After much delays and much, much Internet ire, Snow White has finally arrived in theatres.
Here is the breakdown of the story structure of Snow White (SPOILERS):
THE HERO’S JOURNEY – SNOW WHITE
Beat 1. The Ordinary World.
Snow White lives in a fair and just land with the King and Queen until they both die and her wicked stepmother becomes queen and takes the throne. She forces Snow White to become a servant and rules the kingdom with an iron fist.
Beat 2. The Call of Adventure (aka the “Inciting Incident”).
Bandit Jonathan is caught stealing potatoes from the royal supply within the castle. The Evil Queen orders him stripped and bound to the castle gates to starve to death, but Snow White defies the queen and sets him free.
Beat 3. Refusal of the Call.
The Wicked Queen attempts to thrust her authority onto Snow White, who is too meek and hesitant to defy her to her face.
Beat 4. Meeting the Mentor.
While picking apples outside the kingdom, the Huntsman is about to kill Snow White, but has a change of heart. He orders her to flee for her life before he changes his mind. The Huntsman also implies that the Queen had not been honest about what had happened to the king.
Beat 5. Crossing the First Threshold.
Snow White flees into the enchanted forest, at first encountering frightening sights, but then winds up in a clearing with several cute woodland creatures, who guide her to a quaint little cottage where she can rest.
Beat 6. Tests, Allies, Enemies.
The Seven Dwarves return home from work to find Snow White sleeping in their beds. They agree to let her stay for just one night.
Beat 7. Approach to the Inmost Cave.
Snow White leaves the safety of the Dwarves’ home to go on a quest to find the bandits, who imply they work on behalf of the “one true king”.
Beat 8. The Ordeal.
The Queen’s guards ambush Snow White and the bandit party, and Snow White teams up with them to outsmart the guards and allow them to escape, but not before Jonathan is gravely wounded in the process.
Beat 9. Reward (Seizing the Sword).
Snow White takes Jonathan back to the Dwarves for assistance. Doc says his name is more of a sobriquet and that he’s more of a Maud Pie (an expert in rocks) than an expert in medicine. Nevertheless, he is successfully able to mend Jonathan. The bandits and the Dwarves celebrate and Snow White and Jonathan acknowledge their growing feelings for one another.
Beat 10. The Road Back.
As the bandits vow to find the missing king, Snow White prepares to leave to get as far away from the kingdom as possible. However, the Queen is aware that Snow White had survived and captured Jonathan, imprisoning him alongside the Huntsman. Together, they combine their strength to break their shackles, and Jonathan travels back to the forest to warn Snow White. Meanwhile, the Queen uses her magic to transform into an ugly hag and give the unsuspecting Snow White a poison apple. Snow White bites the apple and instantly falls into a deep sleep.
Beat 11. Resurrection.
A literal resurrection; Jonathan returns to find the Dwarves mourning over Snow White’s body. Jonathan kisses Snow White and she awakens, as the only cure was a true love’s kiss. Together, Snow White, the Dwarves, and the bandits return to the castle to overtake the throne. The Queen orders her killed, but Snow White uses her kindness and fairness to address her captors by name and implore them to remember how good and prosperous the kingdom was at the time of the King. Enraged, the Queen goes back to her magic mirror and attempts to destroy it, but in the process, she destroys herself.
Beat 12. Return with the Elixir.
With the Queen defeated, Snow White takes her rightful place as ruler of the kingdom, restoring order and fairness to the land. It’s heavily implied that she and Jonathan are wed.
SAVE THE CAT – SNOW WHITE
Beat #1: Opening Image (0-1%)
Opening shot of the Snow White storybook, then of Snow White’s kingdom, a fair and prosperous land ruled by a fair and just king and queen.
Beat #2: Theme Stated (5%)
Who or what is most fair? In an early scene, the Queen compares herself to a diamond and Snow White to a rose, and says her subjects may want the latter but require the beauty and toughness of the former.
Beat #3: Setup (1% – 10%)
After losing both her parents, Snow White becomes a servant to her stepmother, the new Queen, and is pushed into the shadows, forced to witness the subjugation of her people and the exploitation and hoarding of the kingdom’s resources. She encounters Jonathan, a bandit who leads a party of thieves who swear themselves loyal to the “one true king”, her father.
Beat #4: Catalyst (10%)
Jonathan is captured and the Queen orders him to freeze to death, but Snow White protests.
Beat #5: Debate (10%-20%)
The Queen takes Snow White aside and tells her what she must do to gain power and rule, but Snow White is reluctant. The Queen labels her too meek for the task (see Theme Stated beat above).
Beat #6: Break Into 2 (20%)
The Queen orders the Huntsman to kill Snow White and put her heart in a little box. The Huntsman takes Snow White outside of the kingdom to pick some apples. When he is about to kill Snow White, he has a change of heart, and orders her to flee for her life. Snow White runs into the enchanted forest, and eventually comes across a quaint little house.
Beat #7: B Story (22%)
The owners of the house, Seven Dwarves, return home after a day of work to discover Snow White sleeping in their beds. Despite the protests of Grumpy, they let her stay the night before she continues her journey as far away from the kingdom as possible.
Beat #8: Fun and Games (20% -50%)
Basically the scenes from the original Snow White, now in live-action. We see the Dwarves sing “Hi-Ho” and we see them clean the house and Snow White sings “Whistle While You Work”.
Beat #9: Midpoint (50%)
Snow White sets off in search of Jonathan and the bandit party. She finds them, but the Queen’s guards find them as well, upon discovering that the Huntsman did not go through with the killing of Snow White. They attempt to protect Snow White, but she returns to help out the bandits. Jonathan is wounded in the process, but Snow White takes him back to the dwarves and he makes a full recovery. The Dwarves and the bandits celebrate, and Snow White and Jonathan’s feelings for one another grow.
Beat #10: Bad Guys Close In (50 to 75%)
Jonathan and his bandits agree to search for the king, while Snow White prepares to set off again. Jonathan is captured by the Queen and imprisoned, and she transforms herself into an ugly hag to track down Snow White and give her a poison apple.
Beat #11: All Is Lost (75%)
Snow White takes a bite of the poison apple and succumbs to its spell, falling into a deep sleep.
Beat #12: Dark Night of the Soul (75% – 80%)
The Dwarves realize something is wrong and return to Snow White, finding her on the ground. Jonathan rallies the Huntsman and together they team up to break their shackles and escape. Jonathan goes back to find Snow White but stumbles upon the Dwarves grieving over her body. Jonathan breaks the spell by administering “true love’s kiss” and Snow White immediately awakens, returning the kiss two-fold.
Beat #13: The Break Into Three (80%)
Snow White determines that she must take back the kingdom once and for all. She goes to confront the queen, who restates that the people want a diamond and not a flower, but this time Snow White uses her natural goodness and care to rally the people on her side.
Beat #14: The Finale (80%-99%)
The Queen goes back to her magic mirror, who tells her that her fairness is only skin deep. Enraged, she attempts to destroy the magic mirror, but in the process, she turns into black glass and destroys herself.
Beat #15: Final Image (99%-100%)
The story is wrapped up by Dopey, who is revealed to have been the voice at the start of the story narrating the fairy tale.
FINAL VERDICT – SNOW WHITE
This movie has been mired in controversy since its announcement. Mass downvoting, a PR debacle from the lead actress, and a racist contingent that thrives off a steady supply of Disney’s live-action films (Side tangent: Snow White not lily-white enough for you? Oh boo-hoo – my guy, greyscale your screen and go touch some grass). It was all but foretold that this movie was going to be a box office disaster.
I, too, was ready to pile onto Snow White, pitchfork primed, prepared to denigrate this movie into oblivion and decree the official death of the live-action remake trend.
Just one thing…the movie’s not that bad.
Is it great? Oh, God no – far from it; but I’ve seen quite my fair share of these live-action trainwrecks and, graded on a curve, this movie is actually closer to the “somewhat decent” side than the “dumpster fire” side.
If nothing else, the movie sets out to tell a cohesive story. Your mileage may vary on whether said story is compelling, but I think people tend to forget that many of the earlier Disney animated films, like Pinocchio and Alice in Wonderland, were lean on plot. At the very least, Snow White attempts to bolster the plot without straying too far from the source material.
For one thing, the story is visually stunning. After slogging through the muted, uninspired palettes of Peter Pan and Wendy and The Little Mermaid, the vibrant colours and costumes of Snow White are a veritable feast for the eyes. Even the CGI Dwarves are acceptable the more you look at them, and I even came around to liking Dopey and Grumpy, some of their scenes harbouring some genuine, well-earned pathos.
And unlike the autotuned abomination that was the Beauty and the Beast live-action remake, they actually cast a lead actress who could actually sing. There has been some hullabaloo about the songs in terms of what made the cut for this iteration – it honestly felt like Disney was front-loading for some Broadway musical re-imagining of the IP in the near future – but like everything else, it’s fine.
Gal Gadot’s performance was serviceable, and she certainly looked the part of the ravishingly beautiful evil queen. A modicum of clenching was to be had when it was revealed that she had her own villain song, but in terms of ruined villains, I think Jafar from Aladdin was handled much worse.
Also, despite protests from Rachel Zegler that the movie would reject following the classic fairytale, Snow White subverts expectations by NOT subverting expectations. I audibly gasped when they still had Snow White fall into a deep sleep only to be awaken by a true love’s kiss. After all the previous films and its ilk, I fully expected that a) Snow White would not be outsmarted into taking a bite of the apple, b) that she’d be awaken by true love’s kiss (but in the paternal sense; I thought the King would still be alive), and c) there’d be this epic Lord of the Rings-style final siege of the kingdom in the third act. None of that happens, and for that I was incredibly relieved.
So if you can’t tell, by simply doing elements of previous remakes slightly better, it elevates Snow White to being one of the better forays, behind only The Jungle Book, Cinderella, and the first Maleficent movie in quality.
But what do you think? Did you like Snow White? Do you think it deserves all the hate it’s received? And why is Happy’s wardrobe eerily similar to Vault Boy from Fallout?