Disney’s Snow White

Story

In a kingdom ruled by kindness and compassion, the King and Queen long for a child. When their prayers are answered and the Queen gives birth in the middle of a blizzard, they name their daughter Snow White (Rachel Zegler) to honour her resilience in surviving the storm.

As Snow White grows, her parents teach her powerful lessons about fearlessness, fairness, bravery and truth so that one day she too can rule the kingdom with integrity, courage and honour. But sadly, when Snow White is still a girl, her mother becomes ill and dies, leaving Snow White and her father heartbroken. A mysterious woman (Gal Gadot) enters their lives, bewitching the castle and all the Kingdom with her beauty. Soon she marries the King and becomes the new Queen.

This new Queen turns the farmers into soldiers, creating an army loyal only to her, and sends the King to his death. She imprisons Snow White in the castle and turns her into a servant, while she ravages the land for jewels and turns the people against one another. Years pass, and the once bright and prosperous Kingdom is a shadow of its former glory. Its impoverished inhabitants must steal to survive, and the kind-hearted Snow White is still scrubbing floors.

When the Queen is informed by her magic mirror that Snow White has become more beautiful than she herself could ever hope to be, she flies into a terrible rage and orders a huntsman to take Snow White deep into the woods and kill her. Snow White flees the Queen’s fury and finds herself at a cottage belonging to 7 dwarfs, including Dopey (voice of Andrew Barth Feldman), Sleepy (voice of Andy Grotelueschen) and Doc (voice of Jeremy Swift), whom she quickly befriends. With the help of a rebel named Jonathan (Andrew Burnap) and his band of thieves, Snow White finds the courage within herself to stand up to the Queen, defend her people and become the leader her parents always believed she could be.

Themes

Murder and attempted murder; excessive vanity and greed; selfishness; death; tyranny

Violence

Disney’s Snow White has some violence. For example:

The Queen ruthlessly cuts Snow White’s beautiful long hair and locks her away.
The Queen threatens Jonathan and tells her guards to burn his home. She takes his jacket and boots and ties him to a gate to freeze to death.
The Queen demands that her huntsman takes Snow White into the woods and kill her. She orders him to bring her the girl’s heart in a box.
In an apple orchard, the huntsman sneaks up behind Snow White with a dagger and is about to stab her. He holds the knife to her throat while Snow White asks him why he’s doing it.
The huntsman drops his arm and screams at Snow White to run, telling her he might change his mind about killing her.
Sleepy nearly falls off the edge of a cliff.
A dwarf is hit in the face with a shovel, and another is hit with a bucket.
Dopey accidentally hits everyone with buckets, and they all chase him onto a conveyer belt where everyone falls into a big heap.
When the Queen realises that her huntsman has betrayed her, she tells her guards to ‘diminish him and finish him’. Her guards drag him away.
A dwarf hits his finger with a hammer. The hammer flies out of his hands and hits someone else. This starts a huge fight in which everyone hits each other and throws food and household objects. The fight ends when a bowl of porridge lands on Dopey’s head, and he runs off in embarrassment.
A soldier tries to kill Snow White with a crossbow. Jonathan throws himself in front of her and is shot himself.
The Queen rips a necklace from Jonathan’s neck and imprisons him in her dungeon.
A vulture attacks a bluebird.
The Queen admits to having Snow White’s father killed, moments before Snow White collapses from the poisoned apple.
The Queen cuts Snow White’s cape with her dagger and orders the guards to let the people watch her die.

Sexual references

Disney’s Snow White has some sexual references. For example, one of the dwarfs refers to Jonathan as Snow White’s ‘special friend’.

Alcohol, drugs and other substances

Disney’s Snow White shows some use of substances. For example:

The Queen drinks a potion to transform herself into an unrecognisable old hag.
The Queen poisons an apple and tricks Snow White into eating it.

Nudity and sexual activity

Disney’s Snow White has some nudity and sexual activity. For example, Snow White and Johnathon kiss a couple of times.

Product placement

There’s no product placement in Disney’s Snow White.

Coarse language

There are some insults and name-calling in Disney’s Snow White, including ‘dope’ and ‘dopey’. Also, Snow White is called an ‘ogre’ and a ‘demon goat’.

Ideas to discuss with your children

Disney’s Snow White is a live action remake of Walt Disney’s original 1937 movie. This movie follows the storyline of the original, but it has some modern adjustments. For example, the movie’s messages are more empowering for girls and women, because Snow White isn’t cleaning houses or waiting for a prince to fall in love with but is rather finding herself and developing the courage to become the person she was always meant to be.

Disney’s Snow White is best suited to viewers aged over 7 years.

These are the main messages from Disney’s Snow White:

Believe in yourself and your ability to make a difference.
Always choose compassion over cruelty.
Realise that true beauty comes from within. It can’t be captured by mirrors but is reflected in acts of kindness and empathy for others.

Values in Disney’s Snow White that you could reinforce with your children include kindness, loyalty, bravery, justice, honesty and hope.

Disney’s Snow White could also give you the chance to talk with your children about the real-life consequences of things like:

being vain and greedy
stripping the land of minerals and resources
trusting people who might harm you
looking out only for yourself and ignoring the needs of others
standing up to tyranny and injustice.