Biggest Surprises In The New Snow White Film

Disney’s Snow White has had a controversial release in the cinema, and though the live-action film has many detractors, it has made some good additions to the original story of the princess escaping her evil stepmother. Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot step into iconic roles as the princess and her stepmother, bringing a raft of updates to a classic tale.

Snow White was already a timeless story in many respects, but ninety years between the original film and this one mean that some changes were required. The film is jam-packed with all sorts of moments, both classic and new, but some of them are much bigger surprises than others.

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

8

Snow White Has Parents

A Huge New Opening Section

In the original Snow White film, the princess began as a poor serving girl to the Evil Queen, who was understood to be her stepmother. However, the new film actually opens with a young Snow White, singing merrily the new tune Good Things Grow alongside her parents, who are both still alive.

While the story catches up to the opening fans expected, there are about fifteen minutes beforehand which showcase the happy kingdom, the ensuing death of Snow White’s mother, the remarrying of his father to the Evil Queen, and the disappearance of her father. This leads the kingdom to a downfall at the Evil Queen’s selfish behest, but the shock to fans of seeing this much before the main Snow White story begins was considerable.

7

The Queen’s New Powers

A More Openly Magical Villain

The Evil Queen has always had some strange abilities in Snow White, but the original film painted these more in the form of potions and reading from a spell book. What’s more, it always showed these things happening in secret, such as her transformation into a hag and her poisoning of the apple. The new film changes this, and also gives her a villain song at last.

The new film has a completely different take on the character in this respect, giving her more obvious magical abilities such as the creation of flowers and precious gems from nothing. She even produces a dagger made completely of diamond at one point, seemingly without any struggle. Though she doesn’t necessarily show the full extent of her powers in the film, these extra abilities were a surprise, and her openness in showing them to the people an even bigger one.

6

Someday My Prince (Won’t) Come?

Jonathan Isn’t Exactly Prince Charming

The romantic lead of the film being not only much-changed, but a completely new character, was one of the more sudden shocks that fans experienced during Snow White. Instead of a wandering prince meeting Snow White at her well and serenading her, the new film features romantic lead Jonathan running into Snow White in the kitchen while trying to steal potatoes from the Queen.

However, though this bandit isn’t a Prince, he does have much more romantic connection with Snow White, one which grows over the course of the film and through multiple new songs which they sing together. Their journey goes from Snow White saving Jonathan from starving to Jonathan saving Snow White from an arrow, showing a beautiful relationship which is so much more than the original film’s romance.

5

The New Songs

A Huge Breadth Of Additions

Although every Disney live-action remake has new songs, and that in itself is no longer a surprise, Snow White doesn’t feature just one or two additions to the soundtrack, it is a completely different beast. Removing both Someday My Prince Will Come and the Dwarves’ cleaning song was already a shock, but the sheer volume of new songs was an even bigger one.

The additions just keep coming from the opening number, Good Things Grow, to the Evil Queen finally getting a villain song in All Is Fair. Snow White and Jonathan have two new duet songs. The huge anthem Waiting On A Wish was a major solo song for Rachel Zegler’s leading princess, and without all of that, the major included songs from the original were much changed with different lyrics, adding a completely different energy to Heigh-Ho and Whistle While You Work.

4

Two Colorful Groups Of Characters

The Bandits & Dwarves Work Together

It would only be another minor surprise for there to be new characters in an updated, live-action remake like Snow White. However, the fact that such a large extra group of new friends for Snow White was added in Jonathan’s large group of bandits was potentially a large-scale addition by Disney because the dwarves are CGI-generated in the new film, and the money spent every moment they are on-screen made it easier to side-line them wherever possible.

Snow White meets Jonathan again after saving him in the forest, and is introduced to his group of bandits, all of whom are fun characters in their own right. Seeing such a major shift in the cast, and a second large group of friends for Snow White to make, was perhaps necessary since she is fighting for her kingdom, and they needed a human face, but it also made for an astounding shake-up.

3

The Fight For The Kingdom

A Completely Changed Third Act

While it is no surprise that Disney transformed Snow White from a meek character into a strong, modern princess with the live-action update, it is more shocking that the gravity of the film shifted so drastically towards the fate of her kingdom. From introducing it as a happy place in the opening song Good Things Grow to having Snow White march back into the kingdom with an army alongside her, this update was a major shock in many ways.

In the original film, Snow White was only concerned with fleeing the wrath of the Evil Queen. This version of the character turns back around and decides to fight against the tyrannical rule of her stepmother. This led to much of the film, including almost the entire third act, being changed from what fans are familiar with in the Snow White tale.

2

Dopey Can Speak!?

The Most Sudden Shock To The System

The dwarves’ characters aren’t changed too much from the original film. They are pretty well-defined by their names, except for Dopey, who they insist isn’t a Dope just because he is called Dopey. Instead of not being able to speak, like the original version of the character, it is revealed quite early on that Dopey just doesn’t speak, which is down to shyness.

This change led to Dopey finally speaking up, as he attempts to encourage his brethren and Snow White to challenge the Queen. This moment was possibly the biggest shock to the system of the entire film, involving a major change, a moment of suddenness, and a classic character getting a huge overhauling change.

1

The Evil Queen’s Self-Inflicted Death

A Completely Different Ending

The Evil Queen’s character is similar in many ways to that of the original film. However, her death is a far cry from the way that she went out in 1937. Originally, she fell to her death during a storm when the dwarves chased her, following her poisoning of Snow White.

However, the new story sees her get away with the near-murder, return to her normal body, and face Snow White and the people of the kingdom as they rise up against her. When all else fails, she returns to her magic mirror and breaks it in anger, which kills her as well in a slightly confusing, totally different ending for her, very fitting for such an infamous Disney character.