Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Well known as the "One that started it all" Snow White is also one of Disney's most well known classic films, and for good reason.

Snow White also made use of the multi-camera and upon watching this in Blu-Ray it really became evident of how well the camera was put to use with the visual clarity being offered in this format. Of course upon seeing it in dvd you can still get full enjoyment from the animation in Snow White. It's really quite a feat considering how just a few years before this, we had very, very rubbery human characters in the Silly Symphony "Goddess of Spring." To compare Persephone from the Silly Symphony to the human characters in this film, you can really see how far Disney's team has come given how realistic our characters look. We also get two really great scenes that are nearly as trippy to watch as Pink Elephants On Parade. The first is when Snow White is running through the forest, frightened by everything as the trees and forest warp to scary images such as grasping hands and alligators. The second scene is later on as the Evil Queen transforms herself and we briefly see the world spinning as her spell works its magic. The story is also rather well paced as we get time to enjoy our characters instead of simply rushing on through things.

Moving along to our characters the pacing is actually a slight hamper to Snow White herself. The main problem with Snow White is that we spend so much time with her that we really discover how plain and one-note she is. Her sweetness is very overdone and borders upon pandering when she coddles the dwarves like a mother, despite being much younger than they are. This is rather ironic as the dwarves themselves were supposed to be one-note characters in terms of personality as each one represented a different emotion. Instead they are just as well fleshed out as the Evil Queen, and more fleshed out than Snow White is. The one dwarf who really stands out is Grumpy as he is the total opposite of Snow White and yet is still shown to  care about her well being despite his gruff exterior. As for our villain, the Evil Queen has been described as so frightening and realistic that Walt Disney himself said that he would never make a villain like that again. Despite having the least amount of screen time, the Evil Queen is a very powerful character who has presence even when off-screen and has some really great scenes especially the previously mentioned transformation scene, which frightened me quite badly as a young child to the point that I refused to finish the film.

The last thing to really touch note on is the music itself. Snow White has some very memorable songs that are still well known even today. There isn't really a whole lot to mention about the songs, so I will also take a moment to note that the score itself is timed well to the action on screen and not just there to evoke a mood. This really helps the film and is most effective at the very end when there is no more dialogue and instead it is up to the music and a background chorus to drive the story as Snow White's tear-jerking funeral occurs and her rescue by the Prince as he gives her loves first kiss.

It is quite easy to see why Snow White is such a classic, as well as why it is held to such a high degree. In a few short years Disney went from short cartoons to producing a film like this that quite easily changed and influenced animation as a medium.

5/5