‘Snow White’ Reviews From Critics Are Mostly Negative: ‘So Bland It Barely Registers’

Disney’s live-action remake of the 1937 classic “Snow White” was released on Friday, and so far, the reviews from critics are not great.

There has been a lot of controversy and speculation about the film in the months leading up to its release. Questions about casting, creative decisions, and the outspoken views of the film’s leading lady have all led to a lot of negative press and a scaled-back premiere event in Los Angeles.

So far, “Snow White,” starring Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot, has a 46% Tomatometer rating on Rotten Tomatoes, a percentage that reflects the ratings from professional critics. 

“Gloss prevails over heart in nearly every scene, and plot beats feel contrived,” a reviewer from The Wall Street Journal wrote. 

The New York Times said of the film: “Neither good enough to admire nor bad enough to joyfully skewer; its mediocrity is among its biggest bummers.”

“Presumably one of the reasons to bring actors into remakes of animated classics would be to add a warm-blooded pulse to these characters. Zegler manages that, but everyone else in ‘Snow White’ — mortal or CGI — is as stiff as could be,” said a critic from The Associated Press.

The decision to use CGI for the dwarves instead of real-life actors – which was a change from the original plan after actor Peter Dinklage complained – was brought up in multiple bad reviews.

“For every impressive aesthetic choice, [director Marc] Webb makes a disastrous one, such as the decision to render all seven dwarfs as fully digital creations: Grumpy, Doc, Sleepy, Dopey — they’re all highly unnerving spoonfuls of nightmare fuel,” said Barry Hertz from Globe and Mail.

“Snow White, in the pursuit of inoffence, Disney has made a film so bland it barely registers. It doesn’t always pay to be the fairest of them all,” the New Statesman critic wrote.

Boston Globe reviewer Odie Henderson wrote, “I had high hopes that ‘Snow White’ would make me happy. Instead, this dopey remake made me sleepy and grumpy.”

“Snow White” is targeting $45 million to $55 million from 4,200 North American theaters in its opening weekend, per Variety.