Walt Disney Studios just can’t catch a break. And as always, it’s their own fault.
After years of film flops and failures, and a stock price that’s declined nearly 42 percent in the past three and a half years, Disney desperately needed its incredibly expensive “Snow White” remake to be a financial success. First, set photos leaked, showing a disastrous decision to change the famous seven dwarfs to what looked like characters from “Portlandia.”
Bad press, reshoots, and CGI redesign led to Disney delaying the release of the film by a full year. And then just a few months before its new date, lead actress Rachel Zegler decided to go off on Instagram about Donald Trump winning the 2024 election.
READ: Disney ‘Snow White’ Actress Goes Off On Trump: ‘Never Know Peace’
Exactly what Disney wanted to see, the lead actress of an overbudget, delayed, heavily criticized movie insulting half the country after a stunning election rebuke of her ideology.
Now the trailer is out, ahead of the new “Wicked” movie, and it leaked online to uh, more criticism.
The trailer hints at several problems with the “Snow White” release, in any number of key areas.
LONDON – Rachel Zegler attends the “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” photocall at Savoy Place on March 6, 2023. (Photo by Dave J. Hogan/Getty Images)
Disney’s Snow White Has Many Problems, Few Answers
Former Disney Imagineer Jim Shull summed up many reactions on X, saying that the trailer is “unwatchable.”
And he’s right. The look and feel of the movie is quite simply, horrendous. An over-saturated, CGI’d mess, with what looks like zero real sets. The hastily inserted dwarfs look terrible, and there seems to have been some heavy editing to make Zegler’s face look abnormally soft.
Then there’s the “girl boss” attitude. That change was hinted at by Zegler during a disastrous press tour where she called the original story and prince “weird.” Sure enough, there’s a still photo of Snow White with weapons pointed at her and a crowd behind her. Instead of needing the help of her friends, it seems like Disney’s decision was to make her the leader of a resistance against the evil Queen. Ridiculous.
This is the problem with modern Disney, with their film studio, and with the entire film industry at large. They do not understand what made successful historical releases successful and beloved. Their only answer is to modernize every character in their political mold, completely misunderstanding or ignoring the underlying messages of the story.
The Snow White character and story is about friendship, sacrifice and reliance. Snow White takes care of the dwarfs in the 1937 release, and they repay her with help and support. She needs the prince to wake her, just as she needs the dwarfs’ help against the queen.
In this release, she puts them to work. She’s the leader of the resistance. It’s a fundamental rejection of the story, and it’s one of just many, many reasons why this film has little-to-no chance of success. Another loss for Disney.