Okay, so I feel I need to clear a couple things up - seeing as I keep getting questions/complaints about it: 1. "How dare you call Brandy's Cinderella weird!" I feel like people are taking this as a diss when I was commenting specifically on the casting choice in the movie, and I thought "weird" was a pretty neutral and accurate term to describe that. I don't know why it needs to be said, but it seems like it does so I'll say it - I actually *liked* Brandy's Cinderella. "Impossible" was a song that was stuck in my head for weeks after I watched it as a kid. There's so much to love about it. But it IS weird (including/especially the casting choice), and nobody's going to convince me that it isn't. I suspect y'all who are defending it so passionately *know* it's weird too and in fact, you enjoy it FOR its weirdness. Weird doesn't mean bad, and I never suggested otherwise. 2. "Was that a diss on the Barbie movies at 23:40" I do actually have a soft spot for some of the classic Barbie movies, having grown up with them myself as a kid. They have a lot of nostalgic value to them. That said, objectively the writing, animation, dialogue etc can be intensely cringy/cheesy, and much less appealing to adults/older fans than Red Shoes is. I'm not saying they deserve a lower score, and I can definitely see why they have a cult following, but if we're talking objectively Red Shoes is without question superior in terms of story, character design, animation, worldbuilding, pretty much everything. (And let's be real, the animators/creators of Red Shoes put in a lot more time and effort and love creating Red Shoes, than Mattel did in making its -product placement- Barbie movies, sorrynotsorry). Hope that clears things up!
The leads look like k-pop singers mixed slightly with tangled. It's pretty common for animation to do large eyes regardless of race because it's more expressive. The leads look Korean to me.
Kakyoin literally addressed this in their comment. "It's pretty common for animation to do large eyes regardless of race because it's more expressive." You just refuse to accept this answer because it doesn't fit your narrative.
Actually, I heard that Merlin is supposed to be Korean-coded. The most obvious sign is in the paper talismans he uses. The word written on them is 번개 which is Korean for lightning. Anything else, I think the team intentionally left a little vague-ish (like his outfit or even the fact that his name is Merlin) to let other Asian cultures be able to insert themselves into the character.
@@msk-qp6fn he is. This is also partly the results of the "Default Human Being" effect. In a post titled "Why do the Japanese Draw Themselves as White?", blogger Julian Abagond argues that the Japanese do not draw themselves as white. Rather, Westerners (Abagond specifically says "Americans") think that they do. "The Japanese see anime characters as being Japanese. It is Americans who think they are white," he writes. "Why? Because to them white is the Default Human Being." To illustrate his point, he includes an image of a plain stick figure. Abagond says most Americans will look at this image and see a white person, because, he argues, Americans see the white as the default. According to Abagond, "For them to think it is a woman I have to add a dress or long hair; for Asian, I have to add slanted eyes; for black, I add kinky hair or brown skin. Etc." The other must be marked, he contests. "If there are no stereotyped markings of otherness, then white is assumed." However, in Japan, white is not the default. Japanese is. Thus, there is no need for them to "look Asian", because no matter how ridiculous the characters look, everyone will assume they are Japanese. The same thing is true in America. To make his point, Abagond points to Marge Simpson. "After all, why do people think Marge Simpson is white? Look at her skin: it is yellow. Look at her hair: it is a blue Afro. But the Default Human Being thing is so strong that lacking other clear, stereotyped signs of being either black or Asian she defaults to white." Anyway, I ended up blocking Charisma girl because they wouldn't let up on their "but Asians are drawing themselves WRONG, because they all secretly desire whiteness" take which... come on, dude. Gross.
As someone who is involved in marketing, absolutely. The original poster is WAY too wordy. Nowadays you can't expect someone to read all that, and the only kinds of ads, at least in the US, that have that many words are the disclamers for direct to consumer marketing for pharmaceuticals.
Even though it definitely was too wordy, it still bothers me that someone thought the replacement version was doing the marketing any favors in this day and age...
@@koalaeucalyptus oh for sure. There's a good chance that the marketing team who was tasked with creating a new ad didn't understand what the movie was actually trying to say (this happens when they're not able to actually watch the film before it launches) and had to create a new ad with limited information. The updated one definitely should have been a better representation of the product. My point was only to confirm that the original ad with its wall of text is likely to get ignored by the modern consumer, and thereby the film company would have been wasting its money buying space to place that ad.
yeah definitely too wordy, it just wouldn't have worked unfortunately.. but what they ended up changing it too.. yikes.. just a terrible bit of miscommunication there... Should have bee something like: "What if Snow white wasn't quite what she seemed?" or something. Such a shame it went the way it did tbh...
the creator stated that one of the reasons they did the dwarves changing to humans when no one's around concept is because well he said "you may think you look attractive but when you're around others you fear they don't feel the same." and i find it fascinating and absolutely brilliant! edit: hey! to all my self-conscious people out there you aren't ugly. society has a judgemental mind and it's upsetting i know, but if you agree to their mindsets and think of yourself lowly then you'd only end up with bigger low self-esteem and the chances of getting it back will be a long process. you are beautiful even if you don't agree. (well as long as you're a nice person i guess hehe)
the fact that this is soooo true for me which makes me appreciate the movie so much more. i can look in the mirror right now and i would easily think i look like a model but in public i do my best to not look noticeable because i dont know if others think the same and i (or everyone) hate being judged anyways
I grew up with low self-esteem and it is hard. I mostly get constant comments about how thin I am and that is attractive (because I am thin but have a decent size in other parts). So I usually wear baggy clothing so people try to see me as a person but not as something else....which is usually the latter.
Honestly, it sounds like this is a lesson on not jumping to conclusions and making wild assumptions. The very idea that people were shaming these actors for their role in this movie when they had nothing to go off of than a single poster is really stupid. The hubris. Edit: As Ame pointed out, there was also the promotional video--which does matter because it strengthens the negative impression. However, it still doesn't absolve people of openly criticising actors who worked on the project without first scrutinizing the actual movie.
kind of hypocritical, running around, claimind body-positivity "Dont judge a person by its looks, charakter is important, go deeper!!!" and they see a poster, didnt even bother to watch the film and screeching! Doing that what they so despise: Taking one look and judge. Thats way i dislike people who claim to be positiv, they are the most shallow people who roam the earth.
@@sueellentony9404 I don't blame any one for getting the wrong impression and being upset. It is poor representation of the film. However, i don't understand why people then complain about it in an open forum that the affected parties might see and be hurt by. For example, Michelle McNamara wrote I'll Be Gone in the Dark about the Golden State Killer. She passed away before her book was finished. Her husband and her friend finished it. A few months after it was published, the GSK was apprehended. Her husband tweeted something along the lines of "You gottem sweetheart." You can find a lot of people on the GSK subreddit complaining that she didn't actually do anything that led to his capture and doesn't deserve credit for it. And I just thought, "Jesus. His wife died after dedicating years of her life to this book. Why are you complaining that a grieving husband gave his late wife too much credit. Why is that a thought you feel the need to share on a public forum where anyone in her family can see?" People have no qualms about tearing others down on the internet. It's very frustrating for me.
Actually put screenshots of their younger versions side-by-side. Gothel looks like Cher. Regina looks like Michelle Pfeiffer and Charlize Theron. Pretty different.
Both Snow White and Merlin look like K-idols to me, which makes sense. That's just the style when it comes to animation/comics. Like think the True Beauty webtoon, or the manga/anime style. They have big eyes, but the skin tone, the eye shape, the nose shape, the lips, the body is all very K-idol for both leads. I remember catching a clip of the movie on YT or maybe it was from a review, but it didn't look as bad as the ads were, and I was pleasantly surprised. And while Merlin bears the brunt of the message, there is a bit of a dip in Snow White's confidence. She starts very positive and proud of herself, and while she never grows to hate herself, you can see that when she can't take off the shoes, it is because she doesn't want to let go of the advantages the shoes gives her. Which isn't because of insecurity exactly, but from realizing that her magical body has people helping her and people trusting her far more than her regular body, so she does have some doubts about halfway through.
ah true beauty....i know this is out of the blue but the drama of that webtoon is facing some criticism for taking Chinese sponsorships in a time when China is trying to claim Korea's culture as theirs so there's that. similar thing with Mr Queen though that one is more so because the original writer is a Chinese who is said to be anti-korean and demeaned korean history.
That's true. It's basically a flat arc - the hero already believes the "truth", but at some point experiences doubt, only to have the truth re-affirmed in the final act. It's a bit subtle but it's there.
I feel really sad that not a ton of people saw the movie because of the poster the movie itself is so good and I really hope that a least a few of the people that complained about the poster on Twitter and went back to see it
Yeah the marketing did dirty this movie. I wanted to see it cos of the backlash and the voice actors saying it wasn't as the posters said and i came pleasantly surprised. I do believe the marketing problem lies in...this is a Korean movie...and the culture is different. Therefore new marketing has to be done...and they didn't do it. They just translated the original korean to english and called it a day. NO. The culture is different and people WILL react differently. I'm an advocate for loving yourself and not judging books. That's why i ended up watching and enjoying this movie. When it comes out i will definitely encourage people to see it. More than i already have
When it comes out? This movie came out on DVD in September... I actually brought the blu-ray + digital the day it came out! It was a little bit of a quiet release since it couldn’t be shown in theaters.
I feel bad for Chloe. She didnt make this movie, and sometimes VAs dont even know the full context behind their characters. Why would people attack her and not go complain to the actual writers/director?! For goodness sake, I sometimes feel like VAs are the waiters/waitresses of the movie/tv world. They're just doing their job to read lines and be a character, they're not the ones who work behind the counter and control the food you get !!
One minor nitpick about that Shrek clip: Fiona wasn't an ogre all the time. During daytime hours (when one is awake) she was a human and she only turned into an ogre at night (presumably when she sleeps). So she spent way more alert time as a human than not, her parents were human, she grew up around humans... in her mind the ogre side definitely wasn't "who she is." That's a bit different from Snow White who looked and sounded the same her entire life all the way up to trying on the shoes. So I don't see Fiona as "needing validation of beauty" from Shrek, she was genuinely confused as to why the curse put her as an ogre in the end. I definitely think this film could have benefited from showing us more of Snow White's real self, though--it somewhat underplays its own message by talking about how beauty is on the inside and then showing us "pretty" Snow and "pretty" Merlin through the majority of the film. But that's more of a nitpick for me, I actually enjoyed the film quite a lot and definitely recommend it to others! The animation was gorgeous, and humor was actually pretty good, and the general ideas and concepts of the movie were clever.
Thank you for the comment! While that's not a bad interpretation of Fiona's comment, the fact that she frames it as "I'm supposed to be beautiful", plus her earlier conundrum of "princess and ugly don't go together" suggests to me that she genuinely felt insecure about her looks as an ogre, not just... "not herself", and Shrek's validation eased this insecurity. If it was more of an identity confusion (but why am I an ogre now?) thing, Shrek clarifying "but you *are* beautiful" wouldn't/shouldn't have resolved that. I do agree they should have showed us more of real Snow White. I think Merlin spends most of the movie as a goblin though. He only shows his "pretty" self when nobody can see him, which isn't often.
Something I appreciated and related a lot was how at the beginning Snow White never considered herself to be ugly in the slightest and loved who she was and how she looked like but after her experience with the F7 and the outside world, she started realizing just how powerful "beauty" is and became insecure and reluctant to give up the shoes. I felt that deeply. I once lost weight to just become healthier but the way my mom started to obsess with my weight and looks and how everyone was treating me nicer after I losing weight was so...eye-opening and depressing to say the least.
Exactly! That happened to me too and because of that I developed an ED... I'm fine now but it's sad to realize how your appearance can change how others treat you
I feel that marketing often does more harm than god for a film, trailers are either misleading or give away the entire story. But what happened with this film definitely takes the cake.
I could totally see a sequel, considering only one of the seven princes actually got their curse lifted. The next one could be about Arthur overcoming his toxic masculinity, or Jack who is self-absorbed (who ironically has an invisibility cloak).
you didn't pay attention to the little thing in the credits with the drawings of the other dwarves found other girls? The one ended up with red riding hood who was the wolf? one was the fish-mermaid girl but with the fish head
@@jocelynecupcake don't get me wrong I enjoyed them to. It's simply that they were very brief, plus we didn't actually see any of them get their curses lifted. And since Average got turned into a dwarf as well we still technically have seven dwarves. I know the likelihood of a sequel is unlikely, so just like to fantasize.
As a fellow Red Shoes fan I'm so glad Red Shoes is getting recognized more, the movie really deserves more love. I'd like to add that Merlin is indeed Asian based on the interviews and his magic talisman-paper has writing saying "lightning" in Korean. Also wanted to point out that the editing issues you mentioned around 20:20 is probably due to low budget, since I've seen the concept art for the missing scenes posted by artists who worked on the film :( So actually they didn't have enough budget to reanimate the characters' lips to match the Korean dialogue, it was really weird watching a Korean animated film in theaters speaking Korean while their mouths were clearly saying something else. But above anything else, Merlin is just the perfect snack :D
Huh, I didnt know that! So they animated them in English only, and not Korean? Interesting. And yeah, for how low budget it was, it was a great flick. 😊
Honestly I quite like that part where he has the verbal realization and addresses it aloud to himself. 1) It shows that he's very quick to think of his appearance as his deciding factor of attraction (it's his default) but for Snow White, he was forced to reevaluating everything because she never actually saw his true form, and 2) It's actually a very common thing, especially for people who's mouth move before they think.
@@mori_nobel Oh I don't mind that he was forced to evaluate it. I just think that you don't always *need* dialogue to show characters gaining insight - and imo, the best quality animations are the ones that use animation to the fullest potential to convey such inner thoughts to the audience *without* the characters having to speak. (Wall-E, How to Train Your Dragon, and pretty much all the Cartoon Saloon movies come to mind).
You hit the nail with "an inch that needed to be scratched". This is my main gripe with Moana. Like you were being prepped for something big and amazing to happen in the end and all we got was a talk. After the her soaring "I am Moana", the ending fell really flat. Just my 2 cents.
So I tried to make this review as spoiler-free as possible, but that said... there is one thing I probably could have been more clear about - while Snow White starts and ends the movie pretty much a fully self-actualised character, the theme of learning to accept yourself and see past appearances DOES exist in this movie (and I wasn't contradicting myself when I was making both of these statements at various different points in my video) - it's just that this theme is embodied by the OTHER characters (particularly Merlin). It's *Merlin* who gradually learns this moral, not Snow White. Merlin is, I guess, the "Fiona" in this movie, although I'm much more willing to give it a pass here because firstly, it's a guy going through this arc, which you don't see much in the princess movie genre, but more importantly - the flaw in his character stems not so much from "insecurity" (like in Fiona's case) but actual *vanity*. This makes the whole "character needs to learn that beauty is more than skin deep" work better in this story, imo, especially as it's fairly explicit that it's his own self-image he's struggling with, not so much Snow White's. Basically what I'm saying is - this movie deftly manages to avoid implying that "fat girl might be ugly but hey looks aren't everything" and instead gives that arc/theme to the self-absorbed playboy who's cursed to take the form of an actual goblin whenever anyone looks at him.
I think the movie isn’t as popular as it deserves because people saw the „she turns beautiful with the shoes“ part of the movie and refused to learn about the actual message.
just paused to say the male lead definitely looks korean. in fact, when you said the movie was korean and then showed the dwarves in their og forms, i immediately thought "oh are they all different nationalities? bc the one in blue looks korean but the other ones don't", so yeah, he does, you're not crazy. others have said this but he looks like if disney made an animated version of a kpop idol.
„Just because it’s predictable doesn’t mean it’s bad.“ Yes! Tell ‘em, sis! Also the opposite is true too. Just because something is unexpected doesn’t mean it’s good. I had one of my favorite shows ruined just because the writers tried too hard to be „subversive“ and „unexpected“. In the end they made one character a twist villain just because it would be the most „shocking and „unexpected“ if that person were a villain. But the thing is this went against this character‘s core values, personality and threw away three and a half seasons of character development. It also had absolutely zero buildup or even foreshadowing. In the end this not only ruined one of my favorite characters, but also my favorite show at the time. I‘m not even „just salty that my favorite character became evil“. I wouldn’t have anything against that character becoming evil, if it MADE ANY SENSE. In the end I would rather have a story that is predictable, but continuous and deep than a „subversive“ Story that is shallow and makes absolutely no sense. It’s not that I hate subversions either or that I want stories to „stay conservative“. I love unexpected twists, but Please. Do. Them. Right. Thank you!
Great, insightful review - thank you! And yes, I did think the two lead characters look very Asian. Snow in both forms (but especially her shoes form) absolutely looks Asian, but specifically Korean. Even with Merlin, whether he's in human or dwarf form, his eyes are distinctly different from the other princes'. There were some moments I remember in his dwarf form where they somehow managed to NAIL the Asian look of his eyes in a way that I've never seen done so well in animation before. The animators are honestly so unbelievably talented - sometimes I had felt like I was watching live actors, just from all the little mannerisms and expression details they included in all the characters. Really loved this film a ton! I live in Japan and really hope we'll get it in cinemas whenever it's released here - maybe next year? Fingers crossed, because I want to support the film as much as I can!
this is actually one of my favorite kid films. Yes, there were a few absolutely horrendous marketing choices that made me feel like the ad team didn't even see the film, BUT the movie itself was soooo good. I just wish people would reserve judgement on a films message until they actually see the message of the film... ANd yes, the best thing they did was making sure Snow was a bit uncomfortable with the thin version and that she only continued to use it because it was why other people were helping her and she recognized that reality. People treated her better when she was conventionally attractive so she used it to her advantage and the only time she struggles with identity is when she's dealing with how other people think she should look. It was so relatable and well done.
I agree with you, this movie's way underrated. And yeah, this movie kind of copied Shrek's thing a little bit, but the main fairytales they referenced to were Snow white and Wizard of oz. I think the "red shoes" also refers more to red riding hood's red hood because we all know Dorothy's shoes were originally silver. I thought this movie had the most creative concept. I hate to see people bash stuff without seeing it, and even if they do see it, they look at things the wrong way. Also, this movie was not "fat shaming" it was the opposite of fat shaming. It wasn't sexy-shaming either. Snow white looked hot to all the other dwarves, including Merlin, but later Merlin really fell in love with the real snow white and found her overweight-but-not-curvy body to be attractive. PROPS TO THEM FOR STEPPING OUTSIDE THE ZONE! I couldn't expect this in an American movie, let alone a Korean one. The beauty standards in South Korea are just starting to be less competitive around bodytype and skin colors. They still prefer the tall, thin, curvy, fair skinned, big eyed beauty that Snow white "Red shoes" was during most of the film. It looks good in the trailers and that's what moves people to see the movie. Disney couldn't do something this great, though. Nowadays they're always trying to go more for acting or too dark of a story. This was the perfect mix of everything; it was lighthearted enough but still went deep enough in the plot, the characters were great, the designs of the set and backgrounds looked beautiful, and as someone who likes fairytales I loved all the references to other fairytales, even the little ones. I especially enjoyed the art at the end and how cute the designs of the other fairytale girls looked.
I recently found this movie randomly and loved it. Despite its flaws and sometimes cringey dialogue, it has a lot of heart and a concept that I think was used really well. There are also some absolutely hilarious lines that made me laugh out loud during the film. I agree that Snow not getting an arc was one of my complaints but luckily Merlin got to have one at least. Overall, 8/10. A little cringey at times and there are some scenes that could have and should have been omitted but overall it's very fun and has fun characters.
i thought the girl's different sizes were switched differently when i read the poster. Thinking that she was the skinny version first then was cursed to be the bigger size. Maybe should word it differently.
I love how to train your dragon... Except the ending and arc of 3. I feel disappointed by it. Not because they had toothless leave with the rest of the dragons but because it could've been far better executed than it was.
@@louisacoote2337 It was the only possible ending.... that would destroy the core themes and character arcs of the entire series. XD (Sorry, I'm still bitter lmao)
@@SneezyReviews I don't know that "bitter" would be a good way to put it, but I definitely came away from that movie feeling like I'd basically watched a special for the TV series XD The stakes just weren't as high as they were in 2, not to mention that while Grimmel is definitely threatening, he's more Viggo-level and not Drago-level (if that makes any sense--honestly now that I think about it he kinda felt like Viggo 2.0 and since those of us who'd seen the TV series already knew what Viggo was like... well). I'll go check out that review of yours, I'm interested to get your take on it!
I remember seeing that poster and a trailer and they were as different as could be. The movie was being condemned for fat-shaming but I thought that it was poorly worded and that I'd check it out anyway when it was to actually be released. The theatres nearby just never did because everyone hated the movie without ever seeing it. A while later, quite recently actually, did I go and get a version to watch and really liked it. I'm sad to see the movie never even getting a chance with most viewers.
I got this movie recently on Amazon and watched it with my fiance and he said that he identifies with Prince Average on a spiritual level. Also, Merlin, in human form, made me think of Jim from Troll Hunter, except different facial structure, hair style, and different animation.
2:13 Yeah there's old russian version of Beaty and the Beast(which is I think is older than french version) but Beast in this tale turning into prince when he's only by himself which is a lot he doesn't have magical friends or servants that turned into objects, he's really alone,isolated on island with huge castle and garden ,but when Beaty sees him he's turning into hideous,sad monster who can't walk at all and he doesn't have rose(well he basically has flower that brought beauty to his island) and time limit he just simply could die of loneliness until he was discovered by a girl.
I think there are versions of it everywhere. Er have Sort of a German Version where He was Transformer to a Lion because He didn't wanted to marry another Princess. And it wasn't a Rose but a singing Bird. The father knew He had to ask the Lion. The Prince changed every night to His human Form and they even Had a so'n.
Hey, I know this Video is a little old, but I just discovered your channel and holy cricket, your Videos are amazing! The amount of work and research you put in them, geez I love it!!! So glad I discovered it, 2will definitely stick around!
One of the things that really confused me about this movie was during the scenes where Snow White had her eyes closed around Merlin and he was in his original form, could she not notice the difference? Like when they were back to back running from Regina's minions and he was telling to run across a bridge to a tree couldn't she feel he was taller than her and that the hand that was grabbing her arm was larger? Or hear that his voice was coming from a higher point and not from the below her? My only guess is that the curse also messes with interactions even when they're in the original forms as well because I feel like otherwise they could have gotten fans of F7 to help by explaining the situation and convincing them by showing the difference when their eyes are closed and open. I did enjoy the fact that the curse was broken by "a kiss from the most beautiful girl in the world" because it's clearly a spin off of "true love's kiss." Most people find their significant other to be the most beautiful whether or not they're conventionally beautiful but since the Fearless Seven are so vain of course they wouldn't see it that way. I'm also a major simp for Merlin. I usually stick to my 2D manga men and women but god damn the character design for him just *mwha* chef's kiss and Sam Claflin as his voice could not have been better. I loved Finnick (Hunger Games) and he's so good with Emilia Clarke in "Me before You." Also I love your videos. You were in my video recommendations and I'm so glad I clicked. I like how you present yourself and your arguments. I can't wait for your future content.
This is my personal headcanon, but I think Snow White did sense that he had a "different" form (based on her line "I do feel different..." or smth like that when they're in the barn and he asks her to close her eyes) - she just didn't care the way Merlin did. She loved Merlin for who he was, not what appearance he took, so she never really took note of how he "transformed" when she wasn't looking. That's just my theory anyways. I'm posting more content as fast as I can - I do have a full time job so my upload schedule is bad, I know. I'm working on it though, I promise! :D
I got the impression she at some point knew that he was under some sort of curse and his original look was different from what she saw, so maybe that's why she wasn't surprised by those transformations.
Another good thing about Snow White in this movie, they don't make her gross when she's fat. With a lot of fat characters in media, whenever they have said characters be confident, they're usually very boorish and have poor hygiene. It seemed like it was going to go that way in the first teaser, but in the actual movie they actually treat her with respect. Her mannerisms are gentle and dainty and, well, princess-esque in both of her forms. She's confident in her body while not being some gross stereotype, and that's actually pretty impressive in terms of representation for fat people, even more so coming from a studio in "harsh beauty standards up your ass" South Korea.
I don't think i've ever watched a video that made me want to watch so many movies at once, I don't like movies that much especially that type of animation but the way you talk about it made me soooo intrested, I'd hear you talk about it for hours. I'll definitely watch it later :) great video I loved it!
the triplets are so cute arent they XD i mean they're all equally cuddly and cute in the smol bean form but I'm partially to the triplets even though they get the least screen time
you mean jack frost from rise of the guardians? coincidentally, i heard the character designer for jack frost is korean which is why jack frost looks like a blond kpop idol and is so appealing to koreans.
I will always love this movie because it is one of the few films I've seen that doesn't treat the plus-size girl like a JOKE. There's something particularly scummy about a movie or show that tries to profit off of "body positivity" while still using every worn-out and degrading joke in the book to mock her. This was a refreshing breath of fresh air! I'll happily show this to my kids and my friends' kids one day.
"I think that's giving them too much credit." Maybe, but you almost had me. That's not a bad way to look at the marketing. Wouldn't be the first time toxic reception to something creepily paralleled it's themes!
I don't know if I am taking this all to lightly, but even taking the poster for what it seemed... I actually thought the idea could be fairly interesting. So what if a princess is not "conventionally" beautiful?
As a fat person, I had similar thoughts - for all that I believe everyone deserves to feel happy and comfortable in their own skin, I find it a bit questionable that we have gone so far in the direction of "everyone is beautiful" that it seems to be adding to the perception that it is unacceptable to be physically "ugly". Like sure, it might make it harder to find partners for romance/sex (and I'm not gonna claim I wouldn't turn a person down as a potential partner for those two things because I didn't think they were hot) but it doesn't define one's worth as a person, you aren't any less precious or wonderful or any less imbued with soul or spirit, in any way less human because of it. That's one thing I actually liked about The Tale of Despereaux (IDK if you have seen it), it seemed to understand this. Anyway, this seems like a lovely movie and I will try and find a way to watch it :)
I had so much fun watching this even if I did not see that much of Jack. Thanks for making this video. I hope more people get to see this 'cause I love the way you explain it....
Thank you for the review, I've seen a lot of "reviews" that say it was fat shaming, and it needed the here's what it's about and yes there are cheese points. This movie is still a hidden gem for all who watch it. I hope more people will look past the bad advertising and give it a try.
I saw Red Shoes for the first time about a year ago I think? It was sometime in 2020 and really enjoyed it. Glad this video popped up in my recommended, I'm gonna go watch it again now :) lol
gosh i am SO glad this popped up in my recommended! i paused around 5 minutes in to watch the movie (you did a great job of piquing my interest, your videos are so well made!) and gosh i LOVED it. merlin is literally my icon on discord now lol. seriously, THANK YOU for this = D
This is so much more meaningful knowing it cam from South korea where they're obsessed with looks. It's so kind for the creators to make this, I'm sure it helped a lot of kids living in that society
OMG the conspiracy 17:30 😂 great video! I loved the movie, it was much, much better than I was expecting, even though the pacing was very odd at times. also, the credits?? were???? freaking adorable?????
I gotta be honest. My friend and I (who are both huge fans of animated movies) were a bit put off by that very first teaser, and didn't watch the trailers and teasers released after that. But, idk a few months or probably a year later when we learned that the movie has already been released and may be available online, we both decided to give it a try. And boy, we are both glad we did ♥♥♥
I loved some of them look like K-pop singers, considering the beauty standards in South Korea is fitting the characters need or do love and be proud of themselves just like they are, or grow further than their looks.
I absolutely love the movies; it's one of my all time faves! It's really a big shame that the promotion slapped it down ;; Personally I keep rewatching it haha :) Also loved the songs they included; I found the scenes really funny when the song started playing and they kinda went into 'fantasy' mode XD Nice review :D
I am enjoying your channel so far. I had to laugh at your brother's comment and comparison to Mean Girls - but now that you have said it makes a lot of sense that the characters are Asian. Great points about the marketing on this movie - people tend to over react when it should be obvious it would have a heart warming, positive message if they saw the trailer. Now onto working out where to even watch this movie 😃
I found your channel a few days ago and am BINGING your videos, and this is another wonderful one! When the backlash happened I was so confused because it was so obvious to me that the lesson would be to accept yourself? I was around 17 at the time and even then I was thinking “why is everyone so mad? It’s obvious that the plot is learning that you should love yourself no matter what you look like.” But people don’t think that much before throwing a fit on Twitter apparently 😤 it really is a shame, this movie is beautiful and gorgeously made I wish it did better..
Saw your little note and yes I would LOVE for you to make a video on A Silent Voice. I just watched this Snow White movie last night, I had been meaning to for a while because I wanted to watch this video of yours and have the context. I really enjoyed it! I wouldn't have seen it if it wasn't for this video, so thank you. As always your breakdown was excellent and I agree with a lot of what you said.
@@SneezyReviews No, please. Thank you for sharing your unique, perspective changing thoughts. I admired your Cindrella and Belle videos. I loved this Red Shoes video so much too. I haven't seen such unique thoughts about cartoon movies before.
I planned to watch it, but didn't have time due to uni. Saw Ur vid today and decided to finally make some time for it. THANK YOU! It was so great. You were absolutely right about it plus most of the time I wanted to just squeal because the side characters were so cute!
And now I’ve subscribed. This is the second insightful review I’ve watched by you. And I’m also going to go check out this movie. I’d heard none of the promotional stuff for it, so I didn’t even know it existed, but it sounds like a fun take on the Snow White tale. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.
I just discovered your channel (thanks to Zutara!) and I really like the videos you make. Will definitely check this movie out and keep up the good work!
I first heard about this movie being fat-shaming, then found it on Prime while browsing with my family Both me and my sister immediately told our dad that the movie was body-shaming by having SnowWhite transform into someone beautiful, but luckily my dad is a curious person, so he decided to watch it and see if it actually was that way I was utterly wrong and I loved the movie and would still watch it more than Disney's SnowWhite - I'm very happy to have been proven wrong about this movie Goes to show that marketing doesn't show the end-product; my most favorite Disney and DreamWorks movies are all forgotten or have been underappreciated because of more popular products: Atlantis, Treasure Planet, Spirit and Sinbad
Snow White is a really loveable character in the movie. She's strong(literally) and confident about herself and she likes all the dwarves as they are despite their appearance. My favourite scene has her pulling out Excalibur and putting it right back which is pretty badass.
Hi! I wanted to thank you for reviewing this movie as it is really a damn shame how much shade this movie got as I genuinely love the movie and think of it as a good guilty pleasure movie that makes you feel good. And I am happy that more people are talking about it now! As for the comments about "being too beautiful to be a witch" or "Princesses don't look like a witch," I think - at least how I see it - is the movie not so subtly touching on the idea that if you are conventionally pretty, you are not evil or how people equate beauty to good. I can see this being a take on the idea that people assume because you are beautiful looking and fair, you should be seen as beautiful and therefore good. Kinda like how most Disney princesses are portrayed as really beautiful compared to either their counterpart/ antagonist that is not as pretty (The woman in Beauty and the Beast all talking about how pretty Belle is while they are not looking as beautiful as her or the line of "Her looks have got not parallel" comes to mind) Now, is it a bit much? Oh yeah. I would have liked it done more in visuals - show don't tell - that beautiful people seem to have things easier and a commentary that just because someone is beautiful does not mean they morally reflect that good vibes people think comes with beauty. But either way, I do think that if it had more time to flesh out the world and cut down in some places, I am sure we could have had more moments touching on this more or even more moments with Snow/ Red with Merlin as a dwarf and do the show don't tell again that looks can be deceiving and even flesh out the queen more to make their parallels stronger that the Queen only wanted looks and power and is vain because of her looks and how the world sees her as opposed to Snow where everyone might look down on her, but her kind-hearted nature stays true no matter what she looks like. And that, in turn, makes Merlin have that internal look as well in himself the difference in people. Either way, this was a good review, and happy I came across your channel!
Not only is the movie being reviewed is underrated, so is this review, like I appreciate the amount of in-depth review of the production and even point out some of its flaws. I remember witnessing the ablaze of people getting wild on the marketing, and yeah it really did it dirty and it took one of the artists i follow to talk about how the marketing was so wrong. And god this movie, makes me smile and GOD its just criminally underrated
I love this film so, SO much and it definitely deserves more love! I have a real soft spot for it because IRL I do pretty much look like a live-action version of this Snow White (in chubby form, shortness and all 😅). So I may be biased, but there is genuinely a lot to enjoy in this, despite its flaws, so thanks so much for making this video! And yes, Merlin is, in fact, an absolute snack.
I discovered that clip with the purple dress and the dwarfs wanting the shoes like literally eight years ago, and have been following the progress of this movie that entire time. When I could finally watch it I freaked out!
Sideways does a video about the music in Shrek. He mentions that the characters are trying to follow societal norms. I think Fiona always liked being an ogre. She just never realized she could disregard society's idea of how a princess looks and acts. Shrek shows her she can be her true self. It's not really a commentary on weight, it's more about authenticity.
Oh I loved this movie! It’s so sad the marketing was so bad. Can you do the Stockholm Syndrome video? Though I thought the ending was too quick and that disappointed me a bit. A Silent Voice was phenomenal!
This movie was going to be released in January and my friend and I were super looking forward to see it, but Brazil ended up having a second wave of COVID-19, so the movie theaters are closed once again...
Okay, so I feel I need to clear a couple things up - seeing as I keep getting questions/complaints about it:
1. "How dare you call Brandy's Cinderella weird!"
I feel like people are taking this as a diss when I was commenting specifically on the casting choice in the movie, and I thought "weird" was a pretty neutral and accurate term to describe that. I don't know why it needs to be said, but it seems like it does so I'll say it - I actually *liked* Brandy's Cinderella. "Impossible" was a song that was stuck in my head for weeks after I watched it as a kid. There's so much to love about it. But it IS weird (including/especially the casting choice), and nobody's going to convince me that it isn't. I suspect y'all who are defending it so passionately *know* it's weird too and in fact, you enjoy it FOR its weirdness. Weird doesn't mean bad, and I never suggested otherwise.
2. "Was that a diss on the Barbie movies at 23:40"
I do actually have a soft spot for some of the classic Barbie movies, having grown up with them myself as a kid. They have a lot of nostalgic value to them. That said, objectively the writing, animation, dialogue etc can be intensely cringy/cheesy, and much less appealing to adults/older fans than Red Shoes is. I'm not saying they deserve a lower score, and I can definitely see why they have a cult following, but if we're talking objectively Red Shoes is without question superior in terms of story, character design, animation, worldbuilding, pretty much everything. (And let's be real, the animators/creators of Red Shoes put in a lot more time and effort and love creating Red Shoes, than Mattel did in making its -product placement- Barbie movies, sorrynotsorry).
Hope that clears things up!
Your video led me to discover this film, so I rented it and I love it!
May Christ Bless You
The leads look like k-pop singers mixed slightly with tangled. It's pretty common for animation to do large eyes regardless of race because it's more expressive. The leads look Korean to me.
well, it is a Korean made film 😁
@@macy6012 yea I know. I was just answering the question asked in the video.
Kakyoin literally addressed this in their comment. "It's pretty common for animation to do large eyes regardless of race because it's more expressive." You just refuse to accept this answer because it doesn't fit your narrative.
Actually, I heard that Merlin is supposed to be Korean-coded. The most obvious sign is in the paper talismans he uses. The word written on them is 번개 which is Korean for lightning. Anything else, I think the team intentionally left a little vague-ish (like his outfit or even the fact that his name is Merlin) to let other Asian cultures be able to insert themselves into the character.
@@msk-qp6fn he is. This is also partly the results of the "Default Human Being" effect.
In a post titled "Why do the Japanese Draw Themselves as White?", blogger Julian Abagond argues that the Japanese do not draw themselves as white. Rather, Westerners (Abagond specifically says "Americans") think that they do.
"The Japanese see anime characters as being Japanese. It is Americans who think they are white," he writes. "Why? Because to them white is the Default Human Being." To illustrate his point, he includes an image of a plain stick figure.
Abagond says most Americans will look at this image and see a white person, because, he argues, Americans see the white as the default.
According to Abagond, "For them to think it is a woman I have to add a dress or long hair; for Asian, I have to add slanted eyes; for black, I add kinky hair or brown skin. Etc."
The other must be marked, he contests. "If there are no stereotyped markings of otherness, then white is assumed."
However, in Japan, white is not the default. Japanese is. Thus, there is no need for them to "look Asian", because no matter how ridiculous the characters look, everyone will assume they are Japanese.
The same thing is true in America. To make his point, Abagond points to Marge Simpson. "After all, why do people think Marge Simpson is white? Look at her skin: it is yellow. Look at her hair: it is a blue Afro. But the Default Human Being thing is so strong that lacking other clear, stereotyped signs of being either black or Asian she defaults to white."
Anyway, I ended up blocking Charisma girl because they wouldn't let up on their "but Asians are drawing themselves WRONG, because they all secretly desire whiteness" take which... come on, dude. Gross.
As someone who is involved in marketing, absolutely. The original poster is WAY too wordy. Nowadays you can't expect someone to read all that, and the only kinds of ads, at least in the US, that have that many words are the disclamers for direct to consumer marketing for pharmaceuticals.
Even though it definitely was too wordy, it still bothers me that someone thought the replacement version was doing the marketing any favors in this day and age...
@@koalaeucalyptus oh for sure. There's a good chance that the marketing team who was tasked with creating a new ad didn't understand what the movie was actually trying to say (this happens when they're not able to actually watch the film before it launches) and had to create a new ad with limited information.
The updated one definitely should have been a better representation of the product. My point was only to confirm that the original ad with its wall of text is likely to get ignored by the modern consumer, and thereby the film company would have been wasting its money buying space to place that ad.
Maybe if they had added ONE word. "Conventionally" between "wasn't" and "pretty"?
yeah definitely too wordy, it just wouldn't have worked unfortunately.. but what they ended up changing it too.. yikes.. just a terrible bit of miscommunication there... Should have bee something like: "What if Snow white wasn't quite what she seemed?" or something. Such a shame it went the way it did tbh...
I read you're involved in marketing
the creator stated that one of the reasons they did the dwarves changing to humans when no one's around concept is because well he said "you may think you look attractive but when you're around others you fear they don't feel the same." and i find it fascinating and absolutely brilliant!
edit: hey! to all my self-conscious people out there you aren't ugly. society has a judgemental mind and it's upsetting i know, but if you agree to their mindsets and think of yourself lowly then you'd only end up with bigger low self-esteem and the chances of getting it back will be a long process. you are beautiful even if you don't agree. (well as long as you're a nice person i guess hehe)
the fact that this is soooo true for me which makes me appreciate the movie so much more. i can look in the mirror right now and i would easily think i look like a model but in public i do my best to not look noticeable because i dont know if others think the same and i (or everyone) hate being judged anyways
Yea not for me i'm ugly either way lol
I feel ugly and when I'm around others I feel more ugly :')
I grew up with low self-esteem and it is hard. I mostly get constant comments about how thin I am and that is attractive (because I am thin but have a decent size in other parts). So I usually wear baggy clothing so people try to see me as a person but not as something else....which is usually the latter.
@@shadowgirl4275 same like people need to realize skinny shaming is just as bad as fat shaming
It's weird when you realize the movie's marketing could have been saved by some air quotes.
Or better editing
“She’s too pretty to be a criminal!”
Me remembering all the hot evil characters in anime: 👁👄👁
Exactly
I see faccttttsssss
Like technoblade
Lol yes! Also love your profile pic!
Honestly, it sounds like this is a lesson on not jumping to conclusions and making wild assumptions. The very idea that people were shaming these actors for their role in this movie when they had nothing to go off of than a single poster is really stupid. The hubris.
Edit: As Ame pointed out, there was also the promotional video--which does matter because it strengthens the negative impression. However, it still doesn't absolve people of openly criticising actors who worked on the project without first scrutinizing the actual movie.
I can't find i min myself to believe that was intentional in the marketing, but it's certainly some poetic irony there.
right the fact people hadn't even seen the film and were still whining is so pathetic
kind of hypocritical, running around, claimind body-positivity "Dont judge a person by its looks, charakter is important, go deeper!!!" and they see a poster, didnt even bother to watch the film and screeching! Doing that what they so despise: Taking one look and judge. Thats way i dislike people who claim to be positiv, they are the most shallow people who roam the earth.
@@sueellentony9404 I don't blame any one for getting the wrong impression and being upset. It is poor representation of the film. However, i don't understand why people then complain about it in an open forum that the affected parties might see and be hurt by.
For example, Michelle McNamara wrote I'll Be Gone in the Dark about the Golden State Killer. She passed away before her book was finished. Her husband and her friend finished it. A few months after it was published, the GSK was apprehended. Her husband tweeted something along the lines of "You gottem sweetheart." You can find a lot of people on the GSK subreddit complaining that she didn't actually do anything that led to his capture and doesn't deserve credit for it. And I just thought, "Jesus. His wife died after dedicating years of her life to this book. Why are you complaining that a grieving husband gave his late wife too much credit. Why is that a thought you feel the need to share on a public forum where anyone in her family can see?" People have no qualms about tearing others down on the internet. It's very frustrating for me.
Kinda reminds me of Jojo Rabbit. Haven't seen it yet but the irony sounds very similar.
Why does the stepmother look like a plagiarised Mother Gothel from Tangled? LOL
Because the dude who led the whole production and animation process worked on Tangled
@@noemicharlotte3267 AHHHHHH I SEE!
Mother Gothel? More like Mother GothLOL gottem (rickshaws)
Actually put screenshots of their younger versions side-by-side. Gothel looks like Cher. Regina looks like Michelle Pfeiffer and Charlize Theron. Pretty different.
Both Snow White and Merlin look like K-idols to me, which makes sense. That's just the style when it comes to animation/comics. Like think the True Beauty webtoon, or the manga/anime style. They have big eyes, but the skin tone, the eye shape, the nose shape, the lips, the body is all very K-idol for both leads. I remember catching a clip of the movie on YT or maybe it was from a review, but it didn't look as bad as the ads were, and I was pleasantly surprised.
And while Merlin bears the brunt of the message, there is a bit of a dip in Snow White's confidence. She starts very positive and proud of herself, and while she never grows to hate herself, you can see that when she can't take off the shoes, it is because she doesn't want to let go of the advantages the shoes gives her. Which isn't because of insecurity exactly, but from realizing that her magical body has people helping her and people trusting her far more than her regular body, so she does have some doubts about halfway through.
ah true beauty....i know this is out of the blue but the drama of that webtoon is facing some criticism for taking Chinese sponsorships in a time when China is trying to claim Korea's culture as theirs so there's that. similar thing with Mr Queen though that one is more so because the original writer is a Chinese who is said to be anti-korean and demeaned korean history.
Great analysis! Also, you are so cute 🥰❤
That's true. It's basically a flat arc - the hero already believes the "truth", but at some point experiences doubt, only to have the truth re-affirmed in the final act. It's a bit subtle but it's there.
I think this Snow White was the prettiest version
I feel really sad that not a ton of people saw the movie because of the poster the movie itself is so good and I really hope that a least a few of the people that complained about the poster on Twitter and went back to see it
I've never even heard of it :(
@@lilredstrawberriez I just found a trailer on UA-cam and happened to click on it
Yeah the marketing did dirty this movie. I wanted to see it cos of the backlash and the voice actors saying it wasn't as the posters said and i came pleasantly surprised.
I do believe the marketing problem lies in...this is a Korean movie...and the culture is different. Therefore new marketing has to be done...and they didn't do it. They just translated the original korean to english and called it a day. NO. The culture is different and people WILL react differently. I'm an advocate for loving yourself and not judging books. That's why i ended up watching and enjoying this movie. When it comes out i will definitely encourage people to see it. More than i already have
I completely forgot that this is a Korean movie
@@bigboomer1013 I don't. The movie has that feel. Which is why I really just saw this ad a big step for korea and their acceptance of not skinny types
True true. In Asian countries people tend to be more blunt about those sort of things and its not considered offensive there.
When it comes out? This movie came out on DVD in September... I actually brought the blu-ray + digital the day it came out! It was a little bit of a quiet release since it couldn’t be shown in theaters.
@@MostlyAnimatedSketches yes, I got it on Amazon as soon as it became available.
I feel bad for Chloe. She didnt make this movie, and sometimes VAs dont even know the full context behind their characters.
Why would people attack her and not go complain to the actual writers/director?!
For goodness sake, I sometimes feel like VAs are the waiters/waitresses of the movie/tv world.
They're just doing their job to read lines and be a character, they're not the ones who work behind the counter and control the food you get !!
Exactly! I hate it when actors get backlash for being in a show or movie people don’t like. They are not the writers!
yeah they arent't charge of the writing and how the character is protrait their job to bring life into the character
Merlin is S-tier Attractive together with Jack Frost.
Bro I loved Jack Frost as a kid
He looks like Jim from trollhunters kindof.
Diania Dusty exactly what I thought lol. I saw him and my first thought was JIM???
@@Ni.61 Yup they do look alike. Merlin is the asian version of Jim.
@@Ni.61 That's exactly what I thought! XD
One minor nitpick about that Shrek clip: Fiona wasn't an ogre all the time. During daytime hours (when one is awake) she was a human and she only turned into an ogre at night (presumably when she sleeps). So she spent way more alert time as a human than not, her parents were human, she grew up around humans... in her mind the ogre side definitely wasn't "who she is." That's a bit different from Snow White who looked and sounded the same her entire life all the way up to trying on the shoes. So I don't see Fiona as "needing validation of beauty" from Shrek, she was genuinely confused as to why the curse put her as an ogre in the end.
I definitely think this film could have benefited from showing us more of Snow White's real self, though--it somewhat underplays its own message by talking about how beauty is on the inside and then showing us "pretty" Snow and "pretty" Merlin through the majority of the film. But that's more of a nitpick for me, I actually enjoyed the film quite a lot and definitely recommend it to others! The animation was gorgeous, and humor was actually pretty good, and the general ideas and concepts of the movie were clever.
Thank you for the comment!
While that's not a bad interpretation of Fiona's comment, the fact that she frames it as "I'm supposed to be beautiful", plus her earlier conundrum of "princess and ugly don't go together" suggests to me that she genuinely felt insecure about her looks as an ogre, not just... "not herself", and Shrek's validation eased this insecurity. If it was more of an identity confusion (but why am I an ogre now?) thing, Shrek clarifying "but you *are* beautiful" wouldn't/shouldn't have resolved that.
I do agree they should have showed us more of real Snow White. I think Merlin spends most of the movie as a goblin though. He only shows his "pretty" self when nobody can see him, which isn't often.
this comment is months old but fiona was cursed from *birth*, she was kept in the tower all her life with only the dragon as company
@@revlo8483 It's been a while since I've seen it but I think in Shrek 2 we found out she was about 9 years old when her parents put her in the tower?
Something I appreciated and related a lot was how at the beginning Snow White never considered herself to be ugly in the slightest and loved who she was and how she looked like but after her experience with the F7 and the outside world, she started realizing just how powerful "beauty" is and became insecure and reluctant to give up the shoes. I felt that deeply. I once lost weight to just become healthier but the way my mom started to obsess with my weight and looks and how everyone was treating me nicer after I losing weight was so...eye-opening and depressing to say the least.
I can relate, I'm really sorry that you had that experience and I hope you're in a better place with this stuff now
Exactly! That happened to me too and because of that I developed an ED... I'm fine now but it's sad to realize how your appearance can change how others treat you
I feel that marketing often does more harm than god for a film, trailers are either misleading or give away the entire story.
But what happened with this film definitely takes the cake.
Jennifer's Body is a good example
As a bigger person (alright fat), I wanna watch this now! It'd be cool to see someone my size portrayed positively.
Do watch it, please. As a bigger girl myself, it was fun and enjoyable. I just loved it.
Yess do watch it! I watched it just now and it's such a great message regardless of body type :)
It was really very sweet and I'm a happy fattie.
@@KheldarLars good for you! I’m glad you’re proud and happy with your body
This movie was awesome. Taught me some lessons
I could totally see a sequel, considering only one of the seven princes actually got their curse lifted. The next one could be about Arthur overcoming his toxic masculinity, or Jack who is self-absorbed (who ironically has an invisibility cloak).
Yeeees. I would love to see thaat
you didn't pay attention to the little thing in the credits with the drawings of the other dwarves found other girls? The one ended up with red riding hood who was the wolf? one was the fish-mermaid girl but with the fish head
@@jocelynecupcake no I saw it, but that doesn't mean they have to stick to those second long moments in the credits.
@@amandawade7803 oh. I kind of liked them tho but that's me
@@jocelynecupcake don't get me wrong I enjoyed them to. It's simply that they were very brief, plus we didn't actually see any of them get their curses lifted. And since Average got turned into a dwarf as well we still technically have seven dwarves.
I know the likelihood of a sequel is unlikely, so just like to fantasize.
As a fellow Red Shoes fan I'm so glad Red Shoes is getting recognized more, the movie really deserves more love. I'd like to add that Merlin is indeed Asian based on the interviews and his magic talisman-paper has writing saying "lightning" in Korean. Also wanted to point out that the editing issues you mentioned around 20:20 is probably due to low budget, since I've seen the concept art for the missing scenes posted by artists who worked on the film :( So actually they didn't have enough budget to reanimate the characters' lips to match the Korean dialogue, it was really weird watching a Korean animated film in theaters speaking Korean while their mouths were clearly saying something else. But above anything else, Merlin is just the perfect snack :D
Huh, I didnt know that! So they animated them in English only, and not Korean? Interesting.
And yeah, for how low budget it was, it was a great flick. 😊
That’s super unfortunate, I wish that scene had been included.
Honestly I quite like that part where he has the verbal realization and addresses it aloud to himself. 1) It shows that he's very quick to think of his appearance as his deciding factor of attraction (it's his default) but for Snow White, he was forced to reevaluating everything because she never actually saw his true form, and 2) It's actually a very common thing, especially for people who's mouth move before they think.
@@mori_nobel Oh I don't mind that he was forced to evaluate it. I just think that you don't always *need* dialogue to show characters gaining insight - and imo, the best quality animations are the ones that use animation to the fullest potential to convey such inner thoughts to the audience *without* the characters having to speak. (Wall-E, How to Train Your Dragon, and pretty much all the Cartoon Saloon movies come to mind).
Where can I watch the concept art of the missing scenes? ):
You hit the nail with "an inch that needed to be scratched". This is my main gripe with Moana. Like you were being prepped for something big and amazing to happen in the end and all we got was a talk. After the her soaring "I am Moana", the ending fell really flat. Just my 2 cents.
So I tried to make this review as spoiler-free as possible, but that said... there is one thing I probably could have been more clear about - while Snow White starts and ends the movie pretty much a fully self-actualised character, the theme of learning to accept yourself and see past appearances DOES exist in this movie (and I wasn't contradicting myself when I was making both of these statements at various different points in my video) - it's just that this theme is embodied by the OTHER characters (particularly Merlin). It's *Merlin* who gradually learns this moral, not Snow White. Merlin is, I guess, the "Fiona" in this movie, although I'm much more willing to give it a pass here because firstly, it's a guy going through this arc, which you don't see much in the princess movie genre, but more importantly - the flaw in his character stems not so much from "insecurity" (like in Fiona's case) but actual *vanity*. This makes the whole "character needs to learn that beauty is more than skin deep" work better in this story, imo, especially as it's fairly explicit that it's his own self-image he's struggling with, not so much Snow White's.
Basically what I'm saying is - this movie deftly manages to avoid implying that "fat girl might be ugly but hey looks aren't everything" and instead gives that arc/theme to the self-absorbed playboy who's cursed to take the form of an actual goblin whenever anyone looks at him.
I think the movie isn’t as popular as it deserves because people saw the „she turns beautiful with the shoes“ part of the movie and refused to learn about the actual message.
IM SO GLAD SOMEONE ELSE THINKS HES A SNACK i freaked out about him and his beautiful voice for like a week after i saw the movie
I am freaking out abt him to this day bro....
just paused to say the male lead definitely looks korean. in fact, when you said the movie was korean and then showed the dwarves in their og forms, i immediately thought "oh are they all different nationalities? bc the one in blue looks korean but the other ones don't", so yeah, he does, you're not crazy. others have said this but he looks like if disney made an animated version of a kpop idol.
May Christ Bless You
"a few Barbie movies" .. risky fandom to mess with ...
„Just because it’s predictable doesn’t mean it’s bad.“
Yes! Tell ‘em, sis! Also the opposite is true too. Just because something is unexpected doesn’t mean it’s good. I had one of my favorite shows ruined just because the writers tried too hard to be „subversive“ and „unexpected“. In the end they made one character a twist villain just because it would be the most „shocking and „unexpected“ if that person were a villain. But the thing is this went against this character‘s core values, personality and threw away three and a half seasons of character development. It also had absolutely zero buildup or even foreshadowing. In the end this not only ruined one of my favorite characters, but also my favorite show at the time. I‘m not even „just salty that my favorite character became evil“. I wouldn’t have anything against that character becoming evil, if it MADE ANY SENSE.
In the end I would rather have a story that is predictable, but continuous and deep than a „subversive“ Story that is shallow and makes absolutely no sense. It’s not that I hate subversions either or that I want stories to „stay conservative“. I love unexpected twists, but Please. Do. Them. Right. Thank you!
What show are you talking about?
Shes such an adorable little dumpling without the shoes I just wanna hug her 🥺
I have a feeling this film will become a cult classic.
Great, insightful review - thank you! And yes, I did think the two lead characters look very Asian. Snow in both forms (but especially her shoes form) absolutely looks Asian, but specifically Korean. Even with Merlin, whether he's in human or dwarf form, his eyes are distinctly different from the other princes'. There were some moments I remember in his dwarf form where they somehow managed to NAIL the Asian look of his eyes in a way that I've never seen done so well in animation before. The animators are honestly so unbelievably talented - sometimes I had felt like I was watching live actors, just from all the little mannerisms and expression details they included in all the characters. Really loved this film a ton! I live in Japan and really hope we'll get it in cinemas whenever it's released here - maybe next year? Fingers crossed, because I want to support the film as much as I can!
this is actually one of my favorite kid films. Yes, there were a few absolutely horrendous marketing choices that made me feel like the ad team didn't even see the film, BUT the movie itself was soooo good. I just wish people would reserve judgement on a films message until they actually see the message of the film...
ANd yes, the best thing they did was making sure Snow was a bit uncomfortable with the thin version and that she only continued to use it because it was why other people were helping her and she recognized that reality. People treated her better when she was conventionally attractive so she used it to her advantage and the only time she struggles with identity is when she's dealing with how other people think she should look. It was so relatable and well done.
I agree with you, this movie's way underrated. And yeah, this movie kind of copied Shrek's thing a little bit, but the main fairytales they referenced to were Snow white and Wizard of oz. I think the "red shoes" also refers more to red riding hood's red hood because we all know Dorothy's shoes were originally silver. I thought this movie had the most creative concept. I hate to see people bash stuff without seeing it, and even if they do see it, they look at things the wrong way.
Also, this movie was not "fat shaming" it was the opposite of fat shaming. It wasn't sexy-shaming either. Snow white looked hot to all the other dwarves, including Merlin, but later Merlin really fell in love with the real snow white and found her overweight-but-not-curvy body to be attractive. PROPS TO THEM FOR STEPPING OUTSIDE THE ZONE! I couldn't expect this in an American movie, let alone a Korean one. The beauty standards in South Korea are just starting to be less competitive around bodytype and skin colors. They still prefer the tall, thin, curvy, fair skinned, big eyed beauty that Snow white "Red shoes" was during most of the film. It looks good in the trailers and that's what moves people to see the movie. Disney couldn't do something this great, though. Nowadays they're always trying to go more for acting or too dark of a story. This was the perfect mix of everything; it was lighthearted enough but still went deep enough in the plot, the characters were great, the designs of the set and backgrounds looked beautiful, and as someone who likes fairytales I loved all the references to other fairytales, even the little ones. I especially enjoyed the art at the end and how cute the designs of the other fairytale girls looked.
May Christ bless you
23:47 even the barbie movies don't deserve to get those rates wtf it should be higher
I recently found this movie randomly and loved it. Despite its flaws and sometimes cringey dialogue, it has a lot of heart and a concept that I think was used really well. There are also some absolutely hilarious lines that made me laugh out loud during the film. I agree that Snow not getting an arc was one of my complaints but luckily Merlin got to have one at least.
Overall, 8/10. A little cringey at times and there are some scenes that could have and should have been omitted but overall it's very fun and has fun characters.
Also, I've subscribed. Your content looks really interesting.
May Christ Bless You
i thought the girl's different sizes were switched differently when i read the poster. Thinking that she was the skinny version first then was cursed to be the bigger size.
Maybe should word it differently.
What is more interesting about this is it was korean. Korean their beauty standard is too high tho and to make this is quite a big project
I love how to train your dragon... Except the ending and arc of 3. I feel disappointed by it. Not because they had toothless leave with the rest of the dragons but because it could've been far better executed than it was.
Oh, check out my video on the Hidden World. You won't be disappointed (unlike how you were by the actual movie. XD)
To me, it was the only possible ending and I loved that last sc3ne!
@@louisacoote2337 It was the only possible ending.... that would destroy the core themes and character arcs of the entire series. XD
(Sorry, I'm still bitter lmao)
@@SneezyReviews I don't know that "bitter" would be a good way to put it, but I definitely came away from that movie feeling like I'd basically watched a special for the TV series XD The stakes just weren't as high as they were in 2, not to mention that while Grimmel is definitely threatening, he's more Viggo-level and not Drago-level (if that makes any sense--honestly now that I think about it he kinda felt like Viggo 2.0 and since those of us who'd seen the TV series already knew what Viggo was like... well). I'll go check out that review of yours, I'm interested to get your take on it!
I remember seeing that poster and a trailer and they were as different as could be. The movie was being condemned for fat-shaming but I thought that it was poorly worded and that I'd check it out anyway when it was to actually be released. The theatres nearby just never did because everyone hated the movie without ever seeing it.
A while later, quite recently actually, did I go and get a version to watch and really liked it. I'm sad to see the movie never even getting a chance with most viewers.
May Christ Bless You
I got this movie recently on Amazon and watched it with my fiance and he said that he identifies with Prince Average on a spiritual level. Also, Merlin, in human form, made me think of Jim from Troll Hunter, except different facial structure, hair style, and different animation.
2:13 Yeah there's old russian version of Beaty and the Beast(which is I think is older than french version) but Beast in this tale turning into prince when he's only by himself which is a lot he doesn't have magical friends or servants that turned into objects, he's really alone,isolated on island with huge castle and garden ,but when Beaty sees him he's turning into hideous,sad monster who can't walk at all and he doesn't have rose(well he basically has flower that brought beauty to his island) and time limit he just simply could die of loneliness until he was discovered by a girl.
I think there are versions of it everywhere. Er have Sort of a German Version where He was Transformer to a Lion because He didn't wanted to marry another Princess. And it wasn't a Rose but a singing Bird. The father knew He had to ask the Lion.
The Prince changed every night to His human Form and they even Had a so'n.
Hey, I know this Video is a little old, but I just discovered your channel and holy cricket, your Videos are amazing! The amount of work and research you put in them, geez I love it!!!
So glad I discovered it, 2will definitely stick around!
One of the things that really confused me about this movie was during the scenes where Snow White had her eyes closed around Merlin and he was in his original form, could she not notice the difference? Like when they were back to back running from Regina's minions and he was telling to run across a bridge to a tree couldn't she feel he was taller than her and that the hand that was grabbing her arm was larger? Or hear that his voice was coming from a higher point and not from the below her? My only guess is that the curse also messes with interactions even when they're in the original forms as well because I feel like otherwise they could have gotten fans of F7 to help by explaining the situation and convincing them by showing the difference when their eyes are closed and open. I did enjoy the fact that the curse was broken by "a kiss from the most beautiful girl in the world" because it's clearly a spin off of "true love's kiss." Most people find their significant other to be the most beautiful whether or not they're conventionally beautiful but since the Fearless Seven are so vain of course they wouldn't see it that way.
I'm also a major simp for Merlin. I usually stick to my 2D manga men and women but god damn the character design for him just *mwha* chef's kiss and Sam Claflin as his voice could not have been better. I loved Finnick (Hunger Games) and he's so good with Emilia Clarke in "Me before You."
Also I love your videos. You were in my video recommendations and I'm so glad I clicked. I like how you present yourself and your arguments. I can't wait for your future content.
This is my personal headcanon, but I think Snow White did sense that he had a "different" form (based on her line "I do feel different..." or smth like that when they're in the barn and he asks her to close her eyes) - she just didn't care the way Merlin did. She loved Merlin for who he was, not what appearance he took, so she never really took note of how he "transformed" when she wasn't looking. That's just my theory anyways.
I'm posting more content as fast as I can - I do have a full time job so my upload schedule is bad, I know. I'm working on it though, I promise! :D
I got the impression she at some point knew that he was under some sort of curse and his original look was different from what she saw, so maybe that's why she wasn't surprised by those transformations.
Another good thing about Snow White in this movie, they don't make her gross when she's fat. With a lot of fat characters in media, whenever they have said characters be confident, they're usually very boorish and have poor hygiene. It seemed like it was going to go that way in the first teaser, but in the actual movie they actually treat her with respect. Her mannerisms are gentle and dainty and, well, princess-esque in both of her forms. She's confident in her body while not being some gross stereotype, and that's actually pretty impressive in terms of representation for fat people, even more so coming from a studio in "harsh beauty standards up your ass" South Korea.
13:37 omg curly hair snow white looks adorable i would have loved to see her that way
At 10:52 in the video, Merlin does the K-pop heart symbol thing with his hand, so I'm pretty sure he's definitely supposed to be Korean
I don't think i've ever watched a video that made me want to watch so many movies at once, I don't like movies that much especially that type of animation but the way you talk about it made me soooo intrested, I'd hear you talk about it for hours. I'll definitely watch it later :) great video I loved it!
the triplets are so cute arent they XD i mean they're all equally cuddly and cute in the smol bean form but I'm partially to the triplets even though they get the least screen time
Merlin looks like a merge of Jim Lake Jr. and that little boy on Rise of the Guardians.
you mean jack frost from rise of the guardians? coincidentally, i heard the character designer for jack frost is korean which is why jack frost looks like a blond kpop idol and is so appealing to koreans.
May Christ bless you
i thought that he looked like jim too! i'm glad to see someone else who knows about trollhunters bc i barely hear anyone talk about it
I will always love this movie because it is one of the few films I've seen that doesn't treat the plus-size girl like a JOKE. There's something particularly scummy about a movie or show that tries to profit off of "body positivity" while still using every worn-out and degrading joke in the book to mock her. This was a refreshing breath of fresh air! I'll happily show this to my kids and my friends' kids one day.
"I think that's giving them too much credit."
Maybe, but you almost had me. That's not a bad way to look at the marketing. Wouldn't be the first time toxic reception to something creepily paralleled it's themes!
I don't know if I am taking this all to lightly, but even taking the poster for what it seemed... I actually thought the idea could be fairly interesting. So what if a princess is not "conventionally" beautiful?
As a fat person, I had similar thoughts - for all that I believe everyone deserves to feel happy and comfortable in their own skin, I find it a bit questionable that we have gone so far in the direction of "everyone is beautiful" that it seems to be adding to the perception that it is unacceptable to be physically "ugly". Like sure, it might make it harder to find partners for romance/sex (and I'm not gonna claim I wouldn't turn a person down as a potential partner for those two things because I didn't think they were hot) but it doesn't define one's worth as a person, you aren't any less precious or wonderful or any less imbued with soul or spirit, in any way less human because of it. That's one thing I actually liked about The Tale of Despereaux (IDK if you have seen it), it seemed to understand this. Anyway, this seems like a lovely movie and I will try and find a way to watch it :)
That Doctor Who reference is just
*chef's kiss*
I had so much fun watching this even if I did not see that much of Jack. Thanks for making this video. I hope more people get to see this
'cause I love the way you explain it....
Thank you!
11:47 Me thinking: " *Finally i can see something perfect exists in this problematic world. What a beautiful movie.* "
12:00 *Oh no damn it*
Thank you for the review, I've seen a lot of "reviews" that say it was fat shaming, and it needed the here's what it's about and yes there are cheese points. This movie is still a hidden gem for all who watch it. I hope more people will look past the bad advertising and give it a try.
I saw Red Shoes for the first time about a year ago I think? It was sometime in 2020 and really enjoyed it. Glad this video popped up in my recommended, I'm gonna go watch it again now :) lol
Can confirm I watched this movie and it is severely underrated in my opinion.
gosh i am SO glad this popped up in my recommended! i paused around 5 minutes in to watch the movie (you did a great job of piquing my interest, your videos are so well made!) and gosh i LOVED it. merlin is literally my icon on discord now lol. seriously, THANK YOU for this = D
The video: “magic paper things”
Me, a blue exorcist fan: “I know of this power”
Your reviews are really good!!!
Thank you!
This is so much more meaningful knowing it cam from South korea where they're obsessed with looks. It's so kind for the creators to make this, I'm sure it helped a lot of kids living in that society
Very informative now I have to go watch this movie.
OMG the conspiracy 17:30 😂 great video! I loved the movie, it was much, much better than I was expecting, even though the pacing was very odd at times. also, the credits?? were???? freaking adorable?????
You know what else is painfully underrated? Your channel
Thanks 🥳 I'm hyped to check it out
I gotta be honest. My friend and I (who are both huge fans of animated movies) were a bit put off by that very first teaser, and didn't watch the trailers and teasers released after that. But, idk a few months or probably a year later when we learned that the movie has already been released and may be available online, we both decided to give it a try. And boy, we are both glad we did ♥♥♥
When I saw the title I was like "YES! FINALLY someone understands how I feel!!!!"
I loved some of them look like K-pop singers, considering the beauty standards in South Korea is fitting the characters need or do love and be proud of themselves just like they are, or grow further than their looks.
I hope netflix picks this up so It can reach a broader audience.
That would be great. Especially if they include the original Korean version.
the tag line should have been simply been, "These shoes are a bother, but they make life easier."
That would have been perfect.
I absolutely love the movies; it's one of my all time faves!
It's really a big shame that the promotion slapped it down ;;
Personally I keep rewatching it haha :)
Also loved the songs they included; I found the scenes really funny when the song started playing and they kinda went into 'fantasy' mode XD
Nice review :D
This video came up in my recommended. Thank you for existing.
I am enjoying your channel so far. I had to laugh at your brother's comment and comparison to Mean Girls - but now that you have said it makes a lot of sense that the characters are Asian. Great points about the marketing on this movie - people tend to over react when it should be obvious it would have a heart warming, positive message if they saw the trailer. Now onto working out where to even watch this movie 😃
I love the theme and meaning of this movie, the ending is beautifully done. It remind us beauty is more than just the outside.
I found your channel a few days ago and am BINGING your videos, and this is another wonderful one!
When the backlash happened I was so confused because it was so obvious to me that the lesson would be to accept yourself? I was around 17 at the time and even then I was thinking “why is everyone so mad? It’s obvious that the plot is learning that you should love yourself no matter what you look like.” But people don’t think that much before throwing a fit on Twitter apparently 😤 it really is a shame, this movie is beautiful and gorgeously made I wish it did better..
Saw your little note and yes I would LOVE for you to make a video on A Silent Voice. I just watched this Snow White movie last night, I had been meaning to for a while because I wanted to watch this video of yours and have the context. I really enjoyed it! I wouldn't have seen it if it wasn't for this video, so thank you. As always your breakdown was excellent and I agree with a lot of what you said.
I loved your channel. I hope you recognized by more people. You are one of my favorite UA-camrs now.♥️
Thank you!
@@SneezyReviews No, please. Thank you for sharing your unique, perspective changing thoughts. I admired your Cindrella and Belle videos. I loved this Red Shoes video so much too. I haven't seen such unique thoughts about cartoon movies before.
I want-I NEED MERLIN IN MY LIFE.
It would be cool if, a dragon fell in love with a princess.
well one of the prince falls in love with a fish in the credits sooooooooo lmao
@@msk-qp6fn lowl. Im making an AU on their love story
I planned to watch it, but didn't have time due to uni. Saw Ur vid today and decided to finally make some time for it.
THANK YOU!
It was so great. You were absolutely right about it plus most of the time I wanted to just squeal because the side characters were so cute!
merlin is a piece of perfection
And now I’ve subscribed. This is the second insightful review I’ve watched by you. And I’m also going to go check out this movie. I’d heard none of the promotional stuff for it, so I didn’t even know it existed, but it sounds like a fun take on the Snow White tale. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.
You’d think the outraged people would be the ones coming to aid the film.
I just discovered your channel (thanks to Zutara!) and I really like the videos you make. Will definitely check this movie out and keep up the good work!
I first heard about this movie being fat-shaming, then found it on Prime while browsing with my family
Both me and my sister immediately told our dad that the movie was body-shaming by having SnowWhite transform into someone beautiful, but luckily my dad is a curious person, so he decided to watch it and see if it actually was that way
I was utterly wrong and I loved the movie and would still watch it more than Disney's SnowWhite - I'm very happy to have been proven wrong about this movie
Goes to show that marketing doesn't show the end-product; my most favorite Disney and DreamWorks movies are all forgotten or have been underappreciated because of more popular products: Atlantis, Treasure Planet, Spirit and Sinbad
wait how do you not have over 1k subs? the video quality is so good i was honestly shocked when i saw how underrated ur channel is- i subscribed
Snow White is a really loveable character in the movie. She's strong(literally) and confident about herself and she likes all the dwarves as they are despite their appearance.
My favourite scene has her pulling out Excalibur and putting it right back which is pretty badass.
THANK YOU! I love this movie so much and I can't get enough of it.
Hi! I wanted to thank you for reviewing this movie as it is really a damn shame how much shade this movie got as I genuinely love the movie and think of it as a good guilty pleasure movie that makes you feel good. And I am happy that more people are talking about it now!
As for the comments about "being too beautiful to be a witch" or "Princesses don't look like a witch," I think - at least how I see it - is the movie not so subtly touching on the idea that if you are conventionally pretty, you are not evil or how people equate beauty to good. I can see this being a take on the idea that people assume because you are beautiful looking and fair, you should be seen as beautiful and therefore good. Kinda like how most Disney princesses are portrayed as really beautiful compared to either their counterpart/ antagonist that is not as pretty (The woman in Beauty and the Beast all talking about how pretty Belle is while they are not looking as beautiful as her or the line of "Her looks have got not parallel" comes to mind)
Now, is it a bit much? Oh yeah. I would have liked it done more in visuals - show don't tell - that beautiful people seem to have things easier and a commentary that just because someone is beautiful does not mean they morally reflect that good vibes people think comes with beauty. But either way, I do think that if it had more time to flesh out the world and cut down in some places, I am sure we could have had more moments touching on this more or even more moments with Snow/ Red with Merlin as a dwarf and do the show don't tell again that looks can be deceiving and even flesh out the queen more to make their parallels stronger that the Queen only wanted looks and power and is vain because of her looks and how the world sees her as opposed to Snow where everyone might look down on her, but her kind-hearted nature stays true no matter what she looks like. And that, in turn, makes Merlin have that internal look as well in himself the difference in people.
Either way, this was a good review, and happy I came across your channel!
Not only is the movie being reviewed is underrated, so is this review, like I appreciate the amount of in-depth review of the production and even point out some of its flaws. I remember witnessing the ablaze of people getting wild on the marketing, and yeah it really did it dirty and it took one of the artists i follow to talk about how the marketing was so wrong. And god this movie, makes me smile and GOD its just criminally underrated
I love this film so, SO much and it definitely deserves more love! I have a real soft spot for it because IRL I do pretty much look like a live-action version of this Snow White (in chubby form, shortness and all 😅). So I may be biased, but there is genuinely a lot to enjoy in this, despite its flaws, so thanks so much for making this video!
And yes, Merlin is, in fact, an absolute snack.
Sis, was that My Fair Princess? My childhood!
I can't believe you don't have a bigger following! Your videos are so well-researched and I love the editing!
Considering as Beauty and the Beast had no stockholme syndrome in it...
He let her go and then she came back on her own, to save him.
I discovered that clip with the purple dress and the dwarfs wanting the shoes like literally eight years ago, and have been following the progress of this movie that entire time. When I could finally watch it I freaked out!
Sideways does a video about the music in Shrek. He mentions that the characters are trying to follow societal norms. I think Fiona always liked being an ogre. She just never realized she could disregard society's idea of how a princess looks and acts. Shrek shows her she can be her true self. It's not really a commentary on weight, it's more about authenticity.
Oh I loved this movie! It’s so sad the marketing was so bad. Can you do the Stockholm Syndrome video? Though I thought the ending was too quick and that disappointed me a bit. A Silent Voice was phenomenal!
One tweet: “The entire plot line is sick!”
Oh so you know the entire plot line before the movie came out? How interesting 🤡
Cool. I was scared away from the movie bc of the advertising, but know I am really excited to watch it.
That twitter mob made me cringe so much since I have seen the movie, and just hating on Chloe oof.
This movie was going to be released in January and my friend and I were super looking forward to see it, but Brazil ended up having a second wave of COVID-19, so the movie theaters are closed once again...