CLASSIC REVIEW: SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS
While contemporary movies can be excellent sometimes, nothing does match the experience of watching a good-old black and white film, where the only thing higher than the trousers the men wear is the quality of work put into the movie. That's why, from now and then, I'll review a classic movie, pertaining to something relevant happening nowadays, a trend of some sorts.
That's exactly what's happening now, and what an odd trend it is: Snow White. In passing when you hear about Snow White you smile and are remembered of the 1937 Disney version. It's a cute movie, you think. Have you ever really dug down and thought about the premise, the idea, the essence of Snow White really is? A poor girl, whose father died, gets sent out into the woods to be killed by someone her insane stepmother hired (and to bring back her heart nonetheless, ewww)...and that's just the beginning. Seven half-sized men see her sleeping in their beds (perhaps they've never seen a woman) and flip out. By the middle of the movie, she's singing songs with them, making them dinner with her whimsical bird friends. Then the Queen comes in, disguised as an old bag (the first appearance of the queen always scared the bejeezus out of me as a kid) and gives her a poisoned apple. A kiss by a prince brings her back from the grave (naturally) and she rides off, leaving the dwarfs woman-less and singing-animal-less.
Once you think about it that way (and why should you) Snow White really is a startlingly odd movie, especially for kids. Can you imagine what a live action adaption, featuring the same script and everything, would've looked like? It's really humorous.
With the kid-centered "Mirror Mirror," which got a mixed reception (a friend gave it a negative summary: "It sucked.") and "Snow White and the Huntsmen" coming out soon, the fairy tale has gotten considerably big press of late. So why not go back to the source material, the one, the only "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs?" As a bored freshman I dug up some old VHS (yeah, laugh it up) tapes, and as a kid I ate up anything with the Disney logo, that backwards G passing for a D always made me think. "Snow White" wasn't my favorite animated movie as a kid (or now). It's not even my favorite Disney movie (That'd be "Dumbo," but that's another review). It is still one of the all-time greats in terms of movie-making, and is the first animated (and colored) film in America. That's a pretty big accomplishment for a talking mirror and seven pint-sized coal miners.
While I won't waste time summarizing the plot like before, "Snow White" is beautifully appealing, both visually and mentally. The movie, in astonishing Technicolor, looks even more amazing when viewed for today's audiences, imagine what the people of 1937 thought it looked like. While Pixar films are typically dazzling in their imagery, there is somewhat a lack of....charm when an animated movie isn't hand-drawn. The countless hours of work put into "SWATSD" must be astonishing. Detailed, motion-capture animation like that of "The Polar Express" is exciting, but kind of creepy. "Snow White's" vague, yet telling face expresses all that needs to be told. The dwarfs are an absolute hoot as well: Grumpy was always my favorite of them, mostly because my mom tells me that's the dwarf I was most like.
As far as villains go, animated or otherwise, "Snow White's" queen has got to be up in the ranks; #10 on the American Film Institute's list, actually. She's up there with Hannibal Lecter, Darth Vader and Norman Bates; and all she does is give Snow some fruit. It's a fantastic, over the top model for evil animated movies would be driving into the ground for decades to come. Oh...and the music in the film; simply the stuff of fairy tales. "Whistle While You Work," the scene where she sings with the birds and deer....enchanting.
The film's climax is one of cinema's finest, dark, gloomy, yet exciting and positive because we all know fairy tales are going to end with a smile. While there are only 11 human characters in the whole movie (that's legit, by the way) "Snow White" couldn't feel any more humane and innocent, and is worth a fifth or sixth viewing with your child (or by yourself, no one's judging.)
Rating: 4 poisonous apples/4
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| The always-smiling Kristen Stewart vs. "Mirror Mirror's" Lily Collins |
Once you think about it that way (and why should you) Snow White really is a startlingly odd movie, especially for kids. Can you imagine what a live action adaption, featuring the same script and everything, would've looked like? It's really humorous.
While I won't waste time summarizing the plot like before, "Snow White" is beautifully appealing, both visually and mentally. The movie, in astonishing Technicolor, looks even more amazing when viewed for today's audiences, imagine what the people of 1937 thought it looked like. While Pixar films are typically dazzling in their imagery, there is somewhat a lack of....charm when an animated movie isn't hand-drawn. The countless hours of work put into "SWATSD" must be astonishing. Detailed, motion-capture animation like that of "The Polar Express" is exciting, but kind of creepy. "Snow White's" vague, yet telling face expresses all that needs to be told. The dwarfs are an absolute hoot as well: Grumpy was always my favorite of them, mostly because my mom tells me that's the dwarf I was most like.
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| My counterpart |
As far as villains go, animated or otherwise, "Snow White's" queen has got to be up in the ranks; #10 on the American Film Institute's list, actually. She's up there with Hannibal Lecter, Darth Vader and Norman Bates; and all she does is give Snow some fruit. It's a fantastic, over the top model for evil animated movies would be driving into the ground for decades to come. Oh...and the music in the film; simply the stuff of fairy tales. "Whistle While You Work," the scene where she sings with the birds and deer....enchanting.
The film's climax is one of cinema's finest, dark, gloomy, yet exciting and positive because we all know fairy tales are going to end with a smile. While there are only 11 human characters in the whole movie (that's legit, by the way) "Snow White" couldn't feel any more humane and innocent, and is worth a fifth or sixth viewing with your child (or by yourself, no one's judging.)
Rating: 4 poisonous apples/4
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