The curse of the live-action remake - damned if you make changes, and damned if you stay faithful to the original - hit this movie from the moment the first trailer dropped leading to a dismal box-office run. Despite its variable run of revisiting its greatest hits, Disney ploughed on with this divisive more-musical take on the OG and makes a rather decisive having of the original's title, positioning it very much in the mould of other modern-day Disney musical properties and as yet another young female empowerment tale. It is perhaps inevitably updated in some respects, with Snow White seemingly becoming a freedom fighter with the forest rebels, which sits oddly next to faithful classic touchstone moments recreated here. The film often looks stunning, with the interiors dressed to the hilt and vibrant exteriors a riot of (CG) detail, but it does suffer ultimately from CG overload, with some scenes more animation than live action. Rachel Zegler is mostly strong and delivers the songs well, and Gal Gadot strides through her scenes as the Wicked Stepmother with a cool furniture-chewing sneer. What remains is s slightly ill-judged mid-ranker - it does not work like Cinderella or Beauty And The Beast - very much for today's Disney-fed youngsters and tailor-made for an inevitable (or now, perhaps not) stage version, that shows variable respect to the original and pales beside it, but manages to have some effective moments on its own terms, such as the surprisingly joyful song finale.
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