Review - Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)

        Hey guys, Chuck here, and as we continue to celebrate one hundred years of Disney, let's talk about the animated film that is referred to as "the one that started it all." This is my review of the very first full-length animated feature film: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Released in 1937, this film was a labor of love by Walt Disney and his animation team, and it proves that big risks pay off. But, we'll get to that in a minute. First, let's talk about the movie. 

       So, the movie tells the story of the princess Snow White. She lives a life of a castle servant girl, while her stepmother serves as the Queen. An Evil Queen of you will. The Evil Queen frequently confers to her Magic Mirror, where she asks the Spirit within the mirror "who is the fairest one of all?" And as long as the Spirit of the Magic Mirror tells the Queen that she is the fairest, Snow White will be spared the jealous wrath of the Evil Queen. 

      One day, however, while consulting the Spirit of the Magic Mirror, the Spirit tells the Evil Queen that another is the fairest in the land: Snow White. Snow White, meanwhile, is doing her daily chores out in the courtyard, where she sings near the well, which she tells a family of doves is a wishing well. Her voice, however, attracts the attention of a handsome prince, and sparks fly between Snow White and the Prince. The Queen, overcome with jealousy and madness, hired a huntsman to take Snow White to a flower glade near the forest, kill the girl, and bring her heart back in a box. Unfortunately, the huntsman can't bring himself to kill Snow White, and tells her to run and hide in the woods. The woods, which are seen from the terrified perspective of Snow White herself, are truly the stuff of nightmares, and as a kid watching the movie on videotape, even I found it to be just creepy and terrifying. However, it isn't so bad, as Snow White is eventually brought out of her stupor by some woodland critters, including a deer, a turtle, a few squirrels, a couple chipmunks, a litter of rabbits, and a whole bunch of birds. The forest critters all lead Snow White to a small cottage in the middle of the forest where she can find shelter and rest. 

       The cottage itself, unfortunately, is rather filthy, so Snow White takes it upon herself to clean the house, including getting rid of the cobwebs, sweeping the floors, cleaning the dishes and the laundry, things like that. Of course, the forest critters all help as well, and they even pick a bouquet of goldenrods. Aww, that's nice. Snow White even goes as far as to prepare a nice warm dinner for her hosts, whomever they are. 

       Speaking of which, we then go from the cottage to a diamond mine in the mountains. Here, we meet the seven dwarfs: Doc, Happy, Sleepy, Grumpy, Sneezy, Bashful, and Dopey. The seven work all day digging up rubies, diamonds, and other precious gemstones in their mine. Once the day's work is done, it's back home to their cottage in the woods. Returning home, the seven are shocked to discover the place all clean, and to later discover Snow White asleep in their beds upstairs. Initially, Grumpy wants her gone, and especially so when they learn her stepmother is the Queen, as Grumpy is fearful of the Queen's wrath. However, when she offers to keep house, clean, and cook things like apple dumplings and gooseberry pie, the other six dwarfs decide that Snow White can stay. So, Snow White and the seven dwarfs enjoy a nice meal of hot soup that Snow White had made for the evening. 

         The Queen, meanwhile, consults with the Spirit of the Mirror once again, and the Spirit still declares Snow White to be the fairest in the land, with the box given to the Queen by the huntsman holding the heart of a pig and not the heart of Snow White. So, taking matters into her own hands, the Queen cooks up a brew that alters her appearance to that of an old hag, who then cooks up a second brew called the "sleeping death." The Hag dips an apple into the brew to poison it, and turns the poisoned apple red to tempt Snow White into biting into it. After learning that the only cure for the sleeping death is "love's first kiss," the Hag brushes it off and goes off to get rid of Snow White with the poisoned apple. 

          Back at the cottage, Snow White and the dwarfs are having fun with silly music and stories. As it gets to be late, Snow White is given the beds of the dwarfs, who sleep downstairs. The next morning, Snow White shows them off to work in the mine, all while she keeps up with maintaining the cottage for them, even making a gooseberry pie for Grumpy. The Hag shows up, and offers Snow White the apple. Knowing something is wrong, the woodland critters go on the attack against the Hag, only for Snow White to shoo them away. This prompts the critters to go after the dwarfs to get them to turn around and save Snow White, whom Grumpy realizes is in danger from the Queen. The Hag, meanwhile, convinces Snow White to bite the poisoned apple, putting her into an endless slumber. The dwarfs go after the Hag, and she tries to take them down with a heavy boulder, leading to her own death instead. Ding Dong. The Queen is dead. 

         Unfortunately, the dwarfs are too late and believe Snow White to be gone for good. So, they place her in a glass coffin, but don't bury her. As the seasons go on, the Prince finally arrives, having heard of the maiden in the glass coffin. Walking up to her, the Prince gives Snow White a kiss, which wakes her from her slumber. The dwarfs are truly elated, and the happily see her off, as she and the Prince go off to live happily ever after. 

         Now, I grew up watching Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs on videotape, and so it was a very important part of my childhood. That being said, while I admire the fact that this was the first ever full-length animated feature film, I do see places where Disney played it too safe, too simple. The Prince, for instance, is a fine example, as he only appears twice in the entire movie. Also, a lot of the designs with the cottage, the castle, and so on being very base. However, this was the first time an animated movie was feature length, so I can give a lot of that a pass. 

       Now, the writing is probably at its strongest when it comes to the Queen and also the Dwarfs. Now, everyone has their favorite of the Dwarfs, mine personally being Dopey and Happy, and they are easily the most memorable characters in the movie. Now, what makes the dwarfs stand out, along with the Queen? Personality. These characters are written to have several dimensions and strong personalities. Which is good. 

       At the end of the day, we as Disney fans wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which is why I'm giving the movie a rating of 5/5. Now, in March of 2025, Disney will be teaming up with director Marc Webb for a live action remake of the movie, which is simply titled Snow White. And seeing as the film is set to feature rising star Rachel Zegler as Snow White and Wonder Woman herself Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen, it definitely has a lot of promise. Anyway guys, this is Chuck signing off, and I'll be back Tuesday with my retrospective on the John Wick franchise starring Keanu Reeves.