While the live-action Snow White remake has been surrounded by controversy, it will revamp the story delivered in Disney's first-ever animated film. Along with Rachel Zegler as Snow White and Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen, the studio's latest live-action remake will also fully utilize the original film's seven dwarves.
Even the dwarves themselves have stirred up discussion amongst fans as many wondered how that septet would be revamped for a modern-day audience.
Fans Take Issue With The Seven Dwarfs' Design In Snow White
Disney released a new trailer for 2025's live-action Snow White, which showed the design for the film's live-action dwarves for the first time.
Following that trailer, fans took to X (formerly Twitter) to share their reactions to the designs in the new movie.
DisInsider co-founder Skyler Shuler praised Rachel Zegler's voice but did not think the rest of the trailer looked good, specifically from a CGI standpoint:
"'Snow White,' I'll say this, I love Zegler's voice and I think she is very talented but the rest of everything I saw from the trailer looks horrendous from the creepy CGI'd Dwarfs to the over CGI world they built. Really hope they pull an 'Aladdin' (Genie) move and clean this up."
@atrileylad shared an image of Bill Nighy's Davy Jones from 2007's Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End to compare how good the films' CGI looked. Commenting, "Oh how we’ve fallen," the comparison did not look good to them.
@AlsikkanTV felt that Disney "[sucked] the cute out of" the characters, expressing that the company missed the mark:
"Why do they suck the cute out of these things, like they should be kind of cute that’s the whole point"
@HailKitchen could see why "some dwarf actors would consider this beneath them," offering a solution to have comedy legend Danny Devito play all seven roles:
"I understand why some dwarf actors would consider this beneath them and I also understand why others would kill for this level of exposure. My solution…all seven dwarves should've been played by Danny DeVito."
According to @AutisticJoker45, Disney should have "hired actual little people" to bring these roles to life rather than developing them using CGI:
"They should've hired actual little people to play the dwarfs & NOT cgi them"
@CooperKnox sarcastically offered thanks to Peter Dinklage for his comments on the dwarves, which took away "seven jobs from seven little people:"
"We all thank Peter Dinklage for acting like a spoiled brat and taking away seven jobs from seven little people."
@treystar679 touched on Dinklage's comments too, chiding fans for their reaction to him thinking that "actors with Dwarfism simply deserve better" than "stereotyped roles like this:"
"I blame Peter Dinklage- Why did everyone on the internet look at a man simply going 'Hey I just think actors with Dwarfism simply deserve better then to be in stereotyped roles like this' and go 'YOURE THE BAD GUY HERE'?"
@MrXBob lamented that viewers "can't even tell which one is which" when looking at the dwarves, not liking how generic they look now:
"The fact you can't even tell which one is which. They had such specific designs, now they're just generic garden gnomes.
Why Did Disney Use CGI for Snow White's Dwarves?
The easiest answer for why Disney went with CGI rather than actors for Snow White's dwarves is that the studio wanted them to look as close to the original animated characters as they possibly could. With those designs from 1937, developing them digitally may have felt like their only option.
This is especially true considering CGI has been the route for other major Disney live-action remakes. 2023's The Little Mermaid used this tactic for characters like Flounder and Sebastian, and both 2019's The Lion King and its 2024 prequel, Mufasa: The Lion King, filled their casts with completely CGI animals.
However, that move might not have been the right one this time around because there were options for people to play the dwarves rather than them being animated. This is especially true in the modern era where representation has been such a key focus for studios across Hollywood.
Considering how much controversy is surrounding this movie outside of the dwarf design, Snow White may have plenty of uphill challenges as it looks to be Disney's latest hit.
Snow White will debut in theaters on March 21, 2025.
