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Title: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
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Parents, this film is suitable for all ages. |
Back when Walt Disney decided that he wanted to break into the feature business with a full length cartoon, Hollywood was calling him out. Cartoons were little shorts that were shown before the REAL movies, they weren't of high enough quality to be serious films themselves! People wondered whether or not people's eyes would get hurt from all the bright colors for an hour and a half. Called "Disney's Folly" more then the actual movie title, "Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs" had an uphill battle from the start (esspecially considering that the movie almost bankrupted Disney when it was finished). Thankfully, the finished product put everyone's complaints to rest, as "Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs" was claimed to be an instant classic, and became the highest grossing film of all time (until "Gone With The Wind" broke that record two years later). As you all know, "Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs" begins with the explanation that a powerful queen gave birth to a daughter of great beauty. Afraid that the young girl would someday surpass her in beauty, she dressed Snow White (as she was so named) in rags and forced her to work in the castle.
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Everyday the evil queen would ask her magic mirror the famous question, "Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of all?" As long as the mirror answered "You are my queen" Snow White was safe. In the interest of having a movie where something happens, however, we come in after the queen has asked her question, and the mirror replies "Snow White." Furious by this answer, the queen orders a hunter to kill Snow White and bring back her heart in a box. The hunter finds himself unable to kill Snow White though, and instead warns her to run away from the queen, as he gives the queen the heart of a pig. Snow White runs into the forrest and stumbles upon the cottege of the seven dwarfs, who all have such names as Doc, Sleepy, Gumpy, Happy, Bashful, Sneezy, and Dopey. The dwarfs take a liking to Snow White, and allow her to live with them in their house and sleep in their beds (and this didn't raise any eyebrows back then?). Of course, we all know that Snow White won't stay there forever. For starters the prince, who appears in less then five minutes of this film, is looking for her because he falls in love with her after one simple duet. The other reason is because the queen finds out where Snow White lives, and will attempt to kill her with some poisen apple.
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Until then though, there will be gags, chase scenes, and tons of songs, the most memorable of which is "Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho, It's Off To Work We Go," which has become a classic song that everyone knows. Watching this movie now leaves you with a bit of a strange feeling inside. This movie is more then seventy years old. Keep in mind, this WAS the first animated fillm ever made! That said, the years have scarred this classic. Oh don't get me wrong, this is still an enjoyable movie, but the whole things feels a bit naive. The storyline is nothing complicated, and if Disney weren't TRYING to make a motion picture, this might have survived as a forty-five minute special instead of a eighty minute movie. That's not to suggest that this movie is slow or too long, but looking at this through adult eyes shows just how little happens during this movie. Everything that does happen is mostly entertaining, but if you haven't seen this film since you were a child, you may be surprised at how simple "Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs"really ends up being. For how much of a classic this film has become, for how much we remember thinking it was the coolest thing in the worl when we were kids, for how good the songs are, this movie is so simple I almost went mad.
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The area where this is most evident is with the dwarfs themselves. Yes, it's cute that their names reflect their personalities, but it just goes to show how one note all the dwarfs really are. This is esspecially troublesome when you realize that the dwarfs make up for over half the cast members in this film. The only dwarf that gets any complexity to the character is Grumby, and that's only is you really consider the fact that he goes from opposing Snow White's pressence the most, to becoming the dwarf who comes to care for her, and by the end of the movie is more happy then...well, Happy. But really, that;s about the extent of the character development we get in this movie. Even Snow White herself is kind of bland. She's got a 30's style haircut, talks to cute little animals, and is so sweet she very well may give you cavities. Oh, and steer clear of this movie if you hate cute critters, as cute critters are EVERYWHERE in this movie!
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They help clean the house, they sing, they knock things over, everything. I guess the reason animals are so dominant in this film is because animals are easier to draw then humans, but they might just get to you. Speaking of which, one thing that does stand the test of time is the animation. The animation is beautiful. It's arguebly even better then some of Disney's more recent animated films (I'm looking at you "Home On The Range"). It's also nice to watch the queen in action, as watching this movie proves that she's just as scary now as she was when I was seven. I must make it a point that I don't think "Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs" is bad in any real way. Overall, I think "Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs" as a whole is better then the sum of its parts.
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While you enjoy the movie itself, you end up coming to terms with how far animated films have come. The best example is actually the prince, who does almost nothing but gets the girl anyway. Compare the prince in this film to the prince in "Beauty & The Beast," and there is no question which prince had to work harder for the girl. The prince in this film represents how shallow this film is. That while it may be great entertainment, there isn't a whole lot of substance to be found here. Heck, I'm even finding it hard to find things to talk about here. I can comment that I like the movie, that a couple of the songs are catchy, and that the animation holds up, but I'm finding it difficult to bring up anything that would warrent talking about this movie for more then five minute. The fact that the film is still good on some level seventy years after it's initial release definitly gives it the status of "classic film,"but man, it sure is a simple classic. So yeah, that's where I'll leave my review of "Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs": a classic, but a simple classic at that. Revolutionary in many ways, yet also terribly dull if you're not in the right mood.
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