Snow White reviews are in – and it’s not good news for Gal Gadot

Hollywood actress Gal Gadot has been pummelled by critics for her first villainous role in Disney’s much maligned Snow White remake.

Reviews for Disney’s live-action Snow White are in – and it’s not great news for Gal Gadot.

The Israeli actress, 39, makes her villainous debut as the Evil Queen in the much maligned, big budget remake of the 1937 classic – the production company’s first ever feature – which officially hit cinemas Thursday.

While critics are divided on whether the movie is actually any good, the Wonder Woman star’s turn as the original Disney baddie has proved largely forgettable.

Not dissimilar to the storyline itself, Rachel Zegler, who plays the titular princess, has been lauded for “saving” the film, in which a “miscast” Gadot delivers “a poor man’s version” of the fabled foe.

Gal Gadot plays the Evil Queen in Snow White.

DiscussingFilm wrote, “Rachel Zegler’s endless charisma convincingly positions Snow White as a strong, pure-of-heart leader even when the script isn’t pulling the same weight,” it said. “The titular princess simply pops from the screen, especially when Zegler is allowed to put her stamp on the original film’s iconography. The same cannot be said for Gal Gadot, who turns in what might be her worst performance to date. Gadot is woefully miscast as the Evil Queen, unable to sell us on the glamour, fierceness or true camp of a classic Disney villain.”

Similarly, Decider noted, “Rachel Zegler was taking the most fire pre-release, but she carries the movie. Gadot, to put it politely, does not. She overacts without ever seeming especially scary or even human, she repeatedly telegraphs her evil by shtickily arching a single eyebrow, she speak-sings without much conviction, and she generally plays the Queen as a poor man’s version of what Charlize Theron was doing with the same role back in 2012.”

The Nightly’s Wenlei Ma dubbed Gadot “miscast”, adding she was “neither menacing nor campy enough.”

Gadot’s performance has been deemed largely forgettable.

Elsewhere, DigitalSpy ruled Gadot was “largely fine”, though fell short of her villainous predecessors.

“She suffers by comparison to other more charismatic live-action versions, including Charlize Theron and Julia Roberts. It’s not as fun as it should be to see the Evil Queen deliver a Disney Villain song (new offering All Is Fair), with Gadot not as vocally adept as Zegler, but she’s not the major issue either.”

Screendaily, however, levelled the blame for Gadot’s lacklustre performance on the bland screenplay.

“The former Wonder Woman seems to relish portraying someone so wicked. (Heralded costume designer Sandy Powell recreates some of the 1937 picture’s best looks expertly, dressing Gadot in impeccable black gowns and the spikiest crown imaginable.) But Erin Cressida Wilson’s drab screenplay never delivers the witty quips or icy menace that would make this Evil Queen a fearsome foe; yet another example of the film’s wasted potential,” the publication wrote.

In a more positive assessment, Variety, said Gadot managed a “stylishly intense” performance.

Rachel Zegler, meanwhile, has been lauded for her turn at Snow White, pictured with co-star Andrew Burnap.

“Gal Gadot, as the Evil Queen, 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. I wish Gadot’s vocal performance were more operatic and less Mata Hari, but she still makes a stylishly intense villain.”

Reviews indicate Snow White doesn’t do quite enough to eradicate months of bad publicity, including controversy around comments made by Zegler, the decision for the seven dwarfs to be computer-generated, a journalist-ban on the premiere red carpet and rumours of a feud between Zegler and Gadot.

Still, it’s expected to make a fortune at the box office, with Disney continuing to capitalise on their treasure trove of a catalogue to remake classic animations for new audiences. While often they’ve been financial successes (plenty of billion-dollar wins in there), acclaimed critical reception has been harder to come by.

Snow White is in cinemas now.