Snow White (2025) - 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray SteelBook

The concept of a remake has grown into a controversial one. At its best, the idea is a means for a new storyteller to offer a new point of view on a favorite story as there are many great remakes that stand alongside the originals. At worst, it becomes a soulless effort like the Psycho remake and becomes so inconsequential that you immediately forget it. When Disney started their endeavor of remaking all of their iconic animated classics into new live-action efforts, it was something exciting. Not better than the originals, but they brought these fan-favorite characters to life. Lately, this effort has drifted from being exciting (The Jungle Book) to the frustratingly dull (Aladdin) or just outright awful (Pinocchio). Now we're here for 2025's Snow White…

I didn’t pay attention to the internet rage bait about Snow White that spread like a brushfire. Plainly, I've got better things to do in life than pay attention to the dopey opinions of middle-aged knuckle-headed armchair warrior men about a 20-something young actress before the film has even hit theaters. But it did hit theaters, and it was a financial and critical catastrophe for the Mouse House. 

As someone who has now seen the film for themselves, I have to say this remake has the wafting odor of the worst kind of by-committy filmmaking. Amazing Spider-Man filmmaker Marc Webb might be credited as director, but this clearly is a film that was pieced together by the bad decisions of people without any story sense. Visually, it looks great, and there’s quite a good bit of spectacle and magic to the proceedings. However,  compounding questionable creative choices sinks the effort early. These bad decisions range from a stupefying opening sequence to the look of the CGI Seven Dwarfs to the bland performance from Gal Gadot as our wicked evil Queen to some terrible songs. Someone somewhere with some measure of sense should have punched the brakes, stopped this production, and gotten to work retooling it.

In the positive column, I have to give credit to Rachel Zegler for giving us a lively performance as Snow. Heavy is her head that wears the bob. She really is the only piece of this film that works. She brought that same sort of engaging energy from her time on Spielberg’s West Side Story. She’s got a lovely voice for the sing-song moments, and she maintains a spritely energy whistling through her CGI surroundings, animals, and the somewhat monstrous-looking Seven Dwarfs. And once she gets to move along with the story we all know so well, the film finds a measure of footing, but then trips up trying to make poorly-conceived changes to a story we love.

What dooms this film early is the dreadful opening “origin” for Snow, the kingdom, her father’s death, and the rise of Gadot’s Evil Queen. It all feels like a really bad over-budget episode of Disney’s Descendants without any of the charm or creativity. On top of a lot of useless plot we never needed, the first song is genuinely terrible. Good Things Grow has to be the worst sort of tuneless and soulless tripe Disney ever let reach theater screens but then there are more songs that are just as bad. Zegler gets a moment to salvage this needless intro with Waiting On A Wish, but the damage was done early the film never fully recovers. Then there’s Gadot. She might have been a great Wonder Woman, but as the Evil Queen, she lacks the menacing grace to make her a genuinely threatening presence, and her All is Fair is another very questionable tune.

I guess a lot of my frustration with this film comes from having just seen the live-action How to Train Your Dragon, a remake that didn’t really need to change anything to work. For that film, original co-director Dean DeBlois just added a few real locations, human actors (some reprising their original voice roles), and then let the magic fly. We all love the 1937 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. It's enchanted us for nearly 90 years! That magical story is what made Disney the titan of entertainment it is today. They could have simply made the exact same movie again with a great cast and some modern visual effects spectacle, and I can practically guarantee you we would have been plastered in our seats, loving every moment of it. If nothing else we wouldn’t have had to endure Princess Problems. 

Vital Disc Stats: The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray 
Disney’s Snow White awakens from her box office bust slumber for a two-disc 4K UHD + Blu-ray + Digital SteelBook release. The 4K is pressed on a BD66 disc with a BD50 serving the 1080p. The discs are housed in a very beautiful SteelBook case that really is a lovely piece of work. The discs load to Disney’s standard system of letting you jump right into the movie or proceed to an animated main menu with standard navigation options.

On 4K UHD, Snow White enchants with an often lovely Dolby Vision transfer. Keeping to the magical visuals of your favorite Disney classics, this film is a brightly colorful affair. This HDR grading really takes center stage when Snow finally gets to the orchard to pick apples. The film often features some warming golden tones while enjoying splendid primary saturation. Given Snow's dress, Blues, Reds, and Yellows enjoy plenty of attention. Within the Evil Queen’s quarters and her dress, the shadows and deep, creepy emerald greens and purples look equally impressive. Details are sharp and strong for all of the human actors, their costumes, makeup, and hairstyling. Where things get dicey is with the number of CGI scene extensions, characters, and animals. That line between practical sets and generated scenery is pretty tight. Some of the CGI animals look great and are well rendered, but then there’s the Dwarfs, who can often look weightless compared to the practical physical characters and sets. Sometimes they come through well and stand up to the scrutiny under high resolution, other times they just lack a believable presence. All this is to say that most of the time, this Dolby Vision transfer is a delight.

Just as strong as the visual splendor, the Dolby Atmos mix is an effective ride all its own. While I really didn’t like the trite opening song (or any of the new songs, really), the mix offers an impressive range of imaging for this kickoff moment. From the start, we’ve got people milling about all around, giving a nice sense of immersion to the proceedings with the sound effects nicely dancing between channels. The rest of the film keeps pace. From the animals helping Snow into the cabin to the Dwarfs clacking away in their mine, the Atmos mix keeps the proceedings lively. When the Evil Queen calls upon her magic mirror, the swirling mists fill the space nicely, and the voice lends some welcome weight to those low tones. And speaking of the Evil Queen, the gown Gadot wears carries a slick twinkling sound that offers a nice accent to her movements and location within the space of any scene. All around, a lively, enjoyable effort. When the film is at its best, the track is there to support it.

Given it's reception and status, it shouldn't be much of a surprise that the bonus features offerings are as flimsy as they are. What we have is pretty basic content. Ten minutes on how the film came together. A few minutes for production design and costuming. A few more for bloopers and inconsequential deleted scenes. Nothing much to get excited about. 

4K UHD Disc

• Sing-Along Experience 
• Song Selection

Blu-ray Disc 

• Sing-Along Experience
• Song Selection
• Fearless, Fair, Brave, and True: Making Snow White (HD 11:40)
• Merry Tunes (HD 9:29)
• Fairy Tale Fashion (HD 8:23)
• Bloopers (HD 2:28)
• Deleted Scenes (HD 2:20 Total)
• Anguish and Opportunity
• Danger in the Woods
• Hunt for Snow White

One could argue that Disney is now in the FO phase of the FAFO equation after the box office receipts of Snow White. The problem with that assessment is that Lilo and Stitch is raking in the bucks, mitigating some of the financial punishment the studio has endured this year, so they’re probably not learning much. My frustration with Snow White is less from a standpoint of talent or execution, but the root-level decision-making. Through every phase of this production to the reception of that first trailer, there was plenty of time to halt this show and retool. This had the potential to be a highlight of Disney’s remake machine. It deserved to be among the best. Instead, it’s left pulling up the rear of the pack. While Zegler is the best part of the film, she’s the only one who is whistling and working. Pretty much everything else is a misfire. But if nothing else, it makes for a handsome 4K disc. The Dolby Vision transfer is a colorful, lovely affair, and the Atmos mix is lively and impactful. I don’t put much weight on the bonus features, though. I don’t like dunking on a movie, it’s not my thing, but when something is this ill-conceived, I just can’t muster up much support. A solid disc for those who want it even if the extras are slim. I say Skip It, at least until you’ve seen it for yourself.