Breaking Down Disney’s Live Action Snow White (2025)
Promo image from Disney on IMDb
***Spoilers Ahead***
Snow White (2025): Family/Fantasy
On June 11, Disney+ released their latest live-action princess film Snow White (2025), and like the Disney-obsessed nutjobs we are, my family and I turned the occasion into a nighttime celebration. We made popcorn, brewed coffee, and huddled around our TV with anticipation running through our veins. I have one thing to say about Snow White: our anticipation was just.
Snow White (2025): A Brief Rundown
Once upon a time, a princess named Snow White is left with her evil stepmother after the death of her mother and the mysterious disappearance of her father. Forced to conceal her royal identity and work as a castle maid, she gives a doomed thief a piece of bread and frees him from his demise.
The Evil Queen witnesses this act of mercy with a jealous heart. When she learns from her Magic Mirror that Snow White is the fairest one of all, she plunges into her wickedness and commands her huntsman to kill her stepdaughter. The huntsman is unable to carry out this act, as he is unable to kill innocent life. He instructs Snow White to leave the kingdom.
Snow White does as she is told and flees into the enchanted forest. After a terrifying run through the trees, she meets a group of animals who lead her to a cottage owned by seven dwarfs.
The men allow Snow White to take refuge in their home, but safety is still far from reach. The Evil Queen is on the prowl for her, and she will stop at nothing to become the fairest one of all. Snow White must form bonds, seize love, and confront her enemy to truly become the leader she was born to be.
Snow White’s Origins
Snow White (2025) is based on the Disney animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937). The 1937 picture, based on the Brothers Grimm tale “Snow White,” was the first full-length animated feature to ever come out. This feat in filmmaking earned Walt Disney Productions an honorary Academy Award, solidifying their place in U.S. cinema history.
The original film also kicked off other feature films for Disney, such as Pinocchio (1940) and Dumbo (1941). Out of all the films Disney turned into live-action remakes, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) was a smart choice.
It has the right characters to bring out the warm and fuzzies in us all, and the perfect story to twist into something more contemporary. With all this being said, however, Snow White (2025) does stray from its source of inspiration.
Snow White (2025) Compared To Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937): The Major Differences
Snow White (2025) doesn’t closely follow the plotline of its animated counterpart. In fact, the writers have twisted some parts of its older script, starting with Snow White’s parents. They’re present at the very beginning of the film and are shown teaching goodness to their daughter by sharing food and working with the common folk.
This addition sheds light on the roots of Snow White’s morals, and unlike the animated version, Snow White (2025) physically reveals the withdrawal of the king and queen from their daughter’s life.
Even though the loss of her parents is devastating, the filmmakers softened the blow by having Snow White carry their principles through a necklace labeled, “Fearless,” “Fair,” “Brave,” and “True,” signifying her everlasting connection to them.
Secondly, in Snow White (2025), the princess’s love interest is a thief named Jonathan, fighting in the name of the absent king. In Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), the princess’s lover is a prince named Florian who only shows up in the beginning and end of the film, posing as the girl’s knight in shining armor.
In Snow White (2025), there is no prince — instead, there’s a starving commoner, a rebel risking death for a piece of bread. What I appreciated about this alteration is that we get more screen time with Snow White’s true love.
He’s not the one-dimensional, perfect-from-top-to-bottom good guy we’re used to seeing in Disney-esque fairy tales. Jonathan’s sarcastic, cynical, and, in the midst of love’s enigma, passionate for Snow White. There’s more sustenance to his personality than his princely parallel.
Thirdly, Snow White (2025) soundtrack has lengthier, more contemporary songs while maintaining originals like “Heigh-Ho” and “Whistle While You Work.” A few of the songs, like “Waiting on a Wish” and “A Hand Meets a Hand,” have also replaced some of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) tunes, such as “I’m Wishing” and “Someday My Prince Will Come.”
Perhaps the greatest musical installment in Snow White (2025) is “All is Fair.” Who doesn’t love a good villain jam sung by a diamond-obsessed queen?
I typically hate it when live-action remakes, particularly those with musical theater flairs, go off their original scores. However, Snow White (2025) is different. The new songs deepen the characters’ emotions and drives while creating more beats for the plotline. Not to mention Rachel Zegler’s voice is phenomenal.
Lastly, Snow White takes back her kingdom from her stepmother in the end instead of riding away with her lover. She also announces to everyone in her kingdom that her father was murdered by the evil queen, which she learns while consuming her poisoned apple.
This makes for an electrifying addition to the plot, as it not only lengthens the story, but it also brings out something new in Snow White other than kindness: fierceness. That is what comes out of her at the end of her journey, and it is unforgettable.
A soft-spoken princess like Snow White calling out the corruption in her home leaves a compelling image with those who linger in thought after the movie. The message evokes empowerment for me, reminding me to do what is right, even if the “doing” part is scary.
My Impressions
Snow White (2025) replaces the passive saint from the original animated film with a justice-seeker in an Esmeralda-like figure. She transitions from fluffy princess, “the prettiest of them all” into the “fairest of them all” in the literal subversion — a woman who seeks justice for all even in the midst of her own trials.
But in this film, Snow White the princess is more than a champion for all who are good and seek goodness: She is her own champion, standing up for herself in ways that are simultaneously peaceful and confrontational.
Her humanity overthrows the “damsel in distress” stereotype with a true heroine epitomized in the display of her real-to-life fears found in confronting her evil stepmother.
Additionally, I want to mention Rachel Zegler’s acting chops. Despite the online dispute surrounding her acting abilities, I believe she did a fantastic job portraying Snow White in both a gentle and fierce manner. Her musical theater background came through while filming, especially during the song “Waiting on a Wish,” elevating her performance.
The CGI animation of the dwarfs and some of the extras’ costumes, however, were below par. The dwarfs look fake — like something out of a video game — compared to Rachel Zegler. I’m with the majority of people who feel that Snow White (2025) should have had human actors of short stature play the dwarfs.
Not only would human actors bring out the dwarves’ human qualities, but it would have given more job opportunities to performers. Always choose people over computers!
The costumes for the secondary characters and extras could have been truer to the atmosphere of the film. Since some of the “everyday” characters live in squalor, their clothing should have looked dirtier and less “put together.”
These costumes scream stage production rather than film production. In some movies, like Snow White (2025), this doesn’t translate well. If we are sophisticating a princess, we should be developing her subjects.
Despite these issues, I would suggest Snow White (2025) to a stranger on the street. The messages in this film hold massive amounts of heart, illuminating Snow White in ways that are both true to her original character and complex like an actual human instead of a princess of yesterday Disney.
I suspect we need more Disney movies like Snow White (2025). Having diverse portrayals of fictional characters can be eye-opening for viewers and creatives alike. They can bring new life into age-old tales, make them relevant in a media where relevancy is questioned, and can generate fresh stories for the generations to come.
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Samantha Szumloz
A poet, fiction writer, and essayist, Samantha Szumloz is a fourth-year Rowan University student gaining a Bachelor's degree in Writing Arts. She has been published in places such as MORIA, Blue Marble Review, DisLit Youth Literary Magazine, R U Joking?, Halftone, and Singularity Press. She is also a June 2025 contributor to Blood+Honey and a July 2025 contributor to Viridine Literary. Other than submitting to publications, she runs her own literary and arts magazine called Art-emis and watches raunchy comedies.
Follow Samantha on Instagram, Chill Subs, LinkedIn, or her website. You can find additional work on Moria, Blue Marble Review, Singularity Press, Dislit Youth Literary Press, Rowan University, and others here, and here.
