What’s It About
Live-action adaptation of the 1937 Disney animated film ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’.
MOVIESinMO REVIEW
Marc Webb’s new fantasy movie is based on the tale of a young and caring girl who rebels against her tyrannical stepmother. Rachel Zegler plays the title role, while Gal Gadot plays the evil queen obsessed with beauty and dominion. The story follows a familiar path: after the king leaves his kingdom, his daughter ends up working as a servant under her cruel stepmother’s rule. When the young woman shows kindness to a bandit leader named Jonathan (Andrew Burnap) by freeing him after he’s caught stealing food, she ends up on the queen’s bad side and has to escape to the forest. There, she finds refuge with seven miners who control the area’s jewel resources. Together with the miners and Jonathan’s band of outlaws, they team up to restore peace to the kingdom. The film walks a middle line – it’s neither great nor terrible. It plays on nostalgia while adding modern touches that could be seen as commentary on today’s world. Right away, the film makes the case for kindness as the only possible response to a world tainted with evil-and it’s a poignant message without ever being preachy. Zegler is so good in the lead. Every look she gives adds emotion to her character, and her movements are almost effortless. The very moment she starts to sing, she casts a spell. She is not to be messed with; she believes that helping others is a responsibility everyone should take on. She might be small and young, but she aligns herself with people who can be the strength in fighting against evil. The film explains that just being nice is not enough to defeat the queen; however, that quality is the very least required for being trusted and led. There is a confrontation, and while it hardly qualifies as a battle, the heroes win in a grand way that satisfies. Sadly, Gadot is no great success as the villain. She injects no fear into her performance, and her singing sounds jarring next to Zegler’s rich, natural voice. Gadot tries, but her villainy hardly goes beyond cliched. Her character’s final scene, while fitting for someone obsessed with mirrors and vanity, isn’t as effective as it could be. The new songs by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (with Paul Feldman) include standouts like “Waiting on a Wish” and “Princess Problems,” but they sometimes feel too Broadway-ish for this old-fashioned story. Classic songs like “Heigh-Ho” and “Whistle While You Work” remain, though sometimes the sound mixing above levels the lyrics fade when the instruments become too loud. The film’s visuals swing in and out. The digital backgrounds clash uncomfortably with real elements, creating an almost terrifying atmosphere. Totally computer-generated miners do look a bit odd, and you start to wonder why real actors weren’t actually cast. Their scenes feel at times abutted into or rapidly cut back and forth between them and the human characters. The same applies to the woodland animals, who are stuck in an odd zone: little creatures are called believable while larger ones are clearly digital. The more they emote or give little gestures, the more creepy they’re going to look. The movie is a little muted in colors. The greens are not vibrant; flowers hardly exist, and even the mine is not well lit. It makes the bright yellow-and-blue attire of the main character very uncomfortable against the dull world. Her dress has every right to be so bright; the rest of the world should be that way. The relationship between the heroine and Jonathan works because it does not overshadow her personality. He is depicted as gentle and caring, as she is. It is quite instant and uncomplicated, as expected in a fairy tale, when they fall for one another; the important part is that she does not have to fix him or change to fit him. He treats her as an equal with no arguments or misunderstandings. Burnap’s Jonathan, not princely but charming, gets one of the best new songs with Zegler in “Princess Problems.” Their chemistry is real, allowing for their quick connection to feel believable within the fairy-tale framework of the narrative. Supporting cast includes Jonathan’s bunch of bandits: Quigg (George Appleby), Farno (Colin Carmichael), Scythe (Samuel Baxter), Finch (Jimmy Johnston), Maple (Dujonna Gift), Bingley (Idriss Kargbo), and Norwich (Jaih Betote). Johnston, a little person in real life, turns out to be the most effective fighter of the bunch. The production design by Kave Quinn, costumes by Sandy Powell, and cinematography by Mandy Walker are visually impressive, though the editing by Mark Sanger and Sarah Broshar feels uneven – racing through action scenes but dragging elsewhere. Jeff Morrow’s musical score makes its points without subtlety. Despite its flaws, the film ends on a dramatically and morally satisfying note. A few cheesy moments and an ill-timed joke nearly spoil the finale, but the movie’s sincere intentions carry it through. On the scale of fantasy film remakes, this one barely makes it to the positive side. It offers some good new songs, a strong lead performance, and a slight twist on traditional expectations, showing that true beauty lies in kindness rather than appearance.
OUR RATING – A GRIMM 5