Another Disney live-action remake of one of their beloved princess stories has hit the big screen. All I have to say is that it was okay.

“Snow White” was released on Friday, March 21, 2025, after numerous online controversies and a disappointing opening weekend at the box office.

Even though the internet has thoroughly enjoyed trashing this movie, after seeing it it could’ve been worse. It was not Disney’s best remake by any means, but it still ranks higher than the “Pinocchio” remake. 

Before getting into my personal gripes with the movie, it’s hard to ignore the controversies that surrounded the production of the movie.

Ranging from comments about the leading lady Rachel Zegler, who played Snow White, to comments about the use of CGI to make the dwarfs instead of actors with dwarfism. It felt like the slander for this movie was never-ending. 

I felt that Rachel Zegler was the best part of the movie. I liked the new reason for Snow White’s name, which was rewritten so that her namesake came from being born in a blizzard. In general, I feel that it was a good call to have the character’s name not be related to her skin color anymore. 

When talking about the dwarfs, I would have preferred to see actual people playing the dwarfs. I thought the way they animated them was a bit too uncanny. The seven dwarfs are important characters in the original tale, so choosing to animate them instead of casting people takes away from the story. 

One of my biggest problems with this movie is the costumes. I felt that all the outfits didn’t fit and felt incomplete. 

Starting with Snow White’s dress, which was too bright overall, I feel like they should have gone down a path more similar to her dress in the Disney parks. That variant features a more pastel yellow, or even a true gold, for the skirt and a navy blue over the bright sky blue they used for the bodice and sleeves. 

They also had her wearing long sleeves, which I didn’t love, but according to an interview with People Magazine, the designer Sandy Powell added the sleeves to help make the dress feel more period accurate, which I can understand and respect.

I also didn’t love the Evil Queen’s wardrobe. I did like how defined her overall silhouette was, but I didn’t like the heavy use of sequins. I want her to look richer and powerful, and I assume they used sequins because it was cheaper than gems, but the outfits where gems were used looked better to me. 

My next issue with this movie is the change in the prince character, Jonathan. I appreciate that they wanted to give him a bit more personality because, in the original animated film, he was very one-dimensional, but I didn’t enjoy the route they chose to take. 

This time around, they made his character a thief instead of a prince. Long story short, he’s a dollar-store Flynn Rider from the movie “Tangled.” Their personalities were very similar. Jonathan was very sarcastic and more humorous, which I didn’t hate, but it felt like a copy and pasting of Rider’s personality. 

To me, the music was one of the stronger aspects of the movie, but it, nevertheless, could have been better. The songs for this movie were written by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. 

Focusing on the new songs, they are all pretty good and make strong stand-alone songs, but within the context of the movie, it’s not the best. 

Going into the movie, I was hoping they would have stuck with a bit more of a classic sound, more similar to the original movie, but these songs had a very modern theater sound. 

I think the two songs that felt the most off to me were “Princess Problems,” a duet between Snow White and Jonathan, and “All Is Fair,” the Evil Queen’s solo.

“Princess Problems” felt cheesy and like filler, and “All Is Fair” should have felt more intimidating because she’s the villain and could have benefited by being slowed down and darker overall. 

Overall, this movie wasn’t the worst movie I’ve ever seen, even if it may sound like it. There were some good aspects, like Rachel Zegler’s performance, and I did enjoy some of the story changes, but there were spots that could have been improved on.