Movie Review: Snow White

 

Michael's Movie Grade: F

A disgrace to the Disney name and an insult to Disney fans. 

The classic 1937 Disney film was truly a passion project for all involved. That movie was made by filmmakers who had before this been working on seven-to-ten-minute comedy cartoons. Making an animated feature that was designed to pull on the heart strings as much as make people laugh was something that no one at the Disney studio had done before. Because of this they all felt a great amount of excitement, while making it. The passion that these filmmakers had for what they were doing can be felt in every scene of the animated classic and that is what makes that such a great movie. This makes it all the more disheartening that this remake feels completely soulless and lacking in any warmth or charm. Unlike the 1937 original, you never get the feeling that the filmmakers behind this remake have any passion for the story they are telling. Rather than a passion project this just feels like a studio simply pumping out yet another live action remake.

Disney fans also know that during the making of the 1937 film, Walt cut out the soup eating scene because while it was enjoyable, it didn't add to the story but instead interrupted it. When you watch the 1937 movie, you will notice that even sequence whether comedic or serious added to the story and characters, making for a tight film that flows perfectly from beginning to end. This remake on the other hand feels completely padded with too many subplots. The result this time is a movie that feels much longer than it actually is. 

However, even if you weren't to compare this remake to the 1937 classic, it is still a terrible movie. The new songs here are incredibly bland and forgettable. The best Disney musicals have songs that stay in your head long after you leave the theater. The new songs here, you will probably have a hard time even remembering when the end credits start. It is hard to believe these songs were written by Acadamy Award winning songwriters Pasek and Paul, who won an Acadamy Award for the song City of Stars (from La La Land (2016)) and were nominated for writing This is Me (from The Greatest Showman (2017)). For Disney they even wrote some of the new songs for their live action Aladdin (2019). There are also new words added to the songs from the original film. These new verses are absolutely painful. This movie is also full of incredibly clumsy dialogue that takes out any bit of believability it might have had. The CGI in this movie is truly awful. This is true of Snow White's animal friends and the CGI heavy environments. For instance, the running into the scary woods scene, which was wonderfully atmospheric in the 1937 movie, is unintentionally funny here. However, the worst offender is the dwarfs here. The very idea of having the dwarfs be CGI instead of played by actual smaller actors is already a terrible idea. This is made worse by the ugly designs that look completely out of place alongside live action actors. The way these characters move is just as awful. There is nothing lifelike or believable about the way these characters move. The result is that you never truly believe that these characters are occupying the same space as the live action actors, which makes it hard for this fantasy world feel real to us. Their dancing during the song numbers is truly awful and will provide many unintentionally laughs. However, these dwarfs never get any actually intentional laughs. Every comedic scene with these characters is not only unfunny but so poorly done that they are painful to watch. 

This is the nadir of all the live action Disney remakes. While I haven't always been a fan of these movies, this new film makes the worst of the previous Disney remakes feel like cinematic masterpieces.