Snow White movie review: Gal Gadot starrer is not as magical as expected

Still from the movie

Cast: Rachel Zegler, Emilia Faucher, Gal Gadot, Hadley Fraser, Lorena Andrea, Andrew Burnap
Director: Marc Webb
Rating: 3/5
Runtime:109 min

This film is not exactly a faithful retelling of The famous 1812 Brothers Grim fairy tale or a live-action faithful version of the 1937 Cartoon feature "Snow white and the seven Dwarves". Of late live-action remakes have not set the Box-office on fire so one doesn't know how ‘Snow White' will fare.

This is a new interpretation, an ambitious live-action adaptation of the classic much-loved story and therefore might not enthuse the purists. Disney's most iconic film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves was a firestarter for the Walt Disney empire and this new film undoubtedly, will add more weight to their coffers for sure - whatever be the reception it receives from the critics.

In this film the princess is proactive in joining forces with seven dwarfs to liberate her kingdom from her cruel stepmother the Evil Queen. This film starts off traditionally enough with the legend, ‘Once upon a time…..' and we get the backstory of Snow White, a little girl who belonged to a happy storybook kingdom, suddenly finds herself at sea once her beloved mother dies tragically young. Her father, the King, remarries a conniving woman, the Evil Queen (Gal Gadot) who relegates Snow White (Emilia Faucher as a girl, Rachel Zegler as the older version) to castle cleaning whilst she enjoys the riches of the country. One day, when the mirror tells her that Snow White is the fairest of them all, she decides to do away with her altogether. The Wicked Witch orders a guard to take her into the forest and kill her but the squeamish guard allows her to run off deep into the forest where she comes across the seven dwarves.

The story diverges from the beloved original from hereon and becomes one about female empowerment. The wicked witch manages to poison Snow White and she is awoken with a kiss by Jonathan(Andrew Burnap) the leader of woodland bandits. No Prince to the rescue but Snow White herself leads the villagers to over throw the tyrannical Queen.

Some of the songs, especially the old favourites ‘Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho', ‘Whistle while you work' work up some affection but the absence of ‘Someday my prince will come' and the presence of new instantly forgettable songs don't add much to the filmed experience. The dwarves all done in CGI fail to enthuse the byplay. The CGI designs blend in with one another, making it hard to tell the dwarfs apart.They also have very little to do in the scheme of things. The resort to CGI instead of easily attainable ‘live' actors is inexplicable for such a big-budget live action film.

The woodland animals look adorable even though they are also CGI creations, Zegler makes for a charismatic and nuanced Snow White but Gal Gadot is unable to go all out in villain mode. Her singing is also not up to the mark. Unfortunately, her performance is the weakest link here. She is unable to drum up camp in the villainy expected of her.

The landscapes are true to fantasy, the castles look grand - this snow white is more about looks than depth. Webb's unwavering steering allows for some excitement though. Though modern in politics and thought, he plies it like a fairy tale with a soft romantic glow.

Everything here is rather simple and less intricate.But excessive CGI dulls the overall excitement considerably.

Disney's risk-taking does pay off somewhat. Even though faulty, Snow White is better than any of Disney's other recent live-action remakes.