Disney is the home of the franchise. Marvel and Star Wars alone make for a nearly endless stream of new content in theaters and on Disney+, but there’s another corner of the iconic Walt Disney Studios that is an equal, and sometimes even bigger, box office winner: the live-action remake. While few of the movies are actually connected together, the regular stream of live-action remakes of Disney’s animated classics has been a huge part of Disney’s live-action output outside of Marvel and Star Wars, and this week the original Disney animated classic takes its turn with the remake of Snow White.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is the movie that made the Walt Disney Studio. It’s possible I wouldn’t be somebody who professionally covers all things Disney if this movie hadn’t happened. It’s a piece of cinematic history that changed everything. It’s also arguably the Disney movie most in need of a remake.
Do Disney Live-Action Remakes Need To Exist?
It’s a common refrain when movie fans talk about Disney’s live-action remakes that the films “don’t need to exist.” So many of the movies that the studio has remade are among the best Disney animated movies. Many of these remade films were seen as perfect the first time around, so why mess with perfection?
And to be sure, there’s an argument to be made that many of them, in fact some of the most successful, don’t need to exist. If there’s a point at all in remaking anything, it’s widely seen as a chance to do something different with a popular and known story. The remakes of Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King are practically shot-for-shot remakes of the original. Clearly, the goal there was not to make something new, but to give fans exactly what they already loved.
On the flip side of the coin, there are some Disney remakes that do things a little differently. Maleficent tells the Sleeping Beauty story from a different point of view and Dumbo is mostly a sequel. However, few if any live-action remakes are seen as better than the films they are remaking. So if it’s not better nor different, what’s the point?
Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs Is A Piece Of Cinema History
The decision from Disney to give the live-action remake treatment to Snow White has been a topic of debate and controversy from the beginning. Rachel Zegler's casting has been met with racist backlash, and a lot of people don't seem to like the CGI dwarfs.
But the bigger issue is that Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs isn’t just a Disney movie, it’s the Disney movie. It’s the film that started everything. Not only that, but the original film became the highest-grossing movie ever made at the time of its release. The remake is certainly not going to match that level of success.
And to be fair, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is iconic for a reason. It was the first cel-shaded animated feature, an accomplishment nobody thought was possible at the time. Walt Disney and his team of animators proved that audiences could truly care about characters that were nothing more than paint and ink. The entire feature animation industry exists because of this film.
So considering just what a historic movie the original film was, a remake seems already destined for failure. And yet, I’m excited to see it because based on the trailers it seems clear that the new remake will improve on the original film in at least one major way.
Snow White Is The Least Interesting Disney Protagonist
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is an iconic movie, but that’s not the same thing as saying that Snow White, the character, is a particularly compelling one. In fact, she’s very much the opposite. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' title character mostly useless. There, I said it. I feel so much better now.
A lot has already been written about Disney’s Princesses, especially the first generation of them, for whom the only particular goal of the characters seems to be romance. I try not to be too hard on Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty since there are worse things in the world than to want to fall in love, but at least they actually do something about achieving their goals.
I know that as a huge Disney fan, it’s sacrilege to say something bad about a classic character, but Snow White is boring as hell. She doesn’t do anything. The entirety of the plot happens at her. She’s not an active participant in the story, she’s a passive observer. It's difficult to get invested in a character who simply watches the world go by.
Snow White the Character Can Be Improved, Even If The Movie Can't
Maybe it’s just a case of the movie being over 80 years old. Maybe it’s that the incredible visuals blew people away so much at the time that the movie got a pass on its plot. Yes, on a technical level, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is an incredible achievement that is worthy of everything that’s been said about it, but there are things about it that could be improved.
It’s already clear from the Snow White trailers that this issue is being addressed. There are scenes in the trailers that were not in the original movie showing Rachel Zegler's version of the character taking a much more active role in her own story. We know that the ending will change in some way. It’s unclear if the movie will go down one of the radical paths that I have suggested for Snow White, but even if we basically get the same story as the animated movie, the title character will be part of the action, not simply a witness to it.
This is a good, important and necessary update. This is a reason to remake Snow White. A proactive Snow White is simply a more interesting protagonist. Whether or not it will make for a better movie remains to be seen, but it will absolutely make for a better Snow White.
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