Karla Carrillo
“Snow White” live action was released on March 21 directed by Marc Webb. The adaptation follows the original movie “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” released in 1937.
The live adaptation follows the story of Snow White (Rachel Zeigler), who has to overcome being oppressed by the Evil Queen (Gal Gadot) and help the starving people in her kingdom. She tries to help her people by reasoning with the Queen at first, but it takes a turn when the Evil Queen sends a huntsman after Snow White, forcing her to run away. She embarks on a quest where she becomes empowered and meets a band of people who help her defeat the Evil Queen, in turn saving her people.
Before watching the movie, I had no expectations of what I was hoping to see since I wanted an open mind due to the media overtaking the movie press. What I was waiting to see was the empowering act of Snow White in the movie.
In the movie Snow White, there is a scene where she gets attacked by the Evil Queen’s guards, Snow decides to join the bandits in the fight instead of running away. I found that scene to be different and that it worked well with the new origin story of Snow White, since she is supposed to be selfless.
Her being selfless to help her kingdom and not just leave the bandits fits with the new generation of Disney Princesses that put themselves in harm’s way to save or help others. I think this act worked well with the movie, and it was a fun addition to see.
The movie did the original movie justice because they added a lot of the nostalgic qualities of the original movie, such as the princess speaking with the animals, meeting the dwarfs, and being nice to everyone. The movie also had many scenes that reflected the original animation, which added a bit of hyper realism to the movie. It made it exciting to watch since it makes you want to continue catching scenes that reflect the original.
What did not work well in the movie was the beginning scene and the song of the movie. They were not memorable because they did not leave an impression or stick to mind. The opening scene involved a short telling of how Snow White got her name, the interaction with her parents and the kingdom, which gave a background on how she was raised before the Evil Queen came into play. The kingdom’s people singing was a bit unnecessary since it did not really serve much to the plotline.
In a way, the movies can be seen as two different progressions following the same storyline. Both movies have their charms that allow them to be separated from each other in a way that doesn’t put either of them down.
The movie still follows the idea of true love and poisoned apples from the original. What can be said is that this aspect wasn’t the main point, but it was something that you could not miss. It was a cute moment between Snow White and the bandit Jonathan (Andrew Burnap), having a romantic subplot, but it did not really take away from the strong heroine plot that they were aiming for. What was a bit odd was that the seven dwarfs were CGI since it was half expected that people with dwarfism would have been cast as other live-action films have done before. Even then, the dwarves created with CGI didn’t take away from the movie at all or put an emphasis on them. It allowed everything to progress smoothly and added a bit of a fun twist.
The movie did not have many changes aside from new scenes that were implemented or some scenes from the original that were rearranged. A scene that was rearranged in the live action was the scene where Snow White cleans the dwarfs’ house, and they sing the song “Whistle While You Work.” In the original, Snow White sings the song while she cleans with the animals, but in the live action, she sings it while she cleans with the dwarfs.
The live-action adaptation had new music that was not in the original 1937 adaptation. The new songs were “Waiting on a Wish,” “Princess Problems,” “Good Things Grow,” and “All is Fair.” These four new songs have powerful scores that allow the viewers to see the emphasis on empowerment, even if it is a villain’s song or the good people, such as Snow White or the rebels in the movie. The songs were all upbeat, which was enjoyable to listen to.
The movie also had music from the original 1937 adaptation with a few changes within the songs. “Heigh-Ho” and “Whistle While You Work” had different music rearrangements to make them more theatrical pop. The new arrangements of these songs did not change much of the original but made them stand out a lot more and added more personalization for each character in the songs.
The movie was enjoyable to watch, and people who enjoy musicals will enjoy this movie, especially since the songs are catchy. There are not a lot of changes in the movie, so if Snow White is someone’s favorite Disney princess, they will enjoy this movie due to its new, unique additions to the memorable original plot.