Review of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1938) by Harry W — 14 Aug 2013

Snow White and the Seven Dwarves is clearly a classical work of animated genius. As one of Disney's earliest works, it has the vibrant colours of an excellent animation as well as all the zany characters and atmosphere of a classical fairy tale.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarves is a story dealing with an iconic princess, one forced into doing the deeds of a servant to please her stepmother. The contrast between the two characters who symbolise evil and innocence causes a unhealthy fixation stemming from the vanity image obsession Queen Grimhilde has strong moral importance to it and is detailed well in Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. Plus, the additional characters added in by Disney to this classic fairy tale, the seven dwarves, are a charming little bunch of fellows who lighten the mood of this dark story and give it the Disney feel that it really requires to appeal as what it wants to appeal as. And the music is well crafted and sung with skill, making it a classical Disney musical extravaganza of a fairy tale. Basically, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves is an animation classic and thoroughly an entertaining one.

Amongst the negatives which I only say because the standards for animated films have drastically changed over the 76 years since the film's release in 1937, by today's standards the pacing is rather fast for a film as short as 83 minutes and one with a plot as thin and basic as Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. Also, the atmosphere seems a bit empty at times and some of the creativity in the music isn't used for all it can be, but you can't judge Snow White and the Seven Dwarves too harshly on this because it was the first full-length cel animated feature film and the earliest in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series so things were still getting perfected. It's just potential that audiences today may have a minor aversion to this, and I did indeed notice them.

Alas, it does not prevent Snow White and the Seven Dwarves from being the fantastical animated extravaganza that it was in 1937 and still is in 2013.