Snow White modernizes its fairy tale around its winning star, but the classic elements flop—from the dwarfs to the Evil Queen.

As it turns out, this is one of the better live-action adaptations of a Disney animated feature — and I say that as someone who mostly doesn’t like them.

In the new story, written by Erin Cressida Wilson and directed by Marc Webb, we are introduced to Snow White as a girl (Emilia Faucher). She’s a princess in a royal family that we’re told is magnanimous, more concerned with being fair to the people of the kingdom than “fair” in the sense of beauty, the obsession of the Evil Queen.