The live-action remake of the Disney classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarves has been continuously beaten down by critics ahead of the film’s 2025 release, resulting in much controversy.
It’s a simple truth: pleasing everyone is virtually impossible. No matter how well-intentioned a show or movie comes across, there will always be those who choose resentment or even hatred as their reaction.
For over a decade, Walt Disney Studios has been going to the well again and again, developing live-action recreations of some of their classics, like The Lion King And Lady and the Tramp.
These films have been received with varying degrees of favorability, but the general consensus is that many fans have not felt favorably about the new-age remakes.
Why So Much Controversy Around Rachel Zegler's Snow White?
During the 2024 D23 Expo in Anaheim, California, a cavalcade of Disney luminaries and talent took the stage during the studio’s showcase panel to show off the latest animated and live-action projects.
One film that fell under the latter category received a teaser trailer in anticipation of its March 2025 release date. That film was Snow White, a live-action remake of Disney’s very first animated feature, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.
Unfortunately, it’s not all sunshine and roses for the adaptation as controversy and hatred have been heaped onto the production in recent months.
The discourse began when Rachel Zegler was cast as the title character.
Zegler is of Colombian descent, which certain groups seized upon as a betrayal of Snow White’s original status as having “skin as white as snow.” This line is also present in the original Brothers Grimm fairytale, which only served to further fan the flames of discontent.
Then, the set photos leaked. These images, captured in 2022 by paparazzi who lurked near the filming location of Snow White, showed Zegler in costume surrounded by a colorful assortment of other individuals of all shapes and sizes meant to be the Seven Dwarves.
The backlash was as immediate as it was intense. The denizens of the internet decried the diversity among the dwarves, coupled with the fact that they were not portrayed by little people, as an unneeded attempt at political correctness.
Disney was quick to officially dismiss the set photos, originally published by The Daily Mail, as fake, although the outlet maintained their veracity.
The studio later confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that Snow White was taking a "different approach" to the Seven Dwarves to avoid "reinforcing stereotypes:"
"To avoid reinforcing stereotypes from the original animated film, we are taking a different approach with these seven characters and have been consulting with members of the dwarfism community...We look forward to sharing more as the film heads into production after a lengthy development period."
It was certainly a departure from the source material, but culture and attitudes have changed in the nearly 90 years since the original Snow White and the Seven Dwarves graced cinema screens. Disney clearly felt like it was well within its rights to make these changes.
But the chatter around Snow White didn’t stop there.
Rachel Zegler was interviewed by Variety in September 2022, where she described Snow White’s primary motivation in the remake as not about the search for true love, but the journey to “becoming the leader she knows she can be”
"I just mean that it’s no longer 1937. We absolutely wrote a 'Snow White' that ... she’s not going to be saved by the prince, and she’s not going to be dreaming about true love; she’s going to be dreaming about becoming the leader she knows she can be and that her late father told her that she could be if she was fearless, fair, brave and true."
A dramatically updated take, to be sure. But back when 1937's Snow White was made, women didn’t wield the same power nor did they possess the same privileges that they do today. The changes to Snow White's story were seemingly made to better reflect modern values.
Moreover, the young children who watch these films tend to latch onto these characters as idols and role models. The creative team behind Snow White likely did not see fit to portray a character whose emotional arc revolves around the search for love but instead opted for something more personally empowering.
This perspective was shared by Zegler who commented to Extra TV on her character’s narrative not revolving around a “love story with a guy who literally stalks her”
“The original cartoon came out in 1937, and very evidently so. There’s a big focus on her love story with a guy who literally stalks her. Weird. So we didn’t do that this time.”
Still, the cries of displeasure from audiences were loud and frequent. These included remarks from David Hand, the son of the supervising director of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves from '37. Hand believes that Walt Disney himself would "very much disagree" with the direction of the live-action film:
"It’s a whole different concept and I just totally disagree with it, and I know my dad and Walt would also very much disagree with it."
The bold assumption of the opinions of a man who’s been dead since the sixties aside, Hand also was quick to label the film with the notorious buzzword favored by… certain segments of the American population: "Woke."
"Their thoughts are just so radical now. They change the stories, they change the thought process of the characters, … they’re making up new woke things and I’m just not into any of that. I find it quite frankly a bit insulting [what] they may have done with some of these classic films. … There’s no respect for what Disney did and what my dad did. … I think Walt and he would be turning in their graves."
Hand’s loyalty to his father and Walt Disney is understandable in context, but it’s also important to remember that Disney was a pretty open-minded and incredibly creative guy. If he were alive today, it stands to reason that he might be more accepting of the new Snow White than some may choose to believe.
Speaking to Vanity Fair in October 2022, Rachel Zegler further defended the modernization of Snow White:
"People are making these jokes about ours being the PC 'Snow White,' where it’s like, yeah, it is — because it needed that. It’s an 85-year-old cartoon, and our version is a refreshing story about a young woman who has a function beyond 'Someday My Prince Will Come.'"
The Direct editor Sam Hargrave provided initial reporting to the above section.
Snow White 2025 Movie Trailer Talkback
To circle back to the topic of Snow White’s trailer, which premiered during D23, the YouTube upload of the video was repeatedly and aggressively dislike-bombed. YouTube removed its dislike counter some time ago, but the downvotes can still be revealed by using a Chrome browser extension.
The Snow White trailer that was officially uploaded on Walt Disney Studios' official channel, as of last Saturday (August 10) night (about 24 hours after its initial upload), sits at 193,000 dislikes and 47,000 likes.
Curiously enough, the actors of varying heights, build, and ethnicities that represented the dwarves in those leaked set pictures from 2022 are nowhere to be found in the teaser. Instead, the Seven Dwarves look quite animation-accurate.
It seems as though, perhaps in response to the pushback from audiences, Disney chose an approach more authentic to the 1937 film for the iconic characters. Still, the dislikes persist.
Whatever the case may be, no matter at what volume the detractors yell about Snow White, at the end of the day, this is a movie made with young children firmly in mind.
Kids are an impressionable bunch, and maybe, just maybe, it’s better for their sponge-like brains to bear witness to characters whose portrayals aren’t rooted in the societal standards of a bygone era and instead are presented more sensitively with contemporary ideals.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarves hits theaters everywhere on March 21, 2025.
Read more about other upcoming Disney movies:
Zootopia 2: D23 Reveals First Look at New and Returning Characters
Moana 2: D23 Trailer Officially Released, New Poster & News (Watch)
Star Wars The Mandalorian and Grogu Movie Trailer Description: Zeb Returns, AT-ATs & More (D23)
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