Before, during, and after its premiere, Disney’s Snow White faced intense backlash online, including a spree of negative reviews known as review-bombing, yet this is not the only film that has faced such hatred from audiences. When Disney initially announced its intentions to adapt Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs into live-action, viewers were excited to see this classic come to life. However, after the casting of Rachel Zegler, the use of CGI for the dwarfs, and the cast’s posts about their political views, the movie has gained more negative traction than anything else.

Snow White is a clear example of review bombing. Review bombing is when an overwhelming number of individuals leave poor reviews of a movie on sites like IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes. Oftentimes, users haven’t even seen the movie, but leave negative comments anyway because of controversies outside the film itself. Other reviewers have watched the movie, but may exaggerate their opinions. All in all, review bombing is more of a reflection on audience views of political and social issues rather than the actual quality of the film.

5

Snow White

How Bad Snow White Really Is

Snow White is a prime instance of review bombing, which became clear based on the movie’s IMDb score. On the movie-reviewing platform, Snow White has 308,000 reviews in total and 91% of them give the film 1 star. IMDb itself has added a warning to the page which reads: “Our rating mechanism has detected unusual voting activity on this тιтle.” Essentially, this means that IMDb has noticed the flood of negative reviews and believes that these are not necessarily representative of the movie, but rather, of audiences’ outside opinions on it.

Snow White may not be the best live-action Disney film, but it certainly doesn’t deserve all the hate it is getting. On Rotten Tomatoes, the movie has a 40% critics score and a 73% audience score, proving that many enjoyed the movie. Similarly, Metacritic has given the film a 50%. In particular, many were impressed with the film’s updates on the Snow White character and Zegler’s performance in the lead role. Overall, the hate against Snow White is more about the controversies created by the cast and crew rather than the movie itself.

4

The Little Mermaid

The Little Mermaid Still Managed To Succeed

Another Disney movie that faced a similar situation is 2023’s The Little Mermaid. After the casting of Halle Bailey as Ariel, many audiences were upset that the princess would not be white, and made their dislike known through reviews. Like Snow White, The Little Mermaid raked in a significant number of 1-star ratings on IMDb. Today, the film has 47,000 1-star reviews. However, IMDb left a similar message on The Little Mermaid’s page, acknowledging that the reviews were unusual and that the average score was weighted differently to accommodate this review bombing.

In reality, The Little Mermaid is one of the more accepted live-action adaptations that Disney has made. Its adjusted IMDb score rests at a solid 7.2 stars, while its Rotten Tomatoes scores are 67% for critics and 94% for audiences. Regardless of certain opinions on Ariel’s skin color, Bailey gives an excellent performance in the movie, and Ariel’s story is expanded in several interesting ways. Fortunately, despite this review bombing, The Little Mermaid managed to find genuine support and success.

3

Captain Marvel

Critics & Audiences Were Split

Even if a movie is somewhat divisive in its reception, a deluge of poor reviews can still be considered a review bombing. One example of this is Captain Marvel. The 2019 Marvel superhero movie was named the most anticipated movie of the year by IMDb, but just before its release, its Rotten Tomatoes “Want to See” score had fallen to a 28%. This is because some viewers were upset by the feminist ideals of the movie and its lead actress, Brie Larson, and as a result, began review bombing the movie. Arguably, this had a huge impact on the film’s success.

For the most part, critics enjoyed Captain Marvel, giving it a 79% on Rotten Tomatoes. Reviewers were entertained by the film and found a lot to love about this new character and her nostalgic 90s world. However, audiences were less forgiving, with a 45% Rotten Tomatoes score and complaints about the movie being unfunny and boring. In this way, Captain Marvel divided critics and audiences, and unfortunately, the movie’s review bombing may have caused this, affecting how viewers at home perceived the movie.

2

Ghostbusters

The Franchise Moved On

Sadly, movies getting review bombed for feminist themes is far from uncommon. Another movie that faced this reality was 2016’s Ghostbusters. Just like many other movies on this list, when the cast was announced for this Ghostbusters remake, certain audience members were upset about this feminist spin on a beloved classic. As a result, the film received 44,000 1-star reviews and a warning from IMDb about unusual rating activity. Plus, like Captain Marvel, the Rotten Tomatoes scores on Ghostbusters are vastly different: 74% for critics and 49% for audiences.

The review bombing of Ghostbusters was particularly frustrating because the movie had a wonderful cast. Comedic stars Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, Melissa McCarthy, and Leslie Jones were at the helm, while original Ghostbusters stars like Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray and Ernie Hudson made appearances, showing their support for the film. Ultimately, the Ghostbusters franchise moved on to making spinoffs rather than continuing on with its all-female cast, and this is quite a shame.

1

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Not The Worst Star Wars Reviews

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Released

November 11, 2019

ESRB

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Finally, one more movie that faced unfair review bombing was Star Wars: The Last Jedi. This 2017 film was targeted by a review bombing campaign on Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic because certain audiences felt that the movie was too progressive, due to its addition of more diverse cast members. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a mere 41% audience score, while critics gave it an impressive 91%.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi’s review bombing was yet another unfair circumstance, where the quality of the movie was not reflected by its reviews. One silver lining, however, is that The Last Jedi’s reviews are not quite as frustrating as the reviews for its sequel, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, which was panned by both critics and audiences, not for external reasons, but simply because it wasn’t deemed to be very good. All in all, Snow White is far from alone in its review bombing experience, and though it is controversial, audiences should still give it a genuine try.