Disney Animated Marathon: Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs (1937)

Film #1 in the Disney Animated Marathon!

Written By: Dorothy Ann Blank, Richard Creedon, Merrill De Maris, Otto Englander, Earl Hurd, Dick Rickard, Ted Sears & Webb Smith
Directed By: David Hand

There are fairy tales and then there are fairy tales. Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs is a fairy tale of epic proportions, a part of the cultural lexicon, a piece of animation history and the first full length animated film. Those are all outside factors, and on those issues alone entire books could be written, and have. What we are here to discuss are the internalized merits of the film, Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs. Before I launch into the review you are all expecting I am going to give you a simplified version of said review, this is an amazingly awesome movie and an experience unlike any other. There you have it, Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs in a nut shell and my token response any time I am asked about this film.

Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs is beautiful to behold, to this very day it features some of the most jaw dropping animation ever seen in the animated field. Yes, the techniques have been refined and improved over time, but there is still a crispness, cleanness and detail to the animation in Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs that had never been seen before and holds up today. There isn’t a moment that goes by in the film where you aren’t wowed by one frame or another, some sort of movement, a bit of shading or depth that you somehow missed on your twelfth viewing. There are shadows, there is light, there is a foreground and a background, this isn’t a four minute animated short, this is a robust world that just happens to be animated. Above all else what may be most impressive about the animation are the characters, they aren’t stale cardboard cutouts. The Dwarfs move, they have personalities. Snow White sings and is ever so much innocence personified through her movements. The animation isn’t just beautiful, it is alive.

Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs is such an impressive picture that it could work as either a drama or a musical. It is very adult in its themes and in its portrayal of darkness and death. The Queen doesn’t just fall, she dies and we know that because of the vultures. Snow White doesn’t just run through the forest, it becomes a nightmare during her journey. This isn’t a kiddie film by any means, it is a very adult picture that takes on issues like death, vanity, greed, love, friendliness and more. But, at the same time Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs is full of friendly characters that sing their butts off. Every song works, they aren’t just cute songs, they help the story, they are functional songs, but they also sound great. You want a genre busting movie then look no further than Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs.

I could go on an on about Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs, it is that fantastic of a movie. It is a lovely film, full of innocence and virtue, but also hiding a darkness within its folds. The animals are whimsical, the songs are sweet, the characters are full of life, the animation is lush and vibrant. There have been countless animated films since Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs, yet this film has held its own against every single one of them. No matter how many years go by Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs remains one of the finest animated fables ever constructed and a timeless classic. I shouldn’t need to recommend this film to anyone, it’s Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs people, if you haven’t at the very least seen this then I don’t know what to tell you! That’s more than enough superlatives and hyperbole out of me, just watch the movie for the first time or for the twentieth, Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs is a film that speaks for itself.

Rating:

****

Cheers,
Bill