Red Shoes and the Seven Dwarfs Parent Guide

The Fearless Seven are a group of heroic princes who travel across a magical kingdom rescuing princesses, until one day they get on the bad side of a fairy princess who curses them by turning them into green dwarves. The only way to get back to their normal selves is to be kissed by a beautiful princess. At the same time, Princess Snow White (Chloë Grace Moretz) is searching for her missing father when she comes across a magical pair of shoes. When she puts them on, her appearance changes to make her more conventionally “beautiful”. These shoes belong to Snow’s evil stepmother, Regina (Gina Gershon), who will stop at nothing to get them back. Snow, now going by the name Red Shoes, enlists the help of the Fearless Seven, who see her as a means to breaking their curse. Together they set out to defeat Regina and find the missing king, while hopefully breaking the curse along the way.

Red Shoes and the Seven Dwarves is a fractured fairy tale, much in the same style as Shrek or Hoodwinked. The writing is clever, the story is original, but the world is familiar. The movie doesn’t waste time on worldbuilding, and it doesn’t need to. The writers chose instead to focus on the characters. Each of the seven princes are given distinct personalities and flaws, and we come to care about each of them as they learn and grow. Snow White is a strong, confident woman who can hold her own against the men, but who also has some personal growing to do. The jokes are well-written, and even adults will find themselves laughing. Prince Average (Jim Rash) and the Magic Mirror (Patrick Warburton) are particularly hilarious, as well as perfectly cast.

As far as the message of the film goes, it takes a little while to get where it’s trying to go. For about the first half of the runtime, the body-acceptance message can feel a bit muddled, and at some points almost contradictory. Red Shoes is seen as beautiful because she is tall and slender with big eyes and lips. While wearing the shoes, she notices how people treat her differently. When she is in her magically transformed body, people are kind and helpful, even going out of their way to give her free things. When she takes off the shoes, she is short and plump. As her real self, she is ignored at best, and bullied at worst. Although she enjoys the special treatment being “beautiful” gets her, she also expresses not feeling like her true self in this new body and missing the strength she had that her frail frame now lacks. The commentary here really is how the world treats people differently based on their outward appearances. Snow and Prince Merlin (Sam Claflin) both have to learn in their own ways to love themselves and to love a person’s true self, not their looks. I think that for children, this is a heart-warming story about self-acceptance and that appearances don’t matter. Is it perfect? No. One could quibble about some of the finer details of the messages in the film, absolutely. But on a surface level, which is really what kids are going to take away from it anyway, I think Red Shoes is a great starting point for discussions about conventional beauty, self-acceptance, and loving people for who they are.

Lacking much objectionable content, I feel I can whole-heartedly recommend this movie. I really enjoyed it and I laughed a lot. Kids will enjoy the magic and the silliness, while adults will appreciate some clever jokes and an original story. This is also a perfect jumping off point for important discussions about appearance and self-worth.