Writing Advice Wednesday: How to Give Constructive Feedback pt. 2 (SNOW WHITE & A MINECRAFT MOVIE)

In my last Writing Advice Wednesday post, I mentioned that my raw notes tend to be more... Casual.

Honestly, they're more like insults than feedback.

This week, I thought I'd get a little vulnerable with you all and show you my raw notes, so you can see exactly how I take those and turn them into something coherent and constructive.

To really test my mental limits, I sat through what is arguably the worst double feature of all time:

SNOW WHITE (live action remake) and A MINECRAFT MOVIE.

I'll be showing you my raw notes for both movies, which I took in real-time as I watched.

(yes i was on my phone writing these. no, i wasn't disturbing anyone. i was sitting all the way in the back, and both movies had only 1 - 5 people in there, all of which were sitting several rows ahead of me. i'm a respectful disrespectful notetaker 💅)

And then you'll see my ✨professional✨ write-ups based on my notes.

So let's get into it!

---

As a fair warning, not all of my notes are even relevant to my actual analysis of the movie.

I literally just wrote down every thought I had while watching.

Y'all are getting inside access to my brain that no one else gets. Seriously.

You're welcome.

Or sorry.

😘

Also, for both films, I genuinely did not care enough to look up the names of any of these characters after watching, so excuse my use of "the kid," "the guy," etc. You'll still be able to tell which characters I'm referring to though 💅

Now onto the notes for the first film I watched: SNOW WHITE (2025)

Click below to expand and see my full notes.

SNOW WHITE notes

movie start time: 11:10am

1114

decent opening song, explains the world and establishes characters pretty well and is a good tune. i assume its all downhill from here

1115

gal gadot jumpscare

1118

this bandit guy looks exactly like her dad???? is he her long lost brother??

"all she thinks about is how to help her people" wait i thought it was just established she has no power and is locked away, and this guy is saying no one has seen or heard from her in years.... soo.... ?

1120

yeah no this isnt landing... when was it established that anyone was struggling in this town? did i miss it?

1122

we're spending way too long in this dining room

1123

im on the queen's side tbh. "what are you gonna tell your people? you made desserts?" like yeah girl what exactly is your plan to rule a kingdom

1128

so does he believe she's the princess now? or why did he think she was in the dining room lol

1129

wait what exactly made the mirror say snow white was the fairest NOW? is it literally just that her hand touched someone on the outside and now other people in the town are aware of her beauty? or is it "fair" as in kind, and because she let the bandit go? if so, why was she not deemed fair before this, and why was the queen the fairest of them all before this if shes always been evil?

1130

literally laughed at gal's "ARE YOU???" sorry to the one other guy in this theatre who must think im nuts

1133

and the purpose of falling in the water just to get to this other part of the woods is....? why couldnt she just land on land? is it because shed probably die from that fall? why make the fall so high then? so many solvable problems that they created themselves. so many questions

1135

theres sunlight underground? thats where she is right? since she fell so damn far

1137

oh my god these dwarves are freaky omg im gonna be sick i hate this cgi uncanny valley crap

1138

no seriously i may have to walk out of this movie im actually nauseous

1139

please let this song end..... its not the hit yall think it is dinsey..... please end my suffering

1140

less hi-ho more bye-ho please 🙏😢

1142

sorry but this animation is so odd. why do they move in like slow motion. this is making it even harder to watch

1145

why does grumpy sound far away. did he record his lines 30 feet from the microphone

1147

gal gadot singing jumpscare

1148

im still on the queen's side like shes a fierce baddie!!!! cute outfits, lots of sass, loves herself, has no mercy....

1149

so much money spent on this movie and they didnt shoot enough coverage... this is like the 3rd time im seeing a cut on action to an earlier point in action, as if we wont notice? this one was towards the end of the song when gal raised her arms up. we cut to her doing the same motion twice

1153

i literally dont care about snow white at all. she has no flaws no real goals. sure she said she wants to help people but thats so vague. and she isnt doing anything NOW and wasnt doing anything before to follow through on this goal. her goal now is to escape death, nothing else.

1155

goosebumps for my queen rachel. amazing singing. so beautiful

1158

"when my father was king..."

"oooh..."

LMFAO

1202

so he does believe shes the princess now. why didnt he believe her before when he met her in the castle lmao

so this guy has the same outlook as the queen.......... "people are mostly bad." but we're supposed to like this guy, clearly........ soooo what does that say about our villain hmmm? her point is valid and snow white's is bs???? :)

1203

"princess problems" ok now i like the bandit! tell her how it is!!!

1204

so is the lesson for snow white / her flaw that she needs to stand up for herself / not be so trusting and reliant on others? thats what like everything seems to be saying at this point, especially this song "princess problems"

1206

wait how would snow white joining the fight make it a "fair fight?" because shes fairest of them all hmmmm? ;)

no but fr what does that mean

also seriously why is she offering to help to begin with... she has no combat training and literally has a manhunt out on her. she have a death wish?

1211

"if we can give up all our scraps we can inherit what was meant for us and its bigger than you could ever imagine, you just have to believe" girl what are you on about. you had a point about everyone having to put their differences aside but then you said all this nothingness

1212

aint no way bandit boy can move like that after that shot he took. NO WAY. arms raised and clapping and shit.

also why are they having this loud ass party when they know theres people out to get them????

1213

im not buying this romance plot and its odd how so many characters are mentioning it all of a sudden. like theyre trying to convince the audience we should be into this.

1214

so while she sings this silly little love song im gonna take the opportunity to say -- if i had never seen the original film and knew nothing about this story, id be like wtf is happening and why should i care. especially about this romance. also are the mines / jewels the dwarves are so obsessed with ever gonna come back into the plot in a major way or is it just for funsies.

1215

also its like.... this bandit guy said from the beginning how much he respects and believes in "the true king," and he knows snow white is his daughter... shouldnt she be a little suspicious of his motives here? like that he wants to become king? or wants to fuck her dad 🤔 but seems like she does too so maybe theyre the perfect match

1219

"you look familiar" yeah he looks exactly like your ex husband girly

1220

as much as i love a villain song, this is like the third one and we definitely didnt need it. maybe its just how close it is to the last song -- literally like 5 minutes ago. couldve used some room to breathe but also seems they likely cut a scene or two between when the bandit is captured in the net trap and when hes brought to the queen

1222

every scene with the dwarves is like "you dont really have to go right? its so dangerous out there" and snow white's like "yes i have to, i need to find my dad!" like please give us some variety here

1224

whats the point of the queen asking if shes snow white. girl is in a princess dress like......? whomst tf else would she be. even pretending to be someone who doesnt know her, this is very silly. and why would snow white answer when there's a manhunt on her ass at this point like........

1226

girl stop chewing spit the apple out!!!!!!!!!!!

1229

are we supposed to be sad shes maybe dead. like. girl was being stupid trusting some creepy lady at her door and eating the apple she gave her. she fell into a trap.... WILLINGLY!!!

1232

i didnt even think about this part. how is disney gonna approach this kissing-while-unconscious thing in our woke 2025 era

1233

oh they just did it. okay honestly mad respect

1234

she has her first kiss and immediately thinks of her dad. freud was right

also did i miss the part where it was explained why the kiss wakes her up? pretty sure i didnt

1236

sorry i literally busted up laughing at dopey speaking. so sorry to the one other guy in this theatre. actually pretty sure hes asleep rn so...

1237

everyone in the kingdom looking at snow white like "um. okay?" LMFAO

1238

also didnt we establish in the beginning that no one knew who tf snow white was bc she was hidden from the world. so how does everyone know her now.

1241

did i miss an explanation for why the queen has actual magical powers but no one else in this world does? like wouldnt you want someone with magical powers to rule the land. sure she's evil but it'd be better to have her on your damn side

1243

snow white pulling a "STOP THIS ISNT YOU!!!!!!!!"

1245

couldnt the queen just conjure up another dagger. why does she have to leave. because everyone's telling her to? if it was that easy why didnt they do it sooner

the mirror explaining that snow whites beauty comes from within.... so was she not beautiful on the inside before??? why was the queen ever "the fairest" if shes evil and most other people in this world are good / "beautiful on the inside"?? im lost

1248

did snow white learn anything? did anyone learn anything?

1249

credits thank god

And I turned all that mess into this coverage report:

Standard Coverage – SNOW WHITE (2025)

The film begins with a solid opening musical number that effectively establishes the world and backstory, but the storytelling quickly begins to unravel from there. Aside from plot holes, underdeveloped characters, and quite frankly creepy CGI, the film struggles on a fundamental level: it doesn’t know what it wants to say or why it exists at all.

To be fair, the German fairytale source material was written in an era where storytelling was more about expressing moral lessons rather than developing character arcs and structured plots. What made Disney’s 1937 animated film adaptation of Snow White work wasn’t the plot -- it was the charm. The musical numbers, the animation, and mainly the personalities of the dwarves brought life and character to a story that would otherwise have very little.

In this live-action remake, while the dwarves are physically present, their souls are gone.

On a visual level, their designs are uncanny valley territory.

On a character level, their personalities are so flattened, it's hard to even remember that their names are supposed to tell us everything about them.

Aside from this, the film sticks pretty close to the animated story, while adding just enough to make the plot different. Not different in a fresh way, just a confusing way. Rather than adding depth to the characters or world, the fleshed out elements simply raise questions that go unanswered.

In the original, it was clear how the magic mirror deemed who is "fairest." It was simply based on physical beauty. In this adaptation, "fair" is based on inner beauty, which is stated outright in the end when the mirror tells the queen that Snow White's beauty comes from within. Since this is the case, why was the evil queen ever told she was the fairest if she's always been a bad person? Why was Snow White only made the fairest after freeing the bandit, when she had a pure, kind heart all along?

Another question the original adaptation doesn't put us in a position to ask: why does only the evil queen have magic powers when no one else in the world does? And why does she not use them in the exact moment she would need to most? In the climax, someone shoots a dagger out of the queen's hand, but instead of conjuring up another dagger, like we've seen her do countless times with ease, she runs away. She's ultimately "defeated" because she just decides not to use her magic for some unknown reason.

These inconsistencies / plot holes make the story frustratingly hard to invest in.

Thematically, the story is even more confusing. Snow White seems to learn nothing and change in no discernible way in the end. And throughout the film, the villain has a clearer perspective, more defined goal, and truer outlook on the world than Snow White does.

Snow White believes most people are good, while the evil queen (and the bandit / love interest!) believe most people are bad. The film provides no case or evidence for why we should believe most people are good like Snow White does, and almost exclusively shows people behaving badly throughout the entire story. And when even the love interest shares the same core principals as the villain... Well, it makes the whole theme fall flat, doesn't it?

The protagonist herself is another major issue. Snow White has no real flaws, no clear emotional arc, and no strong driving force beyond “find out what happened to my dad.” For a story that should center around this young woman's growth, independence, and self-discovery, it’s oddly male-focused and emotionally flat.

Additionally, her obsession with her father (and the fact that her love interest looks suspiciously like him) pushes the story into somewhat uncomfortable territory. It's unclear how intentional this was, but it starts to seem purposefully incestuous when the first thing this girl says after kissing her love interest is something about her dad. What message are we trying to send here?

Overall, Snow White tries to walk the line between honoring its legacy and modernizing the story, but ends up doing neither effectively. The dwarves have no charm, the protagonist has no agency, and the theme has no clarity. There’s a stronger, more thoughtful adaptation to be made here -- one that honors the original’s spirit while giving Snow White more depth. But the attempts this version makes at that ultimately end up being convoluted, male-centric, lacking in charm, and leaving the protagonist an even more hollow character than she is in the original film.

---

After watching that movie, I was actually super hype for A Minecraft Movie.

Maybe even more hype than these guys:

Despite how excited I was, I was still going in with low expectations. Which were surprisingly not met in the film's first act.

Click below to expand and see my full notes.

A MINECRAFT MOVIE notes

movie start time: 1458

1458

"as a child... i yearned for the mines" got a genuine lol out of me

1459

"same shirt same pants only thing missing was my soul" off to a killer start

"i wasnt meant to sell doorknobs!" im all in

1500

imagine if chris pratt was jack black's character. thank god he isnt but thats the clear type they were going for here and im glad jack black was the choice.

1501

"it was good except at night which happens every 20 minutes" LMFAO

this movie is capturing the fun and silliness of the game really well. kids in this theatre are eating it up and tbh so am i!!!

1502

jack black had a green screen and a dream. and he achieved it

1503

animation is 100000x better than snow white. and the budget was probably way less

1506

from a kids perspective, may be confusing why we're focusing on this video game arcade guy now.

its clear this guy is probably meant to become a minecraft player at some point soon here, but im not sure this will click for kids right now

1509

"i wouldnt cash that for about 6 months" lol

1510

"this man has no respect for the storage community"

so far if i were running a studio id greenlight the hell outta this

1511

okay two new characters.... so this will be an ensemble story where each character gets into the minecraft world in one way or another, and they all have to work together to save the world

1513

so these kids are supposed to be the protagonists........ very odd way to start the movie tbh, focusing on momoa's character for so long first. a little disorienting.

1515

jason momoa rambling incoherently then "any questions?" LMFAO i love this character

1516

"the fire in our marriage went out 20 years ago but we stuck it out for the dogs" lol

this is one of the few examples where the humor being rooted in randomness actually works (for now at least). it helps with world-building and tone setting.

1518

wait the kids cut the wire but the jetpack was still able to power up? how?

1519

"can you come to my school and pretend to be my uncle"

"no way i dont do that stuff anymore"

dead

"whoever divorced you is a complete idiot"

crying

need a full movie with this momoa's character only

1521

why do the female lead characters always have to be the straight-laced, responsible, sensible, no-fun ones? while the boys get to be whatever they want to be and go on adventures and be silly without worry.

1522

thank god danielle brooks is in the minecraft world too otherwise we'd have no funny women here

1529

wow and of course, despite the female ones being established as the "smart" and resourceful ones, the male characters are still the ones who figure out exactly how the rules of the world work.

if youre gonna be misogynistic at least be consistent!

1532

not "youre my little boo thang" during a creeper fight scene

1534

"always address me because im the leader"

lmfao

but once again joke ruined by having the female characters say dismissive shit like "hes not the leader" "dont listen to him." news flash these jokes arent funny!!!! especially when exclusively given to the female characters!!!!

1535

"everyone wants to sue me when i hit them with my JEEP GRAND CHEROKEE"

brilliant ad drop

1537

omg this is a musical???????

1538

"i have a small business too, the one thing i do is make sure my jingles dont suck butt"

genius

1539

"garbage man, youre a big time idiot" come on..... this isnt funny. the humor given to the female characters is literally just roasting the male characters (who are way more likable and relatable), and not even in a smart way. its like theyre trying to make us hate these women. im just getting pissed off now.

1543

"yeah i know... thats why i made them." lol

1544

the female characters are always either: worried, stressed, scared, annoyed, caring, or sad. meanwhile the boys are always exploring, playing, creating, adventuring, and having fun.

1546

aint no way "unalive" was just used unironically in this movie.

well actually it is the minecraft movie...

1548

"let me tell you something LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING" is this a reference to that video of the guy about to go on the bungee cliff dive

1552

red alert: jason momoa and jack black 69. this is not a drill

now when do we get the jennifer coolidge and villager sex scene

1553

yeah of course the girls are toooooo stupid to figure out how the rules of the world work!

1553

i got what i asked for literally one minute ago (jennifer coolidge x villager). theyre on a date ok lets see where this goes.

1554

"he didnt have any personality... not like you" lmfao

1556

i think the main issue is theres no actual bonding happening with any of the main characters. theres no room for it with all the cutaways to the boring scenes with the girls

1557

of course the female characters have to have the emotional, sad scene. at least this time they have the girls killing creepers in somewhat funny ways.

1559

a lot of jason momoa ass shots. interesting cinematic choice

1602

so jason momoa's character just falls apart with one criticism from a kid? this emotional scene is so unearned

1603

"you arent alone. i was your friend." didnt seem like it, kid.

theres no bond between them. in order to establish one, we shouldve seen examples of how the kid learned something from jason momoa / ACTUALLY saw him as a mentor instead of just saying it once early in the movie before even really knowing him. show us how the kid looks up to him. because the whole time momoa is just an idiot and the kid doesnt seem to really pay him any mind while hes doing his own exploring / creating.

1604

"are you finished?"

"no i think hes sweedish. but we're done with our meal"

i laughed out loud

1609

another momoa ass shot. this is cinema

1610

"thats what friends do." since when did jack black and momoa characters become friends

1613

i literally dont care what happens to any of these characters bc there are no emotional stakes. i wouldve honestly gotten rid of the sister and danielle brooks and just keep the male trio. this wouldve given more time to flesh the characters out and provide emotional stakes. plus would remove all the misogyny. double win

1615

and maybe im an idiot but it wasnt clear until right now that the orb thing is gonna be used by the antagonist to make it always be night. seems like this couldve been stated or alluded to a bit more? or maybe the long the box thing was out of the minecraft world, the longer night became? instead of every 20 minutes its every 5, and gets longer and more frequent the longer they go without the box and cube thing combined? make the stakes more visible / tangible throughout. for the most part theyre just battling random villains

1620

seriously just remove the two female supporting characters and this movie would instantly be way better. most misogynistic thing i may ever say

1621

the climax is boring as hell because the comedy is just gone at this point. this is clearly in attempt to focus on the stakes, but without better character development and clearer / more tangible stakes throughout, this doesnt land.

its a great zone-out opportunity. its now 1624 and i feel ive missed nothing

1625

"come closer... no really its about you..." then she pulls another knife lol. shouldve implemented some more of this comedy throughout the climax!

1627

i was almost ready to tap out and was getting annoyed by this song but then the "doggie doggie doggie" came in and i was back baby 😎

1630

but what about jennifer coolidge? 😔

seriously no resolution??????

im staying through the credits.

1631

oop there it is

the villager's line is hilarious. and jennifer speaking "villager" is killing me

need more of this immediately

1632

at the beginning of the movie, if i were a studio head, i wouldve greenlit this

by the end, i wouldve fired the idiot who greenlit this

And here is my coverage report:

Standard Coverage - A MINECRAFT MOVIE

The film is hilarious overall, with some truly laugh-out-loud dialogue and standout performances by Jason Momoa and Jennifer Coolidge. The tone is playful and chaotic in a way that feels true to the Minecraft brand, and the animation is visually engaging throughout. Unfortunately, the story itself could use some work. The core cast of characters is about 2 too many, which takes away time and space to focus on the trio actually leading the plot. As a result, their emotional arcs fall flat, particularly towards the end when the story goes for a payoff it hasn’t properly earned.

The emotional arc between Momoa’s character and the main kid never quite lands because there are no moments where we see them truly bond. They go on a lot of shared missions of crafting, fighting enemies, and exploring, but there are few meaningful moments that build a relationship between them. So when the dramatic rift between them happens towards the end of act 2, it falls flat with almost nothing to support it. With more time and space to flesh out the relationship between these two before this point, this beat (and their arcs as a whole) could have landed in a stronger way.

The main thing getting in the way of this is honestly the two one-note female supporting characters, who take up large chunks of screentime yet contribute arguably nothing to the plot. Their storylines are basically just being worried about the male characters, and every line they say can be boiled down to: “I’m smart and you guys are stupid!” “Ah, I’m scared!” “Oh no, what do I do?!” “Thank you for saving us... but also, you’re idiots!” and “Now here’s what we have to do next!” Their personalities are almost solely defined by fear, nagging, or being the annoying straight-laced responsible one.

What's interesting is the two female leads are established early on as the smart / responsible ones, yet they’re the only characters unable to figure out the logic of the Minecraft world on their own, while the male leads get to be silly, playful, and ultimately save the day through simple discoveries. Not only is this dynamic misogynistic -- it’s inconsistently misogynistic, which is worse. There’s also an ongoing tonal dissonance whenever the film cuts back to them. Their scenes are clearly intended to be dramatic / emotionally driven, but despite this they fall flat because we haven’t spent enough time with the characters to actually care.

Removing the two female supporting characters entirely would not only eliminate the misogyny problem, but would free up valuable space to build the bond between the main trio — especially the kid and Momoa’s character, whose relationship is clearly meant to be the emotional spine of the movie.

Another concern is the inconsistencies in antagonistic force and overall stakes. For most of the film, it's unclear what the antagonist wants beyond having ownership of the cube + a vague desire for power. It isn't ever truly made clear what sort of power the cube can grant someone aside from the ability to enter the real world, but the antagonist doesn't seem to be after that. Towards the end, it's mentioned that she wants to turn the Minecraft world into a state of permanent night. This would be an excellent visual way to establish the stakes, but it's never quite done in a consistent way that relates to the antagonist directly. Instead, for the most part, the three heroes are overcoming random dangers and villains with little direct relation to the antagonist until close to the climax.

Overall, the film has undeniable comedic highs, excellent performances, and visuals that serve the Minecraft brand well. The humor, especially early on, is strong enough that many viewers won’t mind the issues with the plot. But from a story and character perspective, the film suffers from an overcrowded cast, undercooked relationships, a lack of clear emotional stakes, and some genuinely troubling gender dynamics.

There’s a better version of this movie buried in here... One that simplifies the supporting cast to let the core relationships play out in a compelling way. As it stands, the film is entertaining but frustrating.

---

And there you have it!

As you can see, a lot of the notes I had didn't make it into the coverages.

Even though I stand by all my notes (especially the silly ones), I focused the reports on what I believed to be the biggest issues with these films.

It's like what I said in my elevator coverage video -- the main points are the ones you should make first. The details can be expressed later.

I didn't include my more specific notes in these reports because that would just dilute the main points. Getting so specific would be a bit nonsensical, considering there were much bigger concerns with these films that need to be addressed before tackling minor plot holes / unfunny jokes.

However, if I were giving revision notes on these films, I would have definitely included all my notes (written up in a nice way hehe), and I would've been more specific with suggestions to improve the stories.

Did YOU see the Minecraft movie? Or Snow White?

What are your thoughts? Leave them in the comments below!