, but will listen again now that I know who Burnap is. Thank again. If you’re a completist as I am and you’ve got the extra bucks I would buy the recording, otherwise I wouldn’t bother...
I enjoy your comments...

Well you wouldn’t know it’s a “Travesty” unless you actually experienced it yourself……

[Disney Duster]

Brelly, I was glad to read your review! But...Dopey was my favorite thing in the remake. What is "his character and purpose" supposed to be? Glad we felt the same on how great the cute animals were though! I think both Mirror Mirror and Snow White and the Hunstman did better, less "kiddy", more sense-making "take back the kingdom from the Queen who is ruining it" plots.

As for the costumes, I really, strongly disagree with people saying Sandy Powell did both Cinderella's blue color and Snow White's bright colors because Disney ordered her to for merchandise. Bright colors are a staple of Sandy Powell's aesthetic. She said for Cinderella, Disney left her alone, and she did say they probably would have ordered blue for her ballgown, but she chose it after trying many different things. She said Disney was dismayed that she didn't add much accessories to it. Also, the dress was more of an almost grayish blue before Disney pumped up the color to bright blue in post.

[Farerb]

They would have repainted the dress no matter what color she chose she was right to give them those tacky designs for Snow White because that's what Disney wanted.

[Thumper_93]

In my opinion the gown's biggest problem is the shape. The bodice looks really weird. The ribbons in the bodice don't have much sense. I think that she had the idea to make it look like a corset but it doesn't. Making a corset would've been a better idea because it would have given her a more accurate shape to the historical period. The color is also wrong. They should have been golden instead of red.
The sleeves are another thing that don't work. They are really long. She could have made them puffy but at the same time elegant and functional. The ribbons at the end of them is a cute detail but again she choosed the red. In my opinion she should have used this color only in the ribbon that SW wears on her hair and inside the sleeves. In the animated one the red works all right because she only wears it in places that it stands up. In her head red accessories look amazing because her hair is black and in the sleeves it also does it because it's only a small detail to give profundity and more protagonism to the puffy sleeve. That's all. The rest of the details are in gold because it match better with the rest of the costume.
The overskirt is a mess. They made it with the same fabric used with the bodice but in my opinion it looks plain and it's not elegant. Overskirts use to be made with the same fabric but they use to include different colors to make it more attractive. The skirt that used to go inside used to have a more discreet fabric to enhance the overskirt. In this gown your eyes are watching the yellow from the inside skirt instead of watching the blue of the overskirt. It would have worked better with a pale yellow like the one used on the animated one. I don't know if I'm explaining all right what I want to say so I searched for this picture in order to help me to explain what I want to say:



The belt is absurd. It should've been stitched to the overskirt but it doesn't. When the trees remove SW overskirt in the film the belt is all right and without any damaged. It doesn't have any sense because it was not holding anything. It doesn't even works as an ornament. It's plain and you only realice about it because the buckle is gold.
The ruff looks as taken from a cheap halloween costume.

[DisneyFan09]

LA Flounder was the ugliest character in all these remakes

Yes, as was Sebastian. Both of them looked creepy and jarringly uncanny.

[Disney Duster]

Ok, well, maybe Farerb. Maybe they liked Sandy's bright colors and wanted that for Snow White. Whether she intended it to look so like the original film, just brighter and slightly more historical, is unknown.

Snow White would have worn a 1530s-1550s style dress, and a YouTuber, Karolina Zebrowska, made how that gown would look. I like the red lace in the bodice and the rest, and actually the laced bodice and collar(ruff?) in Sandy Powell's Snow White is what I like. It's the sleeves and the rest I do not like. Anyway, here's Karolina Zebrowska's version:


I thought the film was ok at first...but when I thought about if I want to watch it again...not really, so it's more that it actually is bad. Rachel Zegler's real life self turns me off from the whole thing, and the film itself is just too silly, boring, or of too little substance.

Zegler does not exude charm and charisma. She also was not very much like a sweet, soft character. Her real self has too much hardness and she can't take that out of her Snow White.

Gadot cannot act. She tries really hard in this film, but her yelling and movements never landed, they are not strong or evil or scary. They just read as trying too hard or just plain campy. They read as fake.

I liked Dopey and his getting his voice thing, just not what gave him his reason for talking. But he was cute. So were the bunnies getting on top of each other to open the door. And the art direction and production design. All that I liked. Not every set or every lighting and especially not any of the costumes, but the rest of the visuals, like the castle.

The idea of a kingdom that is happy with pies but then unhappy when the queen...I don't know what she did that was so bad! Made some farmers guards? It was kiddish and silly. Even Mirror Mirror did this element better with how the Queen taxed the villagers too much and everyone was poor. And the climax of Snow remembering names and the Queen disintegrating just because she broke her mirror...it was all just nothing really good.

Burnap is cute but came off as an asshole to Snow and I could not see them as a couple. I did love the Queen's hag transformation though! From the ingenious potion holder to her actual transformation while singing, bravo! I also liked the whole scene with the hag and Snow.

I looked it up and Burnap no longer identifies as straight. I hope he is gay or bisexual!

I liked the opening song and "Waiting on a Wish". I think I may even occasionally re-listen to it every once in a while.

[Thumper_93]

There are some dolls that wear gowns inspired in the original one and the design of these gowns is much better than the LA one.
This Barbie as Snow White has the bodice with golden ribbons. The sleeves are similar to the LA's ones but with a better length. The colors are more natural and everything looks more in harmony.


Another doll that has a beautiful design is this one made by Mattel in the 90s. The sleeves look amazing and more elegant. The skirt is also designed as if it would be a two pieces skirt. In the middle it's what it could be the underskirt with a beautiful watermark pattern on it. The colors are also natural.


Both gowns look much better than the LA one.

[Disney Duster]

Yes, both of those pretty doll outfits look better than the live-action Disney Snow White film's costumes.

[Redadoodles]

What a lovely post! It just made me want to watch the original again.

Did you watch the remake? What did you think about it?

I’m sorry for the delay!
No, I have not watched the film. I was going to but then I realized that the whole circus surrounding the project completely turned me off.
The original means a lot to me so that’s why I was hesitating. Maybe I’ll watch it someday.

[Patricier21]

Did you watch the remake? What did you think about it?

I’m sorry for the delay!
No, I have not watched the film. I was going to but then I realized that the whole circus surrounding the project completely turned me off.
The original means a lot to me so that’s why I was hesitating. Maybe I’ll watch it someday.

I’d go and see the film in theatres if it’s still playing near you. My mom and I had a great time, and we both liked it way better than wicked, and the audience was actually quite receptive, including in one particular part.If nothing else, it may very well teach/hope you to not let things like this “Circus” take away from you over and join us. Maybe just maybe, You’ll see something in this that other people do not,EH?

[Farerb]

I’m sorry for the delay!
No, I have not watched the film. I was going to but then I realized that the whole circus surrounding the project completely turned me off.
The original means a lot to me so that’s why I was hesitating. Maybe I’ll watch it someday.

That's okay, and I completely understand why you'd be turned off.

[Thumper_93]

I’m sorry for the delay!
No, I have not watched the film. I was going to but then I realized that the whole circus surrounding the project completely turned me off.
The original means a lot to me so that’s why I was hesitating. Maybe I’ll watch it someday.

I’d go and see the film in theatres if it’s still playing near you. My mom and I had a great time, and we both liked it way better than wicked, and the audience was actually quite receptive, including in one particular part.If nothing else, it may very well teach/hope you to not let things like this “Circus” take away from you over and join us. Maybe just maybe, You’ll see something in this that other people do not,EH?

Wicked was a complete success. Snow White is one of the biggest flops of the year. It's pretty clear that audience prefer Wicked over SW. The movie is not as bad as I thought it would be but it can't compete with Wicked. Everything in Wicked is made with love and respect to the original material. Snow was made to sell dolls and some part of the cast didn't even care about the original one.