It seems like the Google reviews are being spammed with bot-like negativity. This is a family movie, and I don’t quite understand why people feel the need to overanalyse it so intensely.
The songs are enjoyable, and the plot stays largely faithful to the original with some minor changes — which makes sense. A scene-for-scene remake would have been criticised just as much, if not more.
There’s been a lot of backlash about the storyline being "too woke" or overly feminist. But at its core, it's a classic tale: a brave young girl defeats an evil queen with the help of others and is saved by man who loves her. There’s nothing controversial about that in my view.
As for the seven dwarfs controversy — honestly, it feels like a no-win situation. If they had used live actors, there likely would have been criticism too. The CGI version seemed decent to me and stayed true to the spirit of the original animated film. You can tell a lot of talented people worked hard on this project, and it’s disheartening to see their efforts so casually dismissed. Disney clearly tried to navigate this carefully, considering today's social climate.
The only change I found overly politically correct was the reasoning behind Snow White’s name. In the original tales, she’s called that because of her pale skin and dark hair — a simple contrast. In the film, it’s explained that she was born during a snowstorm. That felt unnecessary and, to me, even a little racist to suggest it is somehow wrong to be white person just based on the colour of her skin. I think it does not set a good message.
There's also been a lot of noise about the casting choice for Snow White, especially regarding her skin tone as I believe her ancerstry if latin american. But “Snow White” is a metaphor. Even the original illustrations didn’t intend for her to be literally white as a wall — that wouldn’t look natural. The film even subtly adjusted her appearance to echo the character’s look. I don’t see that as racist at all. In fact, calling it out as such feels more racially charged than the casting itself as again, there is nothing wrong to have certain colour of skin.
At its heart, the story is still about a kind and courageous girl who earns the friendship of others and, through that, triumphs over evil. The love story element was toned down, which I think works better in a live-action context. The original version was quite straightforward and may not have translated well today. I actually liked how they reimagined the "prince" as a commoner and built up his character with more depth of struggle of the evil queen's ruling and famine.
Unfortunately, this also shows how much damage a lead actor's off-screen comments can do to the perception of a film. It's a shame, because the movie itself had a lot of heart and creativity behind it.