Snow White review

 

Disney’s venerable fairy tale deals in absolutes so may seem ill equipped for the modern age where everything is held to question and things are rarely clear or clean cut. Can a story with such simplistic figures survive? The answer, at least as far as the latest adaptation goes, remains in the air. Online generated controversies over casting and the rumoured political differences between the two leads that made them enemies in real life as well as on screen have already given the film a bad reputation. Judging from the rows of empty seat at the first week performance I attended this may have put some people off.  Yet those arguments, rather like the plot of Snow White, take a simplistic view of matters being either right or wrong and few things actually are. On an artistic level the film is also suffering due to its proximity to Wicked which has superior songs, stellar performances and a more involving plot. Nevertheless Snow White does what it is supposed to do and if the delighted reaction from kids at one particular development at the showing I went to is any indication it seems to hit the right notes for a younger audience.

 

This version, written by Erin Cressida Wilson and directed by Marc Webb is not a total makeover despite new songs being added and subtle amendments ensuring that the dwarves are never referred to as such and Snow White’s name comes, not from her skin colour, but the snowstorm in which she was born. Snow White herself is not waiting for her Prince to someday come (the song to that effect is absent), instead being gradually inspired by events to make a stand. So this movie gives a fresh sheen rather than a complete makeover. The dwarves are still whistling as they work, each defined by their nomenclature,  and we still have the Evil Queen.

The Evil Queen’s problem starts with her name which is literally the Evil Queen. Not even Doris or something. In a lengthy opening exposition she turns up, marries the recently widowed King who then vanishes leaving her free to take away the happy life depicted minutes earlier. There’s no backstory or justification for her behaviour  – she is simply evil, wears a succession of costumes only Lady Gaga could match and talks to a mirror for validation. Given the richness with which Wicked depicts it’s equivalent, this seems overly superficial. In the same one dimensional way Snow White is so extraordinarily good. Before she’s turned into a slave she brings pies down from the castle to personally deliver to townsfolk and spreads good will  and cheery songs wherever she goes. 

What personality these two do have is thanks to the actors who play them. Rachel Zegler somehow manages to imbue this sickly sweet character with some wallop, expressively conveying these simple emotions and somehow making them mean more. The fact she’s such a good singer helps too. Gal Gadot is great as well, vamping it up to just the right level yet not without a dark charm. She even nails her big number as she sashays down steps with venom. However the film’s villainy seems too tame and showy to be a suitably dark counterpoint to Snow White’s wholesome goodness which is itself one dimensional. She’s even smiling when mopping the stone floor. You’ll wait in vain for any hint of Wicked style overlap between the two of them a facet that betrays the age of the source material.

There’s been a lot of talk about the dwarves and its easy to see both points of view. I do enjoy the expressive motion capture faces that give the seven a lot of personality but then again I’m sure actors with dwarfism could have been found who would be able to do that. While undoubtedly a technical triumph as individuals and interacting together there is a slight disconnect between them and the live action characters. It fits with the slightly uneven tone of the film which sometimes seems unsure what sort of audience its looking for. 

There’s a stunning, though brief, sequence when Snow White first runs into the forest which adds a menace and jeopardy missing elsewhere. We do have a surrogate Prince, a rebel called Jonathan who seems to have wandered in from Robin Hood with his band of forest dwelling rogues battling the authorities. And there are a number of undernourished supporting characters who hardly even get a line. Also what’s the deal with the mine? Who runs it, who pays the dwarves?  I might be being picky and I know it is a fairytale but the entire thing is presented without much context- we don’t even know where this kingdom is supposed to be. 

Visually the film certainly achieves a colourful palette that draws extensively from the animated original. The choreography of the dance routines is definitely up to par though with an interesting mix of modern and traditional moves and some grand staging. The new songs fit in well. If the story beats a re too obvious then blame the original; there was certainly an opportunity here to do something more radical with the material. I do like the resolution though because it relies on the decent qualities that Snow White's beloved parents advocated rather than some big dust up. Its one of those moments – of which there are several- when the film touches the heights it might have attained had it been constructed with a little more clarity and boldness. In the end it neither improves on the original nor quite reconciles modern concerns yet is a boisterous, good-hearted yarn all the same.