Snow White Gets Mixed Reviews: Rachel Zegler Is ‘Incandescent’ but Live-Action Remake Is ‘Not Great’

The first reviews are in for Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot’s performances in Disney’s Snow White!

Film critics got their first chance to see Snow White, a live-action remake of Disney’s 1937 animated classic, ahead of the movie’s March 21 release. As initial reviews poured in on Wednesday, March 19, many praised Zegler, 23, for her positive portrayal of the princess.

The Hollywood Reporter‘s David Rooney described Zegler as “incandescent,” adding that the actress “radiates light and beauty” as she “conveys the princess’ fighting spirit not with exaggerated pluckiness but with a delicate yet firm sense of who she is and what her destiny holds.”

Variety critic Owen Gleiberman adds that Zegler “has a pertly appealing glow” in the movie that is “one of the better live-action adaptations” for Disney, describing it as “lighter, more frolicsome, less lead-footed than such clomping live-action Disney remakes as Alice in Wonderland, Beauty and the Beast, Dumbo or Mulan.”

For IndieWire, critic Kate Erbland found the remake “not great, but certainly good, spirited and sweet and filled with wonderful songs and some canny updates to extremely dated material.”

Touching on the remake’s modern updates to dated fairytale material — something Zegler herself has pointed out and been criticized for doing so — Erbland noted “for those film fans willing to embrace the most obvious updates and upgrades to a story over 200 years old, Snow White will likely please.”

Criticizing the movie for its “plasticky set design and gift shop tacky costuming,” Allison Willmore of New York Magazine/Vulture added the movie “already looks like it takes place in a theme park — no adaptations necessary.”

Rolling Stone‘s David Fear also found the remake to be a miss, noting it is not the worst live-action adaptation but “a strong contender for its blandest,” adding “he movie does earn points as a bedtime story, however, because it will definitely put you to sleep.”

Meanwhile, critics praised Gadot’s personification of the Evil Queen, with much of the admiration going toward costume designer Sandy Powell for bringing the queen to life.

Gleiberman wrote Gadot “glares divinely in her darkly purplish cloaked finery (stained-glass crown, nails like daggers, matching black lips and eyes), like the world’s most furious dominatrix.”

Rooney noted that Gadot “certainly looks the part of the villain in Sandy Powell’s fabulous costumes — variations on long sequined gowns in shades from black through deep blues and greens and purples, with elaborate neckpieces, and in one case, a glittering iridescent train that looks about a half a mile long.”

“You might wish for a touch more arch campiness in her performance — along the lines of, say, Angelina Jolie in Maleficent — but Gadot is an imperious presence in lots of chunky power jewelry. There’s a welcome sense of her savoring her character’s malevolence in the Evil Queen’s song, ‘All Is Fair (When You Wear the Crown),'” Rooney added.

Willmore described the Wonder Woman‘s performance as a “so incredibly stilted it almost swings around to being good-bad.”

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In addition to Zegler and Gadot, Snow White also stars Andrew Burnao, Ansu Kabia, Patrick Page, Andrew Barth Feldman, Tituss Burgess, Martin Klebba, Jason Kravits, George Salazar, Jeremy Swift and Andy Grotelueschen.

The movie is in theaters Friday, March 21.