nce upon a time, a virtuous and generous King (Hadley Fraser) and Queen (Lorena Andrea) ruled over the land, teaching their daughter Snow White (Rachel Zegler) the values of kindness, truthfulness, and fairness. But when tragedy strikes and the Queen succumbs to illness, it isn’t long before a conniving usurper (Gal Gadot) charms her way into becoming the new queen, and convinces the King to head north to defend against an imagined threat of invasion. Once alone, the Evil Queen commences draining her empire of resources to fill her incessant desire for wealth and power. When she discovers from an enchanted mirror that Snow White has surpassed her in beauty, she orders a huntsman (Ansu Kabia) to dispose of the princess, but he allows her to flee into the woods instead – where she will meet seven diminutive ore-mining men, a dashing bandit leader (Andrew Burnap), and a gang of brave thieves, all willing to aid her in a quest to restore the kingdom to its former glory.

Quite comically, Snow White here is named after the intense snowstorm during which she was birthed – and definitely not for the color of her skin (and hair and lips), as requested from a prick of blood (as described in the original Grimms’ book). The rest of the introduction can’t help but to feel like “Wicked,” a production whose success will likely hurt the potential of any other musical that has the misfortune of being released within its proximity. The colorful costumes, the unusually cheerful villagers, the spacious kingdom and castle sets, and the large crowds of singers and dancers certainly appear like something from the land of Oz. Dwelling a touch on a blessed childhood stretches out the proceedings as well, alongside the character designs that stick fairly closely to the original cartoon but require more screentime to establish. And though the traditionally-drawn forest critters are now hyper-realistic CGI (save for exceptionally large eyes and anthropomorphized expressions and mannerisms), the film’s failure to deviate much from the source material (absolutely less than, say, “Snow White and the Huntsman”) ensures a predictability that makes the first couple of acts rather prosaic.

There are new songs aplenty – certainly more than before – which Zegler handles superbly (“Waiting on a Wish” is one of the more enthusiastic and resonant). And she must be given credit for essentially acting against a backdrop of nothingness for the majority of the picture. But for all the extra details, which look lustrous and crisp, with scenery and props appearing more vivid and elaborate, it’s still less affecting than in the the 1937 inspiration; it’s curious how simplicity and brevity can be exponentially more magical. Even when familiar songs get expanded with extra verses, they somehow lose their appeal. But perhaps most disappointing of all is the conception of the dwarfs (a term never once uttered) – bizarrely real faces squashed onto bantam bodies, undoubtedly occupying the uncanny valley (with Dopey being the most uncomfortable to look at), as if toying with the Lilliputians of “Gulliver’s Travels” or monstrosities from “The Lord of the Rings” or imagery from “Jack the Giant Slayer” rather than the fairy tale cuteness of Disney’s classics.

Ultimately, there’s a bit of comedy, adventure, winsomeness, charm, romance, and zaniness, but the overall amount of fun is limited. Despite the intermittent sequences that work (and ignoring the many that don’t), “Snow White” continually questions its own identity, struggling to answer why it needs to exist – other than being just another entry in a long line of live-action adaptations of Disney’s animated masterpieces. The nominal changes that do arise rarely help the premise; in fact, most of them make it worse – including the considerable quantity of embellishments at the finale that prolong the conclusion and sap much of the satisfaction.

– The Massie Twins