Promotional image for the Snow White live action movie, courtesy of Disney

The new Snow White movie, starring Rachel Zegler, was a big disappointment compared to other Disney princess movie remakes. Don’t get me wrong, the graphics and the acting in this movie are modern and detailed; however, throughout the movie I found myself constantly comparing it to the original Snow White. 

Snow White premiered fewer than two weeks ago and is already facing controversy. Prior to the release, I had high expectations for this movie. I heard about it coming out over a year ago, and was excited to watch. When I finally went to see it, I was disappointed. The movie is all over the media, and not necessarily in a good way. The popular opinion seems to be that this movie has failed. Only after its second week in theaters, it was unseated from its number one spot. The highly anticipated film is expected to lose over $115 million and is far from breaking even.

Rachel Zegler, actress for the new Snow White, has received a lot of backlash for trying to change the plot line. The story, while similar, has some changes you think would be minor that drastically change the story. Snow White is a more independent character who claims she doesn’t need a prince. The prince is replaced with a man named Jonathan, who is a bandit, but their love story actually remains quite similar to the original. 

The movie begins with Snow White’s mom passing away and the evil queen coming into power and forcing Snow White to become her maid. Then, the Evil Queen plans to go after Snow White and her beauty. Snow White then goes to seek safety with the seven dwarfs and they help her fight against the evil queen. Like I mentioned earlier, Jonathan is Snow White’s love interest who also helps in her fight against the Evil Queen. Finally, Snow White and her friends defeat the Evil Queen, despite overcoming many obstacles, and banish her from their kingdom. This is different from the original movie because instead of “a true love’s kiss” that saves her, it is her own strength and independence. 

The overall message of the movie was great because it showed women’s empowerment and independence, and in Snow White’s instance, that she doesn’t need to rely on a prince to save her. However, I just think it changed the whole point of the movie.  The original Snow White and the Seven Dwarves came out in 1937, and so, yes, the movie is a little outdated, but the plot line should have been the same in the remake. The original was more light-hearted and fun but it still had important themes such as good versus evil and innocence. It was also centered heavily around Snow White and Prince Charming and their love story. The infamous “true love’s kiss” is what the film is remembered for and how that awoke her from the curse. Yes, I do believe the new movie does a great job capturing women’s independence, but It misses the innocent, lightheartedness of the original film. If this wasn’t a remake and just a completely different movie, I would have enjoyed it more.