The twenty-first century has brought numerous remakes of Walt Disney’s classic fairytales, from Cinderella to Mulan, with varying degrees of positive and negative responses from the public. The original rendition of Walt Disney’s “Snow White,” which first came to theaters in 1937, was recently remade into a live action film that was released in theaters March 21, 2025. 

While the original “Snow White” was nominated for Best Musical Score at the Academy Awards, and Walt Disney was awarded an honorary Oscar for the film, the remake received 1.6-star rating out of 10 on IMDB and a 40% on Rotten Tomatoes. This rendition of Snow White does not look like it will be able to hold up to the original, even with politically correct language and feminism on its side.  

Along with changes to the plot and Snow White’s role in the film, there were poorly executed CGI effects, second-rate costume design and laughable acting.  

Throughout Disney’s many modern renditions of classic films, there have been major changes to the original films, from removing outdated gender roles to redoing racist character designs. However, some of these changes made to “Snow White,” which mainly targeted the sexist image of a helpless woman needing to be saved by a man, were not executed well. 

Whie the writers did succeed in giving Snow White more power in the film by making her a leader and the future queen of her kingdom, the rest of the changes to the storyline were poorly executed. These changes, while well intentioned, only left plot holes in the storyline and made the ending more underwhelmin—Snow White still needed to be saved by “true love’s kiss.” 

Another disappointing aspect of the film was the underdeveloped CGI effects, causing the scenery, woodland animals and dwarfs to appear AI generated and unoriginal. Not only did the animation look extremely fake, but its low quality took the magic away from the scenery that Snow White is known for.  

Among the many crimes the creators of the modern rendition of “Snow White” committed was the disappointing costume design. The most obvious failures in the costuming department were the lack of fluidity and “cheap” looking final products. Snow White’s dress made the actor that portrayed her, Rachel Zegler, appear childish and boxy, failing to achieve the character’s classic flowing-skirt design. Additionally, Zegler’s costume looked comparable to a child’s Halloween costume, lacking the adventurous re-design or sparkle of so many other remade Disney princesses. 

Another disappointing character design was that of the Evil Queen. This role is known for her dramatic capes, collar and frightening elegance. However, in this version of the film, the Evil Queen’s look was transformed into a tacky, Spirit Halloween-worthy look with clashing colors and patterns. Another element missing from the Queen’s character design was her iconic gold crown, which was replaced with what looked like stained glass. Though the crown was beautifully designed, it does not fit the Queen’s character and is not something she would have worn.  

There were much greater issues with this film than the plot holes, low quality AI-like effects and bad costuming. The acting throughout the film was either emotionless or over dramatized, giving the movie the feel of a high school drama production and not a professional, multi-million dollar film. While Rachel Zegler’s singing was stunning, she had no chemistry with her co-star, Andrew Burnap, who played her love interest. 

Additionally, Gal Gadot’s acting as the Evil Queen was stilted and did not bring life to the character. Gadot’s singing was another area in the film that did not face a good reception from the public. Her performance lacked skill and though she looked the part, she was not a good fit for the role of Evil Queen.  

All things considered, the 1.6-star rating from IMBD seems to be accurate, as Maggie Doughty ’27 said, “This movie is a crime committed against the baddies of the original animation.” The negative reception from the public also seems to be widely accepted, that this movie was a waste of their $240 million budget.