‘Snow White’ Rotten Tomatoes Score Not The Fairest Of Them All As Live-Action Remake Bombs With Critics

Since the moment it was revealed that Rachel Zegler would play Snow White in the live-action remake of the Disney animated classic, the film has been embroiled in controversy. This is hardly surprising. On some levels, Disney has invited the divisiveness, puzzlinglingly race-swapping various Disney princesses instead of making live-action films like The Princess And The Frog, which stars a black female protagonist.

When it comes to Snow White, you can’t help but wonder if Disney is just reverse-trolling. Trolling the trolls may be good for laughs (it was the entire strategy behind the Disney+ series She-Hulk) but it may not be a great strategy for box office success.

Zegler herself stirred up plenty of controversy when she said of the new version of Snow White that “She’s not going to be saved by the prince and she’s not going to be dreaming about true love.” She also called the prince a “stalker” saying, “The original cartoon came out in 1937 and very evidently so. There’s a big focus on her love story with a guy who literally stalks her… weird.” She noted that “The prince is not a priority anymore” and said of the original that she watched it once “and then I went on my merry way because I didn’t need to watch it again.”

Many fans took these comments to be weirdly disrespectful of the source material, especially coming from the star of the new film who you’d expect would issue more positive commentary promoting the live-action remake. (I don’t particularly like the original, but then I’m not promoting the remake!)

Peter Dinklage also stirred up controversy when he called Disney “hypocritical” for remaking a movie about seven dwarfs living in cave. Actors affected by dwarfism took issue with Dinklage’s comments, which many saw as a reason Disney chose to use CGI “dwarfs”in the remake.

So controversy has dogged the Marc Webb-directed film ever since its inception. Even the very act of remaking the film, particularly in a way that makes big changes to the original’s plot, has been divisive. Of course, the 1937 film is dated and absolutely requires a modern refresh, which we’ve seen in past adaptations like Snow White and the Huntsman, but the black cloud swirling above this remake shows no signs of relenting.

Had the film debuted to stupendous reviews, this controversy may have been muted. As it stands, the film’s current Rotten Tomatoes score, combined with bad word of mouth and anemic promotion from Disney itself, practically guarantees a box office failure.

What The Critics Are Saying

As of this writing, and just a day before Snow White hits the big screen, the film has a certified Rotten score of just 46% from 108 critics. For many critics, the film simply lacks imagination or depth, while offering up lackluster performances (aside from Zegler, who many praise as outstanding).

“The only positive outcome for Snow White, Disney’s latest live-action reimagining of its classic animated catalogue, would be if it inspired a moratorium on such blatant consumerist film studio pursuits,” Nicholas Bell of Fish Jelly Films says in his video review, echoing the view of audiences weary of what many see as blatant cash grabs devoid of originality.

Carla Hay of Culture Mix notes that “Even though Rachel Zegler shines as the title character of Disney’s Snow White, the rest of this remake’s live-action performances are mediocre to terrible. No magical spells can erase this cash-grab film’s unconvincing visual effects and other missteps.”

“This Snow White may not be the worst live-action adaptation of an animated touchstone,” Rolling Stone’s David Fear writes, “though it’s a strong contender for its blandest. The movie does earn points as a bedtime story, however, because it will definitely put you to sleep.”

The film’s animated dwarfs and overall style turned off many critics.

“The most distracting flaws are rooted in the problematic re-creation of animated material,” The Irish Times’s Tara Brady writes. “The permanent magic-hour lighting is hard to look at. Worst of all, the decision to “cartoonise” the dwarves alongside human actors is hugely problematic.”

In her video review, Dana Han-Klein says of the film: “If nightmarish CG dwarven polycules are your thing, boy howdy is there a film for you in the form of the creatively bankrupt live action remake of Snow White! It made us wish we had our own poison apple to eat instead of watching.”

Most of the praise for the film is perhaps ironically for Zegler, its most controversial star. Edward Douglas of The Weekend Warrior notes that she is “truly a revelation” and various other critics use the word “shines” to describe her performance, even while many of those same reviewers slam the rest of the film. MovieWeb’s Julian Roman writes: “Zegler is magnificent in an enchanting live-action adaptation with fantastic musical numbers and just enough darkness to soften the sweet sentiments.”

It is not all doom and gloom, obviously, but many of the positive reviews are tepid at best. The Hollywood Reporter’s David Rooney writes that if the film’s premise “sounds like the standard female-empowerment template that’s almost obligatory in contemporary fairy-tale retreads, it more or less is. But the incandescent Zegler sells it with conviction and heart.”

Not The Fairest Live-Action Remake Of Them All

So how does Snow White’s Rotten Tomatoes score compare to the other 20-odd Disney live-action remakes that have come before it?

The best of the bunch, according to reviews, was 2016’s The Jungle Book from director Jon Favreau. That sits at 94% with critics and 86% with audiences. That same year, David Lowery’s Pete’s Dragon remake nabbed an 88% with critics, and a 72% with audiences, making it the second-best reviewed of the bunch.

At 84%, Cinderella’s Rotten Tomatoes score places the 2015 film in third place, with Cruella’s 75% earning it the fourth spot (though audiences liked it a lot more, with a 97% rating). I called that film a “stylish slog” which I think is fairly accurate. (There’s a 1994 remake of The Jungle Book that reviewed slightly better but I’m not including it in the current phase of Disney live-action remakes).

2020’s Mulan comes next with 71%, though audiences panned the film giving it a 46% which is far more realistic given how bad that movie was, ditching just about everything that made the animated film so charming.

In seventh place is 2017’s Beauty and the Beast (which I liked more than most of these, but which still pales in comparison to the original, which is an animated masterpiece) at 71% with critics and 80% with audiences.

The Little Mermaid (2023) and Lady and the Tramp (2019) both have 67% with critics, though miraculously The Little Mermaid has a 94% audience score. Admittedly, I liked that film much more than I expected but it was so lifeless and drab compared to the wonderful animated original. Even Halle Bailey’s phenomenal singing couldn’t undo the dreariness of the CGI. I suppose my expectations were so low that the end-result was still better than I thought it would be.

After these films we get Peter Pan & Wendy at 65% with critics and just 11% with audiences; Aladdin at 57% critics / 94% audiences; Mufasa: The Lion King at 57% / 89%; Maleficent at 54% / 70%; The Lion King at 51% / 88%; Alice in Wonderland at 50% / 55% and finally Dumbo.

Dumbo, from director Tim Burton, has 46% on Rotten Tomatoes, putting it at #16 in the list. Audiences liked it one percentage point better. We obviously don’t know what Snow White’s audience score will look like, or what its “final” Rotten Tomatoes score will be, but as of now it’s tied with Dumbo in 16th place. Only a handful of Disney’s live-action remakes have scored worse. These are:

• Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil (40%/95%)
• 101 Dalmatians (39%/40%)
• 102 Dalmatians (30%/32%)
• Alice Through The Looking Glass (29%/48%)
• Pinocchio (27%/27%)

At least it appears that Snow White will not be as terrible as Robert Zemeckis’s disastrous Pinocchio, though this is obviously the lowest of low bars. It still puts the film in the bottom tier of Disney’s live-action remakes, if not on the bottom rung, and this should cause the House Of Mouse concern. This should make Disney reconsider the course the company has been on in recent years and the widespread perception the live-action flood has created that this is little more than a massive cash-grab altogether devoid of originality and creativity.

The Future Of Disney Live-Action Remakes

Should Disney stop making these altogether? Do we really need a CGI fox as Robin Hood in a “live-action” remake of that film? I’m not sure. I still think that a Princess and the Frog remake could be fantastic if the right people were involved. Or Tangled, which I still rank as the best Disney princess film of the 21st century (yes, even over Moana, as good as that movie was, and certainly over the Frozen films). And let’s be honest, the Lilo & Stitch remake looks great! This might be the best-looking live-action remake so far!

In any case, I do plan on heading to Snow White in theaters and judging for myself. Perhaps going in with very low expectations will make me enjoy it more, as happened with The Little Mermaid. But I can’t help thinking that the very talented Rachel Zegler, PR snafus aside, deserves better than this, as do fans of all these wonderful old animated films. Then again, if I had it my way we’d be getting more lovingly hand-drawn 2D Disney princess movies with people like Zegler and Bailey doing the voice work. And Alan Menken composing. If only Alan Menken could live forever and compose every Disney musical, I would be a happy moviegoer.

I miss the days of The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin and The Little Mermaid. The animation was so incredible and the music was better than anything these new films have come up with. It’s still odd to me that the short-lived Galavant series did a better job at capturing the live-action feel of old Disney films than any of these remakes.

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