‘Snow White’ reviews are in, and some are savage: “It will definitely put you to sleep”

Disney’s live-action remake of the 1937 classic Snow White has faced skepticism since the project was first announced, with changes to Snow White’s origins and the use of CGI sparking mixed reactions.

Many predicted the project was doomed to fail before it even hit theaters. Starring Rachel Zegler as Snow White and Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen, the journey of Snow White to the big screen has been marked by controversy from the outset. From debates over casting choices to creative changes, the production has faced its share of challenges.

Following its pre-release screenings and the publication of initial reviews, Marc Webb’s remake went on general release on Friday. Tasked with recouping its $270 million budget, Snow White has a lot to live up to and the first reviews have not been complimentary.

Users slam ‘Snow White’ as “pure woke garbage”

The general public are not impressed. As of this evening, Snow White had a score of 44 percent from 175 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, while on Metacritic, it clocks a Metascore of 50 percent from 47 reviews with 90 percent of users giving it a negative rating with one describing it as “pure woke garbage”.

Film critics struggled to find anything positive to say about it too. The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw felt that Snow White’s “tiresome pseudo-progressive additions” not only took away from the original story and also failed to showcase Zegler and Gadot’s true talents as actresses.

“Here is a pointless new live-action musical version of the Snow White myth, a kind of un-Wicked approach to the story and a merch-enabling money machine. Where other movies are playfully re-imagining the backstories of famous villains, this one plays it straight, but with carefully curated revisionist tweaks,” Bradshaw wrote in his review “These are all too obviously agonizing and backlash-second-guessing, but knowing that at some basic level the brand identity has to be kept pristine. This feels like a very hard day’s work in the IP diamond mine”.

New York Post movie critic Johnny Oleksinski concurred, “Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the laziest of them all? That’d be Disney, the creativity-starved studio that has seemingly lost all ability or inclination to make new hits and would rather rifle through its back catalog instead. This time, the House of Mouse has gone all the way back — to its first full-length feature film, 1937’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. The result? Heigh-ho-hum. The timeless classic, a groundbreaking achievement for animation, has been turned into another pointless and awkward live-action automaton that vanishes from your mind the second it’s over. Modernizing the lovably retro Snow White was a dopey idea to begin with, and, while the execution isn’t horrible, the formulaic update is sleepy.”

Bland and insipid, Snow White ties too hard not to offend anyone

David Fear gave his verdict for Rolling Stone: “The whole thing feels so bland and perfunctory to a fault that it’s surprising to think that this was the movie that caused such an uproar for nearly two years and a dozen news cycles. You can feel the strain of trying to appeal to everyone, court both the purists and the pro-modernization contingent, be as non-offensive as possible — and still manage to satisfy next to no one. This Snow White may not be the worst live-action adaptation of an animated touchstone, though it’s a strong contender for its blandest. The movie does earn points as a bedtime story, however, because it will definitely put you to sleep.”

Not all the reviews were scathing. Robbie Collin, Chief Film critic at The Telegraph gave it three stars out of five: “Once Zegler scuttles off to the forest, where she teams up with two chirpy septets – the digitized dwarfs and a zany gaggle of bandits, who may have been dwarf replacements in an early draft – it really picks up”.

IndieWire‘s Kate Erbland also found something positive to write: “It doesn’t always fit seamlessly together, but it’s far more entertaining than that might lead on. This is a spirited and sweet spin on classic material that deserves kudos for its balance of necessary updates and affection for the old ways. Mostly, it’s a reminder of what’s actually worth considering and critiquing: the final product. This one is good.”

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