To wonder if I’m in a parallel universe - Snow White

[Gepl]

The new live action Snow White film got universally panned and made out to be a “woke” disaster.

Finally got round to watching it with DD and I’m a bit confused what the fuss was all about.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not the greatest film ever made. In fact, it’s probably below par, and the dwarves lack the charm they had in the original. But it’s no worse than any other Disney live action remake. Lead actress is perfectly good, with a great singing voice. DD watched it all without complaint.

I appreciate opinions on films differ but it’s hardly the horror show I was led to believe. Am I an outlier, or do a lot of people talk shit?

It's a Jamie Lloyd production, using the building and video screens is a bit of a trademark of his

So she sings from the balcony to the people of London because the song is Eva singing to the people of Argentina

Then it's played live via video screen

She apparently sings it inside at the end though

I thought it was awful. It wasn't snow white.

Falling in love with a criminal instead of a Prince - Tangled
Spell over the kingdom - sleeping beauty
Act of true love - Frozen
Evil stepmother forcing her to clean - Cinderella

And when the story is called snow white because of her skin as white as snow, it is the one time where you really do need to cast a pale actress.

I just watched it with my kids and we all thought it was a good watch. It’s not frozen level good but still enjoyable. Didn’t deserve to be panned.

Mostly racism and hardcore Zionism be abuse Rachel Ziegler us of mixed descent and dislikes the current ethnic cleansing being carried out in Gaza.

I liked it, the dwarves were quite cute, snow white saved herself a bit, there was a nice wee moral ending but not too much. The dwarves house was lovely and storybooky

I saw her on opening night from the theatre, no one was complaining ! I went back on Monday to watch from the balcony, I’m not sure why she would be blamed for the producer/ director decision 🤷‍♀️ in any case?

She was amazing in the Evita role.

Rachel Zegler got so slated because she had a few "opinions". Then people (naming no names ahem Daily Mail) jumped on the bandwagon and cast her as a woke disaster. The hate she got was shameful. In truth she is a stunning, talented and charismatic actor. I for one can't wait to see Evita. I'm on London in a few weeks and shall be going to watch the balcony scene.

This was her today at West End Live.Just beautiful

RayOfRainbow

and by halfway through I was fed up of the lead actresses constant chin out mouth half open intent expression.

Ahh, the Keira Knightley school of acting 🤔

The woke element stems from the fact that instead of using real actors with dwarfism, they chose to use CGI (I think because Peter Dinklage said it reinforced stereotypes or some such) and Disney immediately listened rather than consulting with the relevant groups who have been annoyed by this ‘political correctness gone mad’ move. Of course Rachel Zeglers political comments didn’t help after that.

I didn't think the movie was particularly good but the acting and singing was great, it was the actual plot I didn't care for, although my kids love it!

I'm loving the videos of RZ as Evita on the balcony, she's amazing and it fits in so fantastically with what's actually going on in the performance.

I thought all the reviews that it was rubbish were sure to be wrong, as I always really enjoy Disney.

I thought it was rubbish. Mostly the fact that they had the gang of dwarves and then the other gang of freemen, which meant the narrative structure was an utter mess.

@Gepl There are a few reasons why the movie was called woke.

(Disclaimer: these are not my opinions).

• Colour-blind casting for the lead actress. Some people felt that the actress being pale is an integral part of the character, as the name "Snow White" comes from her skin being as white as snow (as described in the book).
• Story changes made so that Snow White doesn't fit traditional female roles. For example, not doing any housework during the "Whistle while you work" song, and not being rescued by the prince.
• The decision not to cast any actual dwarves, as casting 7 dwarves in a live action movie could have caused offense to some people. Instead, the dwarves were CGI. Please also note that Disney also made the decision to remove "and the seven dwarves" from the title, simply naming the movie "Snow White."

This a hundred percent.

Im struggling to like any of the live action movies.
Only one thats been decent so far is lilo and stitch but I wasnt find of the animated version

I think a big part of it is what you mention here: it lacks charm.

Gal Gadot is not a great actress. She's very one note and a bit blank, so the role of the evil stepmother, which could have provided great campy fun, becomes a stock villain instead. Rachel Zegler, meanwhile, has none of the softness and gentle nature her character is supposed to. She brings an abrasive 'girlboss' energy to the whole thing. She's one of those actresses who always seems to be smirking, so she can't sell vulnerable or sincere. Horrible casting all round.

The CGI seven dwarfs, meanwhile, are uncomfortable to look at, and don't have the warmth of their animated counterparts. This is a problem in all the live action Disney movies. A talking fish / lion / teacup can't look realistic and still be cute. The animation is what made the original films so expressive and immersive. Bright colours, big eyes, squishable shapes you wanted to hug! The live actions, by contrast, always fall somewhere between uncanny valley and unforgivably dull.

Then there's the problem of the plot. In attempting to update the story for a modern audience, they lost their grip on the original. It became two different films, fighting each other. The Kristen Stewart "warrior queen" reimagining of Snow White already existed. This . . . wasn't supposed to be that. This was supposed to be a celebration of the original Disney character. A character who has no rough edges and is a bit of a little mother archetype, really. A good writer could have found a way to update the story without making the character completely unrecognisable. But Disney did not hire a good writer.

All the off-screen disasters wouldn't have mattered if the film was good. For most people, it just wasn't.

Have you been living under a rock?

They had to change the movie and tone down the woke-ness because no one but the rainbows+ were going to watch it.

I was pleasantly surprised by it in the pictures (although thought Gal Gadot was terrible). Have watched it again with DD since it was released on Disney+ and the auto tune of actors who have excellent voices and have no bloody need of it absolutely dements me, but that seems to be a feature of Disney remakes these days, to strip all the authenticity out of an actor. Hey ho and all that.

I tried to watch it as I actually like Rachel Zielger

I got about 20 mins and had to turn it off as it was rubbish

It’s just the online racists being online racists. Anybody who whines that something is “woke” can generally be safely ignored.

And the thing about her ethnicity is funny. She has the dark hair her and her skin tone is pretty much the same as Kristen Stewart.
You would think they had cast Zendaya or Simone Ashley to play Snow White the way the frothers were acting!

That's a bad reason for criticising a film. That the lead is an idiot doesn't affect the film itself - and let's face it, lots of actors are idiots who think they know how to fix the world when they can't even fix their stage make-up.
I think the other controversy was that Snow White is feisty and stirs up trouble against her stepmother and then takes the throne herself and dumps the prince - which is pretty unlike the original story which is about the conflict between a daughter growing up and being attractive to men and thus in conflict with her ageing mother (in the original 1812 story the Wicked Queen is Snow White's mother, not her step-mother). This Disney re-make completely removes that aspect, apparently, and replaces it with anachronistic feminism. As a historian I hate with great hate the imposition of anachronistic morals and politics on historical characters, whether real or fictional - it's misleading.
That said, I don't doubt it's a perfectly enjoyable film. Most of the live-action remakes e.g. Beauty and the Beast, are a bit rubbish.

I think people misread my post. I said she was unfairly blamed with the headlines about "Rachel Zegler sparks further controversy by enraging paying theatregoers". The latest was today - Rachel Zegler causes people to get heatstroke from waiting outside the balcony etc.

Yes! It's this. All of this.