2025 was a big year in the film industry, with Superman, Zootopia 2, The Minecraft Movie, Hamnet, and more all having brought in audiences worldwide. But along with the record-breaking movies of 2025, one movie seemed to have missed the mark, even with a wide range of audiences.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, one of Disney’s first classics, started to develop into a live action, like many others, in late 2016. Over the years, Disney underwent screenwriting, pre-production, casting, and more for the next few years. Finally in 2021, announcements of the cast came out. Golden Globe winner Rachel Zegler as Snow White and MTV Movie Award winner Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen.

Then finally, on March 21st, 2025, Snow White was released in theaters worldwide. But what was supposed to be a nostalgic spin on a classic Disney film turned into a flat, unenjoyable live-action film. This flop of a film had many faults in its creation, from the CGI and the press to the poor plot changes and a miscast star.

Casting

Unfortunately, this movie has been a problematic topic since the casting began. When Rachel Zegler was cast as Snow White, audiences were quick to judge her Colombian background, as Snow White “should be white.” Ben Shapiro said, “The name of the movie is Snow White, okay?!” in a YouTube video.

Then, as the movie trailer released, fans found Disney had changed the story. Snow White, in this particular film, was named as such after having been born in a snow storm. Fans were infuriated Disney had changed such a pivotal part of the story. Archpawn on Reddit said, “I’ve always complained about it. She’s literally named after her skin color. She’s supposed to have hair as dark as ebony, lips as red as blood, and skin as white as snow. So why does literally every adaptation make her tan?!”

Rachel went on to address this in an interview with Variety in 2024. “It fell back to another version of Snow White that was told in history, where she survived a snowstorm that occurred when she was a baby,” she said. “And so the king and queen decided to name her Snow White to remind her of her resilience. One of the core points in our film for any young woman or young person is remembering how strong you actually are.”

Controversial Press

“They say all press is good press, but in ‘Snow White’s’ case, they were unabashedly wrong,” says box office analyst Jeff Bock of Exhibitor Relations.

As press was starting, audiences found Zegler’s way of promoting the movie an offense to the original. In 2022, Zegler told Extra TV, “A big focus is on her love story with a guy who literally stalks her. Weird! WEIRD!” Zegler talked in many interviews about how dated the movie really is, emphasizing how the love story alone drove the story, which Disney went on to change. But with what audiences considered a careless approach, people were hurt that the movie they grew up watching was being insulted by the star of the film.

This take went viral on TikTok, where, as NBC News went on to report, users argued that not all female characters have to be “girl bosses.”

Zegler has stood by her comments. “What an honor to be part of something that people feel so passionate about,” Zegler told Vogue Mexico for a 2025 feature. “We’re not always going to have the same feelings as everyone around us, and all we can do is give the best of ourselves.”

CGI

Another area of controversy was the CGI dwarfs. People were offended that Disney took away an amazing opportunity from a minority and replaced them with CGI people. Comedian, model, and content creator Fats Timbo believes “Disney has missed a golden opportunity to educate children in what is likely to be their first encounter with someone with dwarfism.”

In the film, Snow White is accompanied by seven computer-generated little people, a blow to little people who have aspired to the roles, according to Dylan Postl, an actor who is a little person. As he told the broadcaster Piers Morgan in 2023, “I can’t go for the Harrison Ford or George Clooney roles because those are not me.” These dwarf roles are for people of my stature…now think about the additional stunt actors or body doubles; now you’re talking about multiple actors of my stature that don’t get these major roles.”

Poor Directing Choices

Finally, the poor directing decisions. Rachel Zegler is not a force to be reckoned with. Having played Maria in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story fresh out of high school, she has more than proven her talents. So when the Snow White trailer was released, and Zegler was belting in a character who usually dominates with a softer sound, people became worried. Then when the film was released, a hot topic of conversation was Zegler’s poor acting choices. But this wasn’t just Rachel; complaints of Gadot’s acting and Andrew Burnap’s acting occurred as well. This could relate directly to the poor directing of the film, as directors are supposed to guide actors into the correct state of mind before every scene.

But not only the acting; directors are supposed to oversee almost every decision. So the CGI dwarfs, casting, editing choices, and more fall into the lap of Marc Webb, the director of Snow White (2025).

In the end, Snow White shows a clear example of how one of the most known and beloved classic Disney films can fail when certain creative decisions miss the mark. Even using a strong and talented cast, controversies emerge about casting, CGI choices, and directing dominate the film’s potential. What was meant to be a reimagination for one of Disney’s most well-known movies instead became a disappointing film for society. With a 69% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 2.2/10 on IMDb, Snow White (2025) has had one of the poorest turnouts in film history amid 2025.