More than any other Disney movie Snow and the Seven Dwarfs is the
closest thing that can be said to be a direct creation of Walt Disney
himself. Though he had long given up actual animators duties to run what
had come to be far and away America’s greatest cartoon studio, Disney
still closely worked on the production of
just about everything produced at the
time but even more so when it came to Snow White.
Disney’s entire career up to the late thirties had been built upon his ability to innovate and his willingness to take huge, uncalculated career threatening risks. He introduced sound to cartoons with Steamboat Willie (at great expense), he introduced color to animation and technicolor to film in general with his Silly Symphonies (at great expense), and he drastically improved upon the role of story and character in cartoons as well (at great expense). The next logical step, and something a number of people in the entertainment industry had long been hoping for, was to take his creative impulses and great attention to detail (and poor financial planning) and apply it to the creation of a full length animated feature film. And Disney agreed, realizing that the future of his company rested on achieving that very thing. Shorts just weren’t profitable, then or now, and therefore Disney had to break into the business of making movies in a more traditional sense to stay afloat.
Snow White was something like five years in the making and cost something like six times what was the intended budget of $250,000, which itself was around ten times the budget of a conventional Disney cartoon short. It was a groundbreaking undertaking of monumental proportions. The studio had to expand by hundreds of artists in order to get the work done on time and Disney even had to take out a mortgage on his own house to finance the project at one point. What looked like an obvious next step for animations greatest visionary gradually began to look like the beginning of the end for Disney studios. Snow White would have to be improbably successful if Disney was to even break even and Disney was working in uncharted waters. Would audiences have the stamina to sit through a feature length cartoon?
The debut of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs has turned into one of the great milestones in film history. Not only had Disney reinvented the animation industry, again, but he also produced what the critics unanimously believe to be one of the greatest, most likely the greatest, animated film of all time. The film got a standing ovation, earned Disney some academy awards (not for best picture though), made giant piles of money worldwide, and ensured the success of Disney studios for the hard times that would be brought on by the war in the future. So what do I think about it? Is it really the greatest animated movie of all time?
Darn close. Snow White is fantastic by most anyone’s measure. Animation wise, it is a very beautiful thing to behold and up until that point there had never been seen anything even remotely like it. In fact, not only was Snow White the first full length cel animated film, but I am fairly certain that it was also the first completely color film as well. Disney also opted to portray his human characters in a more realistic manner, compared to his other cartoons, and though at times a little wonky the results are fairly spectacular. For instance, every detail of every motion of Snow White herself is beautiful and expressive. From the looks and gestures she offers as she chastises the Dwarfs for having dirty hands to the look of shock as she turns to see the huntsman standing over her with a knife. We’re used to this kind of fine detail in animated films now but at the time it must have been earth shaking to see a cartoon out perform flesh and blood actors.
The story itself is also a lot of fun if not somewhat contrived. Snow White is beautiful, through and through (a sort of saint), and her evil step mother though ironically very beautiful externally just cannot match the beauty of Snow White where it really counts. a In a rage of jealousy the queen orders the murder of Snow White (yes, this is the very first full length, cel animated film and it has a character that wants to murder another character) but thankfully, as it turns out, the guy commanded to kill Snow White isn’t nearly as big a douche as the queen and he warns Snow White to run away. Fearful and confused, Snow White dashes into the woods, in one of the films best sequences wherein she has visions of trees coming to life and attacking her, and there she is helped by animal friends to find shelter. She happens upon a cottage where seven cute and funny Dwarfs live and much classic Disney cartoon shenanigans ensue. But the queen, ever vigilant douche that she is, still wants to kill Snow White and so she “disguises” herself as an old, slightly less than attractive woman with a cursed apple. Snow White bites it and falls into a Sleeping Beauty style death-sleep. The Dwarfs overcome the queen, and the Prince who’s barely in the movie at all, comes like literally out of nowhere and kisses Snow White back to life.
It's simple and gripping, the pacing is very good, and while the film is also full of fun cartoon antics, like a funny scene where animals help Snow White clean house to “Whistle While You Work”, most everything pulls the story forward. Speaking of the music, it’s actually one of the very best Disney soundtracks out there and while Snow White has an admittedly strange voice she can also sing like the dickens. I mean she hits notes that I didn’t even know existed. Character wise she is also unique. Though she sort of sets the mold for all Disney princesses to come, there is something wholly unearthly about Snow White as she is the one Disney princess who is actually presented as being essentially perfect in virtue. I know this is going to sound awful but I am not joking when I say that she reminds me of the Virgin Mary. When I think about the life of Mary and how she was when she walked in the world I imagine something very much akin to Snow White. Many people find this to be a flaw in the movie (and my character) but I personally love the way she is portrayed in this way.
Disney’s entire career up to the late thirties had been built upon his ability to innovate and his willingness to take huge, uncalculated career threatening risks. He introduced sound to cartoons with Steamboat Willie (at great expense), he introduced color to animation and technicolor to film in general with his Silly Symphonies (at great expense), and he drastically improved upon the role of story and character in cartoons as well (at great expense). The next logical step, and something a number of people in the entertainment industry had long been hoping for, was to take his creative impulses and great attention to detail (and poor financial planning) and apply it to the creation of a full length animated feature film. And Disney agreed, realizing that the future of his company rested on achieving that very thing. Shorts just weren’t profitable, then or now, and therefore Disney had to break into the business of making movies in a more traditional sense to stay afloat.
Snow White was something like five years in the making and cost something like six times what was the intended budget of $250,000, which itself was around ten times the budget of a conventional Disney cartoon short. It was a groundbreaking undertaking of monumental proportions. The studio had to expand by hundreds of artists in order to get the work done on time and Disney even had to take out a mortgage on his own house to finance the project at one point. What looked like an obvious next step for animations greatest visionary gradually began to look like the beginning of the end for Disney studios. Snow White would have to be improbably successful if Disney was to even break even and Disney was working in uncharted waters. Would audiences have the stamina to sit through a feature length cartoon?
The debut of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs has turned into one of the great milestones in film history. Not only had Disney reinvented the animation industry, again, but he also produced what the critics unanimously believe to be one of the greatest, most likely the greatest, animated film of all time. The film got a standing ovation, earned Disney some academy awards (not for best picture though), made giant piles of money worldwide, and ensured the success of Disney studios for the hard times that would be brought on by the war in the future. So what do I think about it? Is it really the greatest animated movie of all time?
Darn close. Snow White is fantastic by most anyone’s measure. Animation wise, it is a very beautiful thing to behold and up until that point there had never been seen anything even remotely like it. In fact, not only was Snow White the first full length cel animated film, but I am fairly certain that it was also the first completely color film as well. Disney also opted to portray his human characters in a more realistic manner, compared to his other cartoons, and though at times a little wonky the results are fairly spectacular. For instance, every detail of every motion of Snow White herself is beautiful and expressive. From the looks and gestures she offers as she chastises the Dwarfs for having dirty hands to the look of shock as she turns to see the huntsman standing over her with a knife. We’re used to this kind of fine detail in animated films now but at the time it must have been earth shaking to see a cartoon out perform flesh and blood actors.
The story itself is also a lot of fun if not somewhat contrived. Snow White is beautiful, through and through (a sort of saint), and her evil step mother though ironically very beautiful externally just cannot match the beauty of Snow White where it really counts. a In a rage of jealousy the queen orders the murder of Snow White (yes, this is the very first full length, cel animated film and it has a character that wants to murder another character) but thankfully, as it turns out, the guy commanded to kill Snow White isn’t nearly as big a douche as the queen and he warns Snow White to run away. Fearful and confused, Snow White dashes into the woods, in one of the films best sequences wherein she has visions of trees coming to life and attacking her, and there she is helped by animal friends to find shelter. She happens upon a cottage where seven cute and funny Dwarfs live and much classic Disney cartoon shenanigans ensue. But the queen, ever vigilant douche that she is, still wants to kill Snow White and so she “disguises” herself as an old, slightly less than attractive woman with a cursed apple. Snow White bites it and falls into a Sleeping Beauty style death-sleep. The Dwarfs overcome the queen, and the Prince who’s barely in the movie at all, comes like literally out of nowhere and kisses Snow White back to life.
It's simple and gripping, the pacing is very good, and while the film is also full of fun cartoon antics, like a funny scene where animals help Snow White clean house to “Whistle While You Work”, most everything pulls the story forward. Speaking of the music, it’s actually one of the very best Disney soundtracks out there and while Snow White has an admittedly strange voice she can also sing like the dickens. I mean she hits notes that I didn’t even know existed. Character wise she is also unique. Though she sort of sets the mold for all Disney princesses to come, there is something wholly unearthly about Snow White as she is the one Disney princess who is actually presented as being essentially perfect in virtue. I know this is going to sound awful but I am not joking when I say that she reminds me of the Virgin Mary. When I think about the life of Mary and how she was when she walked in the world I imagine something very much akin to Snow White. Many people find this to be a flaw in the movie (and my character) but I personally love the way she is portrayed in this way.
This isn’t to say the movie is, for me, perfect. But it sure comes close and I do consider it one of the best movies ever made. The one major flaw, though, is the role played by the Prince and his virtually non-existent relation to Snow White. He professes his love to her briefly at the beginning of the movie and then just shows up, without good explanation, at the right place and at the right time to break Snow Whites curse. I mean she’s dead like a couple of minutes and there he is happily singing on the back of a horse. But how in the name of Texas does this guy know not to be worried but to show up happily singing a song and then just kiss her? He knew how to break the spell, but why? And also if Snow White is the princess then what does that make the prince? Is he like her brother? Maybe her cousin....maybe? A strange wandering prince that is unrelated? How can the princess marry the prince from the same castle? Do I want to know?
Whatever. It’s a classic and beautifully engrossing.
I give it 4.6 juicy red apples
As stated in the movie, the prince did not happen came out of nowhere. He heard rumors of a maiden sleeping in a glass coffin, and came looking for her suspecting she was Snow White.
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