The one who fares best in the live-action version of 鈥淪now White鈥 isn鈥檛 Snow, but the guy who winds up as her beau.
Hardly as stiff as he was in the animated film, that prince-like man (nicely played by Andrew Burnap) manages to inject a bit of humor, press the boundaries of the story and take our attention away from Snow White (Rachel Zegler) and the Evil Queen (Gal Gadot).
In many ways, this latest remake is like a 鈥済reatest hits鈥 album from Disney.
Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen in "Snow White."
There鈥檚 an opening segment right out of 鈥淏eauty and the Beast,鈥 a jaunty love interest direct from 鈥淭angled鈥 and a whole lot of songs that might have been shoehorned into 鈥淭he Greatest Showman.鈥
Like the seven dwarfs, it鈥檚 a something-for-everyone venture that sags repeatedly, even though Zegler is a bright (and fitting) choice for the title role.
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In this rendition, she was born during a 鈥淔rozen鈥-like storm (note the logo similarities) that prompted her folks to name her 鈥淪now White.鈥 When mom dies, dad remarries, then disappears.
That leaves the kingdom and the girl in the clutches of a queen who loves costume jewelry. Prancing around in a stained-glass crown, Gadot tries on several accents and line readings before settling on a take that looks suspiciously like the one in the animated film. She鈥檚 upset Snow is the 鈥渇airest in the land鈥 when she consults her magic mirror. She orders a huntsman to kill the girl (way to get rid of the competition) and, when he takes her into the woods, he doesn鈥檛 have the heart to do it.
Snow, meanwhile, lands in the home of the little miners who are away when she decides to take a nap. When they come home, the bonding is almost immediate, particularly between Snow and Dopey. Drawn like Alfred E. Neuman from Mad magazine, he isn鈥檛 dim-witted, just unwilling to talk. That changes the dynamic a bit and puts a different slant on the friendship.
Luckily, the prince-like man keeps her in his rangefinder and sets out to right the wrongs. This isn鈥檛 any 鈥淪omeday My Prince Will Come鈥 situation (that song was axed), but it is a way for her to get back to making apple deliveries good. She squares off with the Evil Queen and gets an all-white wedding that might have worked for 鈥淢amma Mia鈥 but not something this unblemished.
Songs by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (the 鈥淒ear Evan Hansen鈥 guys) move the story along but don鈥檛 really stand out as Oscar bait. Zegler sings many of them well, even though they鈥檙e much too familiar for their own good. When director Marc Webb tries to move the story in another direction, it seems like a Disney Channel adaptation. The sets and costumes are just so-so; the animated characters were better in 2-D.
Instead of picking at the carcasses in their archives, the Disney folks would be wise to plant new seeds and see what grows.
