Film Review: SNOW WHITE (2025): Rachel Zegler is Delightful in a Harmless Movie That Tries to Improve Upon Perfection

Snow White Review

Snow White (2025) Film Review, a movie directed by Marc Webb, written by Erin Cressida Wilson and starring Rachel Zegler, Gal Gadot, Andrew Burnap, Emilia Faucher, Andrew Barth Feldman, Tituss Burgess, Martin Klebba, Jason Kravits, George Salazar, Jeremy Swift, Andy Grotelueschen, Ansu Kabia, Patrick Page, George Appleby, Colin Michael Carmichael, Samuel Baxter, Jimmy Johnston and Dujonna Gift.

Gal Gadot was born to play Wonder Woman so her casting as the Evil Queen in director Marc Webb’s harmless new edition of Disney’s Snow White doesn’t do Gadot much justice. Her casting could have been inspired because Gadot played Wonder Woman, but she doesn’t have half as much screen time as Rachel Zegler does who plays Snow White in this new remake. Gadot is not a  major flaw of the new film as much as a case of simple miscasting. On the other hand, Zegler is magnificent in one of many roles the fine talent was born to play. While Snow White has a couple of major flaws, it plays on the audience’s emotions successfully and only a true “Grinch” could hate the picture.

Where does Snow White go wrong? Well, look at the title. What’s missing is the seven dwarfs. This film, at one time, was supposed to be titled just like the 1937 original cartoon, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. It just didn’t happen for reasons that have more to do with people who are playing the politically correct card by saying the dwarfs are offensive in today’s climate. I am not going to dig up evidence of these claims which are meaningless in the grand scheme of things because the Snow White property existed for years and has been a major part of Disney history. This film doesn’t do the right thing, though. It features the dwarfs as special effects and not real people although these characters were probably modeled after the actors who voiced them. When the dwarfs first came on in this film, the movie started to meander a bit before settling back into the Snow White/Evil Queen dynamics that sort of drove the plot successfully.

The Evil Queen is deemed by the magic mirror in the story the “fairest of them all” until Snow White takes the Queen’s game up a notch by rivaling her for the coveted title of “fairest of them all.” Snow White has lost her parents and is still upbeat and attempting to live a quality life for herself. This film opens with her as a child played by Emilia Faucher who is sweet but quickly replaced by Zegler when the character grows up. When Snow White is banished into the woods, she ends up taking residence with the dwarfs referred to in the cartoon’s title and some of the scenes that follow in this new project just appear to be here for old times sake. “Whistle while you work” and “Hi Ho, Hi Ho, it’s off to work we go” are sung lyrics in the new picture but feel like they’re just recited to please fans of the original cartoon.

Of course, the handsome love interest for Zegler is here and the actor who plays him is up to the task of being successful in his role. Andrew Burnap portrays the romantic male lead whose name is Jonathan and when he meets Snow White, he tries to take some food while Snow White tries to prevent him from being caught by the Evil Queen. Stealing is wrong, except in certain circumstances, according to this film. Luckily, Burnap and Zegler have sweet chemistry together that makes some of the other romantic sequences featured within the movie play well.

There are the obligatory scenes of the notorious poisoned apple when the Evil Queen disguises herself to fool Snow White and the expected death sequence of Snow White which can be undone by true love’s kiss. Why did the writer of this new project feel compelled to include these scenes when they don’t fit into the new structure of the movie? They must have been under a contract to keep the key elements of the cartoon showcased in the new film. The dwarfs have minimal appeal here. With the exception of Doc (Jeremy Swift) and Dopey (Andrew Barth Feldman), the other dwarfs feel insignificant and underdeveloped. Sleepy might get a pass for being portrayed as his namesake suggests he should, but the other dwarfs lack real depth.

Zegler can certainly belt out a good tune here. We all saw Spielberg’s West Side Story remake (just not on the big screen) and knew Zegler was great, but she’s taken on some mediocre projects of late which have undermined her genuine natural talents. Snow White reawakens audiences to the fact Zegler is a fine actress. Zegler has a lot of personality which one can see through her mannerisms and she’s beautiful too. This choice of Zegler to play Snow White was definitely a great one.

Let’s get back to Gadot again. Gadot puts the effort in, but one can almost feel some of her scenes were left on the cutting room floor because Gadot didn’t play the part evil enough. This is an uneven picture and Gadot’s probable missing scenes are an indication there could have been behind-the-scenes problems with this project. While the dwarfs are also underwritten and time is wasted watching them on a roller coaster-type journey through some mines, the dwarfs may be a tad more interesting than Gadot’s Evil Queen who we always know doesn’t stand a chance of getting in the way of Snow White’s dreams, however wicked Gadot plays her role here.

Snow White is not as good as the recent remake of The Little Mermaid. Either that or Disney is simply remaking too many cartoons as live-action events and they’re starting to feel repetitive. Let’s face it- Frozen will one day be made into live action and however they end up presenting the snowman, Olaf, will never be good enough when compared to the cartoon. It’s hard to improve upon perfection. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was absolute perfection in 1937 and still is. I was initially on the fence as to whether or not I’d recommend the new Snow White, but Zegler truly carries the picture home enough to warrant a slight pass for viewers who are unfamiliar with the source material, in particular.

Rating: 7/10

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