Snow White: (Benj Pasek/Justin Paul/Jeff Morrow) If
there's any proof that Walt Disney Studios needs to move on from its
live-action remakes of prior animated classics, 2025's
Snow White
is that resounding evidence. The studio invited ridicule by attempting
to adapt its pioneering 1937 cornerstone,
Snow White and the Seven
Dwarfs at all, the political environment that made that early
animation possible no longer even remotely acceptable in the 2020's. But
the studio forged ahead anyway, significantly altering the plot and
soundtrack of the remake to cater to contemporary social norms. In so
doing, though, they pissed off almost every demographic available,
especially with the political beliefs of its two lead actresses stirring
major, controversial press along the way. The casting of a Latina
actress as the titular character reinforced the entire "go woke, go
broke" mantra for masses of audiences not interested in diversity and
equity efforts interfering with their beloved concepts of the past. The
modernization of the dwarfs for equally politically correct reasons
yielded a catastrophe in their horrific rendering, their digitized forms
completely failing to blend in with the actual human characters. The
classic songs performed by Snow White herself were jettisoned in favor
of new ones deemed appropriate for a "modern" princess, dropping or
mutilating the entire storyline of the prince who is destined to save
her as well. In short, this movie was a total disaster, and after a few
weeks of release, projections placed Disney's losses between $100 and
$200 million on the extremely expensive project, causing the studio to
pause consideration on the adaptation of 2010's
Tangled that had
been scheduled next. With some of the emotional core of the 1937
soundtrack prohibited from the remake, the music for the new
Snow
White was equally destined to annoy if not handled extremely
carefully. Even with a master like Alan Menken at the helm of
The
Little Mermaid once again two years earlier, it was impossible to
avoid the pitfalls of political correctness in the eye-rolling changes
to that music. The talent involved in
Snow White failed at
finding even that level of respectful balance between past and
present.
For the 1937 film, the songs by Frank Churchill and Larry
Morey and surrounding score by Paul J. Smith and Leigh Harline are
highly respected despite their archival recording quality, the slate of
songs well remembered upwards of a century later. Three of the Churchill
and Morey songs, "Heigh-Ho," "Whistle While You Work," and "The Silly
Song," were retained for 2025's
Snow White, clearly establishing
that the dwarf material is all that could function with the newly
rearranged story. The songs for Snow White and the prince were removed
entirely; while the hearty and tender "Someday My Prince Will Come" was
reportedly adapted into the score, that performance did not make the
fullest album cut of the soundtrack. Brought on board are American
songwriters Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, the former typically responsible
for the lyrics while the latter writes the underlying music. They rose
to fame as lyricists for
La-La Land and Menken's updated 2019
version of
Aladdin, though they wrote the songs to
The
Greatest Showman as well. Meanwhile, composer Jeff Morrow was hired
for the original score after having written the music for a variety of
animated television series. He had also provided additional music for
the remake of
The Little Mermaid and had long been a ghostwriter
for Christophe Beck and Henry Jackman, which likely helped earn him this
assignment. Their combined efforts have some of the B-rate
characteristics that plagued
Mufasa: The Lion King and
Moana
2, Disney struggling to assemble consistent talent for these
diminishing remakes and sequels. Five new songs were coined for
Snow
White, each of them about as anonymous for the topic as those for
the two aforementioned soundtracks. While "Waiting on a Wish" aspires to
capture the same exact personality of "Beyond" from
Moana 2, even
borrowing some of the same anticipatory, stage-worthy progressions, it
is attractively mundane. Rachel Zegler's singing is outstanding per
usual, but the quality of the song is several steps below that which
supported her performances in Menken's
Spellbound just prior. Any
hopes that Disney had for this song to join the collection of top-level
princess ballads were dashed by the sheer formulaic nature of its entire
construct.
A new opening and closing song was predictably supplied to
Snow White, "Good Things Grow" introducing Snow White's family
and promoting the environment of the kingdom. It's a decent cast
ensemble piece but is dominated by an opening riff that is far more
memorable than the sung melody. The personality of the new villain song,
"All is Fair," builds from waltz formalities but can't seem to decide if
it wants to be sinister or irreverently humorous. Its orchestrations by
veteran Disney song orchestrator Dave Metzger are far more impressive
than Gal Gadot's seemingly auto-tuned performance. The song for the
prince substitute, "Princess Problems," prances into the comedy realm
but conflicts with the dwarf material and offers uneven vocals from
"Andre Burnap." A love song for the duo of Zegler of Burnap is a bit
redundant with "Waiting on a Wish" in purpose and has a bit more
contemporary instrumentation that perhaps owes to co-writer Lizzy
McAlpine. Again, this song is extremely mundane and will remind of a
number of other recent animation entries, and its melody recurs in "Snow
White Returns." The usual song reprises factor as well, "Good Things
Grow (Villagers' Reprise)" immediately extending the main performance of
the song nicely and then turning back to the ensemble for the
celebratory "Finale" rendition, by which point the soundtrack has
completely lost all of the 1937 flavor. Gadot returns for additional
over-inflection in "All is Fair (Reprise)" while "Waiting on a Wish
(Reprise)" is surprisingly low-key and melancholy, showcasing the
dramatic side of the idea. A new song that Pasek and Paul wrote for the
dwarfs, "Hidden in My Heart," was removed late from the picture. Their
contribution is average at best in terms of the melodies, Metzger's
orchestrations the clear highlight, but the lyrics are sadly quite poor
overall. They aren't as wretched as those in
Moana 2, but they
make you cringe at times, especially as Gadot switches back and forth
between spoken and sung lines. Morrow doesn't do much to really help the
songs achieve any identity in his portion of the soundtrack, the
melodies only occasionally adapted into the score, especially those
legacy ones that originate from the 1937 film. Listeners will encounter
a poor narrative in the score on its own because of the lack of adequate
strategic crossover with the songs.
While Morrow's work for
Snow White earns his pay
at every moment, supplying the appropriate orchestral ambience for a
fairy tale fantasy of this type, there's no genuine passion or fright in
any of it. The lack of emotional variance in the score or its
performance relegates it to merely average status, that personality
filling air space with the right tone in all places but somehow
neglecting to generate any warmth of heart. Also confusing is his choice
to write two score-only themes for the two lead female characters that
serve no purpose beyond the song melodies already adequately supplied to
them. Morrow's themes are soulless identities without any vocalized
interpolation, making them superfluous despite the minimal motific
connectivity they offer to the score. Most listeners will be
disappointed by the lack of the song melodies expressed clearly or
frequently enough in the score. The "Good Things Grow" song does vaguely
inform the three-note phrasing of the score's Snow White theme and
guides the optimism of "Once Upon a Time" and "The Orchard." What should
be the main theme of the entire soundtrack, the melody of "Waiting on a
Wish" only slightly influences the latter half of "Don't Be Afraid" and
is pretty but bland in "Fearless, Fair, Brave, True." It's redemptively
attractive for the full ensemble in "True Love's Kiss," but the score's
instrumental end credits rendition of fanfare pomposity, "Waiting on a
Wish (Main on Ends Version)," had no original input from Morrow. The
only really recognizable adaption of the Churchill and Morey identities
comes from "Heigh-Ho," which briefly dances into the comedy action of
"Food Fight." (The lack of prominence for "Whistle While You Work" in
the score is truly odd given the opportunities to interpolate it,
especially since Morrow whistles himself for the soundtrack.) Although
the Evil Queen has her own score theme, Morrow adapts "All is Fair" on
bassoon and then horns at 0:19 into "Unfair Fight," becoming frenzied in
action later. It also helps the flourish at the outset of "The Apple"
and provides fragments on cello to open "The Dungeon." Morrow's original
themes, meanwhile, are summarized nicely in the first two score cues, "I
Remember" and "Mirror Mirror," which are arguably the most pertinent new
moments from Morrow in the whole work. From there, the themes continue
to factor but never elevate themselves to any memorable status against
the songs, especially with no uniquely arranged suite to summarize them
on album in end credits formation.
The score theme for Snow White contains three-note
phrases seemingly built from "Good Things Grow" but owes much more to
vintage Menken, and the prologue to
Beauty and the Beast in
particular. Technically an original Morrow idea per attribution, some
listeners may find the melody to ascend in steps distractingly like
Jerry Goldsmith's famous
Star Trek: The Motion Picture theme.
Tentatively informing the start of "I Remember" before emerging in full
at 1:14, this idea is carried by flute early in "Animal Friends" and
"Whistling Lesson," climbs on strings with noble intent in "Faith in
Each Other," and becomes nervous in "The Apple." It turns melodramatic
in a shift of progressions during "Requiem" and "The Dungeon" and
resolves without much passion but enjoys some brass bravado in "Time to
Restore Our Kingdom." Countering that theme in tepid interactions in
"The Apple" and "Time to Restore Our Kingdom" is the theme for the Evil
Queen, which has no musical relation to "All is Fair." This sinisterly
rising and falling phrasing in uncomfortable chord formations is
previewed at 2:08 into "I Remember" in a brief, suspenseful interlude to
the Snow White theme but is developed extensively in "Mirror Mirror"
with its inverted secondary phrases, leading to a large moment from
choir and brass at 1:21. This theme stews on woodwinds without much
consequence in "The Queen's Table," proceeds on creepy strings and high
choir in "The Fairest Lives," and is vaguely militaristic at the start
of "Jonathan Captured" but never convincing in force. Against Snow
White's theme, the one for the queen is slight in the middle of "The
Apple" and offers minimal suspense at the center of "Time to Restore Our
Kingdom." Both ideas had potential, but Morrow can't really get either
one off the ground for very long, and their manipulations are decent but
typically underwhelming. The 41 minutes of score released on album is an
easy listening experience but one that won't stick in memory very long.
The same issue plagues the songs, which sound like marginally effective
throwaways from a made-for-video production of a prior generation. If
you do seek them, then the "Deluxe Edition" with both is your best
option. The legacy of the 1937 classic deserved far better than this,
especially in the recognition for its music. Reinventing the soundtrack
only yields neutral shrugs and insults in the lack of respect shown.
Even as a standalone musical, the songs and score in
Snow White
never achieve synchrony, leaving the whole endeavor as a head-scratcher.
None of this remake music was necessary or welcome.
@Amazon.com: CD or
Download
- Music as Written for the Film: **
- Music as Heard on Album: ***
- Overall: ***
There exists no official packaging for the digital versions of this album.
