Warning! Spoilers for Disney’s Snow White ahead!
Disney has done it again with another live-action remake, but Snow White fell short of its 1937 animated counterpart in a handful of ways. The House of Mouse has been slowly working its way through its animated classics, putting a new spin on these stories as they are brought to life for the modern era. 1937’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was Disney’s first full-length animated feature film, so it was only a matter of time before it got the live-action treatment. Now, said and done, we can look at how Snow White compares.
A lot has changed since 1937, and it’s precisely this that has made live-action adaptations possible. 2025’s Snow White was breathtaking in several regards, and I enjoyed the many ways that the тιтular princess’ character was adjusted to be more dynamic and engaging. Some of the best moments in the live-action movie were those that clearly came directly from the original, such as “Whistle While You Work” and “Heigh-Ho,” which were utterly charming. Rachel Zegler was a triumph, and young audiences are sure to adore Snow White. Still, the remake lost some things that made the original great.
8
The Live-Action Snow White Doesn’t Focus On True Love
Sometimes The Old Fashioned Stories Are Best
Many traditional fairy tales are all about finding true love, but this is something that modern stories often steer away from. I can understand why. There is certainly more to aspire to than only romance, but old Hollywood would suggest otherwise. Still, it can be a bit tiresome for each of Disney’s live-action remakes to do acrobatics to focus on something—anything—other than true love.
Thankfully, 2025’s Snow White still saw Zegler’s character awoken from her sleeping death by true love’s first kiss. However, this was only a minor feature of the overarching story. Snow White didn’t wish to find love, and the fact that true love could break the Evil Queen’s curse wasn’t even mentioned beforehand. A significant part of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs‘s charm was the simple pleasure of an idealized love.
7
The Live-Action Snow White Lacks The Punch Of The Original Movie’s Artwork
The 1937 Snow White Is A Masterpiece
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs will remain iconic for generations, mainly because of its unique place in the world of animation. Before 1937, no full-length feature film had been made entirely using cell animation, and this is because the concept was essentially outrageous.
The artists at Disney spent hours upon hours drawing each cell in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
The artists at Disney spent hours upon hours drawing each cell in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The resulting masterpiece was a labor of love, and it’s still a wonder to watch and consider all that went into making it. While it most certainly took a lot of dedicated work and imagination to make 2025’s Snow White, the CGI and modern techniques fall under an entirely different category of art.
6
The Original Snow White Left More To Audiences’ Imaginations
The Remake Is More Complex
Disney’s live-action remakes tend to add a great deal more detail and context to the original stories. In the case of 2025’s Snow White, we got a more complex backstory for Snow White’s kingdom. The movie explored who the king and queen had been and how the Evil Queen came to have power there. In the 1937 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, it was as if there was no actual kingdom at all.
While there is value to diving a little deeper into a story, Disney’s obsession with doing so in its live-action remakes demonstrates just how different audiences’ expectations are these days. Movies like 1937’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs left a lot more to audiences’ imaginations. We didn’t have to see the individual moments when Snow White and her prince fell in love; we just understood that it happened. The movie didn’t have to show a full kingdom since it was implied that it was there. Ultimately, there is something beautiful about the simplicity.
5
Snow White’s Dwarfs Lost A Certain Charm From The Original Movie
The CGI Doesn’t Compare
The Seven Dwarfs have always been the most memorable feature of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. They provided comedy, and each individual dwarf was easy to love for their own unique reason. The same is true, to an extent, for the new Snow White movie. They serve a similarly comedic role, but Disney botched the design.
Disney took the CGI route with the dwarfs of 2025’s Snow White. While it allowed the live-action remake to embrace and pay homage to the animated designs of these beloved characters, the result was a tad uncomfortable. These once-charming dwarfs became far less so as they inspired that “uncanny valley” sensation rather than one of delight.
4
The Original Snow White Had A Sweet Story For Snow & Grumpy
The Snow & Dopey Story Just Wasn’t The Same
One of my favorite aspects of the original Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was the subtle story that played out surrounding Snow White and Grumpy. The crankiest of the dwarfs had been entirely against Snow White staying, and the princess knew it. She even prayed that Grumpy might start to like her, but then she saw those few heartwarming moments when the dwarf revealed his true feelings. Grumpy loved Snow White, which made the princess’ “death” while baking Grumpy a pie all the more heartbreaking.
Though Grumpy went through a similar arc in 2025’s version of Snow White, the movie didn’t pay nearly as much attention to their developing affection for one another. Grumpy never nervously prepared himself for Snow White’s kiss, and the princess never made her new friend a pie. Instead, the live-action movie focused on Snow White and Dopey’s relationship. Still sweet, but just not the same.
3
The Evil Queen’s Transformation Was Way Cooler In The Original Snow White
The Animated Scene Was Deliciously Creepy
Image via Disney
As a child, I was completely fascinated by the Evil Queen’s transformation in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. It was a bit terrifying, but that only made the whole thing more thrilling. It was also a rather long sequence in the animated movie. The queen worked her way through the ingredients, narrating her process as she did. Then, the transformation was dramatic and exciting.
By comparison, Gal Gadot’s transformation in Snow White was a bit anticlimactic. The movie should have had even more time to lean into the dark and creepy, but it instead felt rather rushed. What’s more, it was always evident that this was Gadot in prosthetic makeup. In the end, it was completely unbelievable that Snow didn’t see through the Evil Queen’s disguise, while in the animated movie, she had no reason to suspect this wasn’t actually an old woman.
2
The Evil Queen’s Deception Makes More Sense In The Original Snow White
The Wish Trick Was So Much Better
In Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the Evil Queen (disguised as the old crone) tells Snow White that her apple would grant a wish. This was the perfect way to tempt the princess since she spent her days looking into the wishing well. Even if the queen didn’t know precisely what Snow White wanted, she would have known that a magic wishing apple would lure the girl in.
Given Snow White’s urgency to save Jonathan, it’s puzzling that she would stop to eat the apple in front of the queen.
This reasoning could have easily applied in 2025’s Snow White. Gadot’s Evil Queen had even mentioned how much time Snow White spent by the wishing well. However, she instead only told the princess that she wished to give her a gift out of graтιтude toward her father, the king. Given Snow White’s urgency to save Jonathan, it’s puzzling that she would stop to eat the apple in front of the queen. It ultimately seemed like a needless change that only diminished the story.
