Disney’s live-action remake of Snow White, starring Rachel Zegler, has received a scathing review on Rotten Tomatoes: only 46% of the audience has demonstrated satisfaction with the new version. This movie’s failure, however, can be attributed to more than Disney’s production skills. In fact, viewers have made their distaste for lead actor Zegler abundantly clear.

Regarding Disney’s production, viewers argue that the remake did not capture the spirit of the original that they know and love. From Disney’s perspective, producers struggled to fuse the message of the original film from 1937 with the modern beliefs of today. For instance, instead of having an 18-year-old prince sweep a 14-year-old off her feet as initially written by the Grimm Brothers, producers flipped the script by allowing Snow White to save the prince from getting caught stealing food. Changes like these were often frowned upon by viewers on Rotten Tomatoes who complained that “the jumble of tones and styles laid atop this basic narrative feels like it’s trying to please everyone and ends up pleasing no one”. Harsh remarks such as these are proof that the producers were ineffective in meshing the old style of the movie with the new ideas.

Additionally, arguments arose from the use of CGI to create the 7 dwarfs instead of using real people. While producers made this choice to avoid speculation, the backlash is proof this choice was a mistake. The animated dwarves were remarked to be less expressive and prevented the audience from truly connecting with these characters.

Zegler’s snide comments during interviews and overall unappreciation for the original film have created even greater controversy. In her interview with Vogue, Zegler commented that the original has a “big focus on her love story with a guy who literally stalks her… weird!” and that in the adaptation, Snow White is “not going to be dreaming about true love.” These interview responses caused outcry from many fans who argued that modernizing the story takes away from Snow White’s original character, who was known for her kindness and love for others above all. By stripping away Snow White’s belief in love, the audience fears a crucial component of her character has been lost.

The rest is left up to readers, to watch the movie for themselves. What do you think? Does the adaptation do the original justice, or should we stick to the 1937 version?