The day Disney has been dreading is finally here. Their live-action “Snow White” remake, starring Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot, hits theaters this week, concluding a years-long saga of re-shoots, criticisms, ill-advised public comments, and woeful pre-release trailers.
Thanks to the initial backlash from set photos showing that the famous “seven dwarfs” had been replaced with a group of what can only be described as perfectly diverse Portland hipsters, Zegler’s disparaging remarks about the original source material and its love story, and a retelling of the story that purposefully ignores the soul of the story, expectations have been low.
Like, really, really, really low.
READ: Snow White Pre-Release Tracking Looks Abysmal
There isn’t much that could save the extremely expensive film from being yet another financial failure for Disney, though overwhelmingly positive reviews would be a start. Unfortunately for the entertainment giant, those aren’t coming either.
Disney’s Snow White Problems Only Getting Worse
The first 40 reviews hit Rotten Tomatoes this week, and “Snow White” has just 48% positive reviews. Despite the overwhelming power of Disney and politically aligned ideological motives, the majority of critics still don’t like “Snow White.”
By Thursday, another 83 reviews hit the review aggregator, and guess what? The rating actually went down. With 123 total reviews posted, “Snow White” has just a 46% positive score. Ouch.
One UK based paper, The Times, absolutely roasted it, calling “Snow White” a “new low for cultural desecretion,” and excoriating Disney for having “disgust” for its source material.
“Believe the anti-hype. It’s that bad. This latest Disney adaptation was yanked from prerelease marketing duties — the London premiere was axed — for good reason. It represents a new low for cultural desecration and for a venerable 102-year-old entertainment company that now looks at its source material with a pinched nose of disgust.”
Disney’s made several public alterations to its production processes, hiring and promotion metrics, and streaming service in the wake of the 2024 presidential election. These changes, aimed at limiting the influx of DEI and progressive politics, are a welcome shift from their openly far-left political stance in the last decade. But it clearly came far too late to save “Snow White.”
Many reviewers have criticized the film for being bland, or lacking heart and humor, and that’s a predictable consequence of years of re-shoots and editing. It’s likely that Disney tried to film or cut around the most extreme, obvious attitudes that were meant as a rebuke of the 1937 classic. But in doing so, they created a disjointed mess, pleasing nobody.
This is what happens when you organize a studio around hitting political goals, not making quality entertainment. Disney’s trying to alter course now, but the question now becomes, is it too late to damage their once-iconic brand…permanently?
