Warning: This article contains spoilers for Disney’s Snow White (2025)!

Despite overwhelming praise for Rachel Zegler’s performance, the overall ratings of Disney’s Snow White from critics are low on Rotten Tomatoes, raising the question of why the film is so disliked. The production company has shifted most of its focus to live-action adaptations of classic Disney animated films rather than offering new stories, which has been a divisive choice. Although nostalgia is a powerful emotion, we can just rewatch the animated movies if we want to revisit the story. As such, live-action Disney remakes need to over something fresh to justify their existence.

The most recent addition to the collection is Disney’s Snow White. Despite the non-stop controversies surrounding Disney’s Snow White, many critics like myself had high hopes for the film. Unfortunately, Disney’s Snow White has a low Rotten Tomatoes score, which currently sits at 49% based on 94 reviews from critics. As the film releases widely, this number will undoubtedly change. However, many common issues with the film pop up in the neutral-to-negative reviews, pointing to flaws in the narrative, visuals, and music.

10

Gal Gadot’s Performance As The Evil Queen Feels Lackluster

“This version feels less dire than its predecessor, whose villain felt far more dangerous.” –Nerdist

• Full Nerdist review

A frequent sentiment that comes up in the reviews for the new Disney’s Snow White movie is that Gal Gadot shouldn’t have played the Evil Queen. Nerdist mentioned that she was miscast, providing no real threat to raise the stakes. Tyler Taing from Discussing Film agreed with the miscast sentiment and criticized “Gal Gadot’s hilariously bad line reads,” calling the film one of her worst performances to date.

Nell Minow from RogerEbert echoed the sentiment about Gadot, saying, “Her singing voice is thin and so is her performance, especially when she is called upon to show fury…” Ultimately, it seems the casting backlash was directed at the wrong actor as Rachel Zegler’s performance was acclaimed across the board, even by critics who gave negative reviews, while Gal Gadot’s Evil Queen doesn’t live up to the original character.

9

Disney’s Snow White Doesn’t Take Any Risks

“This reimagining of a story everyone knows lacks imagination, essentially translating a solid text with the least possible creativity and depth” –Awards Buzz

• Full Awards Buzz review

One major criticism of past live-action adaptations, such as Alice in Wonderland and Beauty and the Beast, is that they make too many changes to the original film. Disney’s Snow White seems to course correct too far in the opposite direction. Many of the reviews mention that the new Disney’s Snow White is lacking the creativity and imagination for which the animated film is known.

Critics also have a problem with the fact that they take no risks, playing it too safe. Clarisse Loughrey of Independent described the movie as lazy and “the bare minimum” with “a bunch of cutesy CGI animals all over it.” This sentiment reflects audiences’ frustration with the growing trend of non-stop remakes and sequels.

8

The CGI Dwarfs Look Bad In Disney’s Snow White

“Their design is not as expressive as the animated versions and their contributions to the story are not as meaningful” –RogerEbert

• Full RogerEbert review

The original Snow White movie is fraught with many questionable elements, and one of the most significant is the depiction of the dwarfs. Rather than cast a group of actors with dwarfism and breakdown stereotypes in the narrative, the live-action Snow White made CGI dwarfs using a single actor with dwarfism as the basis for all seven characters.

Not only is this problematic, but the CGI dwarfs look terrible – a problem that many critics have pointed out. Loughrey said the dwarfs are “uncanny CGI caricatures that will make you yearn for the simple horrors of 2004’s The Polar Express.” Mike Mᴀssie of Gone With the Twins was also upset by the depiction of the dwarfs, comparing it to the Lilliputians of Gulliver’s travels. Chris Wᴀsser of the Irish Independent agrees, saying, “It’s simple: you either make a cartoon or you commit to the live-action bit – you can’t have it both ways, not like this.”

7

Disney’s Snow White Is Forgettable

“The end result is neither good enough to be a classic or bad enough to be a guilty pleasure; it’s just … there.” – Seattle Times

• Full Seattle Times review

One of the only things worse in pop culture than being bad is being average. Unfortunately, critics seem to agree that the Snow White remake falls into the category of being so mediocre that it’s forgettable. Moira MacDonald of Seattle Times said that Disney’s Snow White is “neither good enough to be a classic or bad enough to be a guilty pleasure.” This is a bad sign that the film won’t be remembered in a year, let alone be considered a classic. Even medium reviews mention that the film isn’t “the fairest of them all.”

Meanwhile, David Fear from Rolling Stone says the Snow White remake is a “strong contender for [live-action’s] blandest [adaptation.]” Two other reviewers also used the word “bland” as a descriptor for the film. At least bad movies elicit strong emotions like anger, frustration, or upset. If audiences find the 2025 Snow White is as underwhelming as critics say, they might leave the theaters and quickly forget everything they watched.

6

The Snow White Remake Lacks Cohesion

“Every character and subplot feels like it was brought in from a different movie.” –Polygon

• Full Polygon review

One criticism that negatively impacted the critic’s scores is the fact that the movie lacks cohesion when it comes to various parts of the film, including the characters, plot, songs, and costumes. As Petrana Radulovic from Polygon points out, a very costume-y replica of Snow White’s blue and yellow dress exists alongside a modern dyed denim jacket and hoodie combination on Jonathan. Sherin Nicole from RIOTUS brings up the fact that the plot feels like a mash-up of every possible fairytale.

They also tried desperately to have their cake and eat it, too, with the animation versus live-action. Far too often, Zegler’s Snow White feels like she’s acting in front of a painted backdrop instead of existing within the scene. The reviews indicate that the filmmakers threw everything at the wall to see what would stick instead of strategically picking and choosing the creative direction.

5

Disney’s Snow White Feels Like A Cash Grab

“It’s hard not to read this as another cynical cash grab…” – Next Best Picture

• Full Next Best Picture review

Over the past few years, many audience members have expressed that they’re tired of the live-action Disney remakes because they feel like a cash grab that capitalizes on nostalgia instead of offering anything new. Snow White is one of the most dated stories, so they could have transformed the material in many exciting ways. Unfortunately, the great performance by Rachel Zegler isn’t enough to save the movie from the “cash grab” label.

As Josh Parham of Next Best Picture points out, the movie doesn’t actually change enough for the remake to feel justified. Meanwhile, Nicole says, “Nothing is earned, and the emotional draw is nonexistent.” Unfortunately, any remake of Snow White feels doomed either to be labeled a cash grab because it offers nothing new or to upset fans of the original movie. Perhaps that’s proof that Disney’s time would be better spent on remaking a less iconic movie if they really were determined to continue with remakes.

4

The Snow White Remake’s Loyalty To The Original Stifles The New Themes

“There’s an unresolved tension between paying tribute…and telling a story driven by themes of self-empowerment and revolutionary courage” –Slant

• Full Slant review

According to Rotten Tomatoes critics, Disney’s Snow White can’t seem to figure out whether it wants to align itself fully with the original message or offer something more empowering. While Snow White is a charming and lovely animated film, the main character plays a pᴀssive role in her own story. The 2025 remake tries to fix this by making Snow White revolutionary and justice-seeking. However, they never fully commit to this new direction, outside of removing “Someday my Prince Will Come.”

This creates a disconnect in tone and message between different scenes. Some lean into the playful and frothy original. Then, they’re placed next to scenes where the тιтular main character has an urgency and heaviness. This creates the unresolved tension that Dan Rubins of Slant mentions in his review. Even some of the positive reviews mention the struggle with updating the material. Kate Erbland of IndieWire mentions that the updates will please many people, but “that’s not to say every choice…sticks the landing.”

3

The Evil Queen’s New Song In The Snow White Remake Is Bad

“Gadot has some moments of campy fun as our villain but less heard of her singing the better.” –Rachel’s Reviews

• Full Rachel’s Reviews review

The reviews for the 2025 remake of Disney’s Snow White hits really hard on Gal Gadot, and many hone in specifically on the Evil Queen’s new song “All Is Fair.” Tessa Smith from Mama’s Geeky said that even though it’s catchy “The singing itself is lacking. Gadot was not meant to carry an entire song; I’m sorry, but that’s the truth.” Similarly, Casey Chong of Casey’s Movie Mania described Gadot’s singing as “embarrᴀssingly flat and tone-deaf.”

Unfortunately, as much as I’d like to defend Gadot’s singing, I don’t disagree with them. It’s by no means the worst singing I’ve heard, but it sounds more like a person at karaoke instead of a Disney movie. A large chunk of this issue comes from the fact that Gal Gadot’s voice isn’t as polished or technically attuned as her counterpart, Rachel Zegler. Gadot’s mediocre performance seems bad in comparison to that of her co-star.

2

Jonathan Is Too Much Like Flynn Rider And Robin Hood

“The only thing keeping Jonathan from feeling like a fully-realized character is…he’s more than a little reminiscent of Flynn Rider from Rapunzel.” –Consequence

• Full Consequence review

Many critics wanted to like Snow White’s new love interest, Jonathan, but they found him lacking, with more than one individual comparing him to Flynn Rider from Rapunzel and Robin Hood from Robin Hood. He’s not a prince, which is fine, but he’s not exactly an original character, either.

AV Club described him as “the floppy-haired Robin Hoodlam Jonathan” which is as hilarious as it is accurate. Meanwhile, David Crow of Den of Geek said, “Jonathan is more in the Robin Hood/Flynn Ryder vein, albeit without the mischievous edge.” No matter what, it would be hard to create a good love interest for Snow White, but the reviews indicate that they leaned too heavily on archetypes without offering something unique.

1

Snow White’s Ending Is Too Saccharine

“The altered fate of Evil Queen at the end of the movie is not as effective in ‘Disney’s Show White’ as…’Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.”’ –Culture Mix

• Full Culture Mix review

While I’ve provided examples and details throughout this article, I will keep this section scant so as not to spoil Disney’s Snow White too much for potential viewers. The remake offers a slightly similar but also slightly different ending that’s much more sappy than the original. Rachel Labonte wrote in Screen Rant’s review of Snow White that the ending fits with Snow White’s characterization in the film, but it’s “anticlimactic and a touch too saccharine.” The approach to the Snow White remake’s ending will undoubtedly be divisive, but it might satisfy audience members more than it did critics.