Disney’s last, most trending, and controversial live-action, Rachel Zegler’s Snow White, is making a grand entry on JioHotstar today. With nearly 2 hrs of playtime and Rated PG, the film is a direct adaptation of Disney’s classic animated character of a young princess. Here’s a breakdown of all the details, whether to watch this modern arc or skip it.
Magic Mirror: Who’s the Fairest of All
Snow White is the young princess of a faraway kingdom. Her parents died mysteriously, leaving her in control of an evil stepmother, who lives in the illusions and concept of beauty from a magic mirror. The princess is kept hidden in the palace. At the age of 18, she questions her stepmother’s cruelty and selfishness out of wits.
Likewise, the magic mirror answers that Snow White is the fairest of all. She abruptly hires a huntsman to kill her in the forest. Being good-hearted, he confesses his crimes and helps her escape, where she meets her companions, the seven dwarfs. Soon, she meets Jonathan and joins the resistance against the Queen. Knowing that she is alive, the stepmother disguises herself as a peddler offering her a poisonous apple. Is this the end of the poor princess, or a royal kiss breaks the curse? Curious! See now.
Doomed from Inception
This is not the first suffering film; Disney has rigidly focused on filming and releasing all the classic animated princess stories into live action. Their mindset to `understand and learn from past mistakes is in negative lines. Snow White has a production budget of a whopping USD 250 million to work with, and still gave the worst outcome.
The production directors always focus on replacing the original storyline with strictly no-prince stuff. For example, in The Little Mermaid, she is a white teen with burgundy hair, a very important detail to her character. The film crew has taken a 180-degree turn in choosing a black descent with Light brown hair, and the hero is quite older than her, with no chemistry. Same in Snow White, from bob haircut to unnecessary empowering dialogues and literal zero chemistry with Andrew Burnap, it is a big let down to fans.
Controversy and Impact
Zegler is an outspoken supporter of Palestine, while Gal Gadot was once an army official in the Israeli Defense Forces. They should have made better casting choices because neither of them is suitable for portraying, nor did they give good performances. Rachael’s touch of honesty, too much criticism caught a bad turn in the audience by the end, literally ruined her image, completely tarnishing Snow White’s fandom.
Not only are there personality differences, but the movie, directed by Marc Webb, has also failed to establish the least mark of its budget. This isn’t about silly hate on the girls, but the point of the film has turned from a princess story to a sociopolitical adventure that strips away the exceptional charm. So yes, the story is also a big minus.
Box Office Collections
The Live-action film premiered in theatres on 21 March worldwide and collected around USD 205.5 million. The actual production budget for the film is USD 270 million, so the film is a potential loss and a box office bomb. With heavy controversy, the film suffered USD 115 million in losses, which is a considerably very bad performance compared to its peers’ films like Mulan, Aladdin, and The Little Mermaid.
Poor Musical
These days, directors’ obsession with directing musical films is insane. They ruined the untouchable Mean Girls with bad propaganda, & Snow White is no exception. Its music is okayish, not pretty, memorable bits, or sometimes a song in a scene just makes you question your decisions. If they had a regular film with lines, it would’ve been the best break we’ve gotten so far in this journey.
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Final Verdict
Snow White is the worst, at best, bland attempt out of all the princess stories. Its only plus points are Disney tag and original Snow White superlative that fans love. I mean, the production house tried their best to promote marketing, but the negative impact and matter are too large for them to just release and ignore it as a whole. It’s on JioHotstar, watch at your own risk; better skip and move on.
Written by: Meghana Pinninti