Review of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1938) by Jeremy K — 10 Apr 2011

Disney's first ever full length animated feature film, is still among its best. Some people will argue that 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' is aimed at younger female audiences. But the reality is that it's less a targeted film than a full, enjoyable family film. Whether it's the story itself, the outstanding animation, or the extensive bonus features included on the second disc of the most recent dvd release, it goes without saying that it's wonderful to see that Disney has kept this classic of classics alive so many decades after its original release.

Disney has a reputation for taking classic (and mostly dark) fairy tales, and cleaning them up--to a point--for younger audiences. that means making changes to the story. That's obvious in Disney's rendition of 'Snow White...' What makes this acceptable is the fact that they at least acknowledge this in the "The Ones that Started It All" bouns feature. This in depth feature gives an indepth story behind how Disney's rendition of the classic story came to life. The acknowledgement itself helps audiences to suspend their disbelief in watching the story.

Another positive to the story is the animation itself. The statement is made in the aforementioned bonus feature as to how easy it is to just churn out movies that people consider "animated" thanks to advances in computer technology. That ease has made many animators lazy, for lack of better wording. The comparison of said animation to the animation presented here is proof positive of that. animators who made movies by hand, rather than computer paid so much more attention to detail, when making classic animated movies. As a result, those movies actually look more real than computer animated movies and tv shows.

'Snow White...' may be considered a movie aimed mostly at younger female audiences in the current era of movies. But in the grand scheme of things, it is among the most timeless films of all time, period. The animation is outstanding. The story is simple enough for audiences both young and old to follow. And although it does have a certain amount of darkness to it, that darkness (hopefully) isn't enough to give younger audiences nightmares after watching the movie. In considering all of this, it goes without saying that while it may be seen as just one of Disney's "princess movies" today, it will remain forever not just one of the best animated films of all time, but one of the greatest overall films of all time.