"Snow White had a reverse Harem before it was cool."
Movie Title-Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Release Date-December 21st 1937 (at the Carthay Circle Theatre)
February 4th 1938 (Nationwide US release)
Walt's role during production-Producer
Budget-$1,488,429
Box Office-$418.2 million
The Disney Animated Canon is an all time classic when it comes to animation. It is this franchise that has created so many memorable, magical experiences with billions of people worldwide. And the films within it are some of the most influential in the entire history of animation. There are 56 movies in the canon so far. 2018 will bring us another bringing the total to 57 with Wreck it Ralph 2 and 2019 will give us the 58th with the second Frozen movie. On this show, Evan Vs. Disney, I'm going to review every movie within the animated canon and rank them all against each other from best to worst. Now Disney has a large empire in the entertainment industry so what exactly is a part of the canon is kinda confusing. I recommend reading the TVTropes Page to get a list of the exact movies within the canon. But first off there's no live action movies in here. So no Mary Poppins for example. Even movies that are a mix between live action and animation aren't included like Roger Rabbit. No movies by any of Disney's subsidiaries are here either. So no Pixar, Marvel, or Lucasfilms movies. So to put it simply these are animated films made by the main Disney company. I'm not saying I will never review any of those other films, but they won't be a part of this series. Either way, I have a lot of work ahead of me. 56 movies, and more to come. The only logical thing is to just start. I'm going in order of release so lets start with the first picture from Walt Disney. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
But first...History Time. Yay!
This was the very first full length cel animated movie in history.
As such there was a lot of trouble producing this film. Both his brother and his wife told Walt to just give up on the idea of a full motion animated picture. Walt was determined though.
In fact he was so determined that he was willing to mortgage his own house to cover the financial cost. I really want to know what his wife thought about that decision.
Before movies Disney worked on theatrical shorts. Their biggest series of theatrical shorts was called Silly Symphonies. Named very similarly to Loony Tunes and Merrie Melodies.
However both series of theatrical shorts were very different.
However that's not what this blog post is about. It's about this movie. Walt wanted to expand his company to the realm of films and it all goes downhill from there.
It was originally thought the movie could be covered with a budget of $250,000 which was 10 times the budget of a Silly Symphony. However the budget got much higher than that. As seen above the budget was over 1 million dollars.
The production began in 1934 and was officially announced to the New York Times as the first movie under the name Walt Disney Productions in June of the same year.
A lot of people in the film industry thought this movie was gonna fail apparently, but it ended up as a success both financially and critically. Also, fun fact, this was Hitler's favorite movie of all time. Weird to think a guy hell bent on mass genocide loved this sweet and cutesie Disney Princess movie.
And that's where it all begins. The beginning of the Dinsey Animated Canon.
And as such it is also the first movie in the first era of the Disney canon. The Disney Classic Animated Films Era or The Golden Age.
So is this movie that good? Was it a good first entry to the canon?
Well lets get to the review and find out.
So what's the plot. There's an evil queen that is immensely jealous of her daughter's beauty and fairness. So she puts her to work as a maid. The queen asks her magic mirror everyday who the fairest in the land is. As long as the mirror says she's the fairest of them all Snow White is safe. But one day the mirror says Snow White is the fairest as such the queen sends a huntsman to kill her. The huntsman can't bring himself to do it so he tells her to run away. She eventually stumbles upon a little cottage that happens to belong to seven dwarfs. Snow White says in exchange for letting her live there she'll take care of the house and cook. She pretty much starts acting like a mother towards these guys. Anyway after the evil queen finds out she's still alive she decides to handle matters herself. She disguises as an old lady and gives Snow White a poison apple.
Now let's be honest with ourselves here.
If this face
just suddenly looked into your window and offered you an apple would you take it.
I hope the answer was no.
To be fair though she does really play up the whole 'sweet innocent old lady' act.
Anyway you know how the story goes. She eats the apple, falls into an eternal sleep, and at the end her prince comes to wake her up with true love's kiss.
So how does Walt's first film hold up?
Surprisingly well actually. When I came into this I thought I would find it to be OK, just bland. But that was not the case. I actually really enjoyed this film.
First let's talk about the animation. It's fantastic. It's beautiful and colorful and looks 10 times better than a lot of films that actually come out today. I have kind of a soft spot for hand drawn animation I guess.
Even without my bias it's still great. This was the 30s and this movie was completely hand drawn. I know it's time consuming to do hand drawn animation which is why most people use flash or do CG animation, but I would love it if there was more hand drawn stuff out there. It just looks so nice when done right.
Don Bluth is trying to get funding for a hand drawn Dragon's Lair movie so maybe.....
Sorry back to the movie.
The characters were also great as well. I really like the character of Snow White. She's always so happy and tries to make the best of every situation. She's also just a lot of fun to watch. I love the relationship she forms with the dwarfs as well. She kinda acts like a mother to them but she and the dwarfs still have a lot of fun together.
The dwarfs by themselves are also a lot of fun. By the way my personal favorite is Dopey. I mean how can you not love him. He's just so fun and hilarious. Grumpy is also pretty cool. He gets the short end of the stick a lot but it works as he kinda deserves it. I mean he can be pretty rude sometimes but he's still an all around a likeable character.
Speaking of which this is a really cartoony movie. Like it has a lot of cartoony gags like the ones you'd see in the Disney Theatrical Shorts. It's a lot more cartoony than a lot of the other Disney Canon films. I don't mind though. I actually really like a lot of the gags. I don't remember laughing as much as I did now compared to when I watched this a long time ago as a kid. By the way before coming to watch the movie for this review I only saw it once. I guess it must've not been my cup of tea back then but now, upon rewatching it, it's probably up there with some of my favorite Disney movies of all time. Not just the ones from the canon but all Disney films. (Yes even Marvel and Star Wars.)
It's definitely in my top 10 but if I'm gonna be honest I haven't seen all the Disney movies. I haven't even seen all the ones in the animated canon and there are a big handful I haven't seen in so many years so my opinion are more than likely well change. But it's crazy to think how timeless this film is. It's 80 years old, and it is still impressive both visually and narratively. And I'm sure it will remain seen as such in another 80 years. If anything I think it's just a testament to Walt's passion for this project. He put it all into making this film as unforgettable as possible, and it's just a spectacle to behold.
Another point I have to give to the movie is how emotional it got near the end when Snow White was thought to be dead. I was sincerely about to cry, which just made the happy ending all the more happy. Even though we know she's not dead though it's still rather heartbreaking to see the dwarfs cry over the loss of such a close friend. It works because we get a lot of time to form connections with these characters, and so we can feel their pain. It's been explained to me that this was a risky move, as back then cartoons were just see as funny stuff. Nobody had yet succeeded in making audiences sincerely sympathize with a moving 2D image. But it worked, and as such this movie became one of the most influential films, not just in animation, but of all time.
There's really not much to this film. It's mostly about the relationship Snow White develops with the Dwarfs. It's a fun movie and highly enjoyable, but that doesn't mean there isn't things to complain about.
I kinda don't like the evil queen. She just seems pretty generic. She's not completely bad and heck she is intimidating. I mean things got really tense in that scene where she was about to put Snow White in her eternal sleep while the dwarfs were rushing to save her. Speaking of which why did she put Snow White in an eternal sleep instead of just......I don't know....tainting her apple with actual poison?
I mean if she's still alive wouldn't she still technically be the fairest in the land? And why did you make it so a kiss could break your spell? I don't think you thought this through. Why not just kill her? I know I should look past things like this but my suspension of disbelief only stretches so far. In fact that whole scene is pretty dumb. Why would Snow White trust this strange lady who looks like a Witch especially after the Dwarfs told her to be careful of strangers. I guess you can defend it by saying that the queen played up the old innocent lady act and Snow White just doesn't have it in her to judge people like that. So yeah I kind of agree with those two points but at the same time she should've been a little more cautious. She just kinda came off as a bit dumb to be honest with you. Nothing too bad, but still. But yeah the queen is kinda bland. But not as bland as the prince. I mean we don't see much of him (he only gets like two scenes) so I can overlook it but I feel it would've been a little better to develop the relationship between Snow White and him.
I do like how Grumpy and Snow White form a bond despite Grumpy initially not liking her but the development was a bit rushed in my opinion. I still enjoyed it overall though so you may consider that just a nitpick. It really doesn't affect anything too badly.
Overall I really like this film. It has faults but generally it's very fun and energetic with great characters, songs, and animation. It was also surprisingly emotional. I enjoyed it immensely and it was a decent surprise. I highly recommend it.
Overall Score-9/10
I'm also gonna make a list to keep track of the best films in the canon as I review them and my favorite Disney princesses from it as well.
Films in the Canon from best to worst:
1-Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs (Considering this is the only one so far this shouldn't be a surprise) (9/10)
Disney Animated Canon Princesses from best to worst.
1-Snow White (again no surprise)
Well that's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. 1 down 55 to go. See you guys later.
Peace.
Next Evan Vs. Disney-Pinocchio
Next Animated Critic-Date A Live Episode 1
Next Anime Experience-Sweetness and Lightning
Also I'd be darned if I didn't share this super sweet message form Walt at the beginning of the film.
Aw, crap....I’ve gotta turn that in.
Evan rushed down the halls of the mostly empty school trying to get to his art teacher before she left. His mind completely spaced that today was the day this assignment was due. He didn’t really think it was good, but in his head it sufficed enough for a high school art project.
Evan-“Jesus, Miss Tamara is gonna be ticked.”
This was at least the 3rd time he almost missed a due date he’s had to do this many times before, and as such figured out the pathway to get him there the fastest. Eventually he got to the art hallway. 56 seconds since entering the school. New record. Unfortunately it was in vain as Miss Tamara was no where to be found.
Evan-“Crap!” Evan took a piece of paper from the stack on a nearby table and wrote sorry on it, before sliding that and the art project under the door to the art room. He began walking back down the path to get to the exit. Sighing in defeat. When all of a sudden he heard a crack. Evan looked around until he saw an open door. He deducted that’s where the sound came from, and as such took a look inside. It was the chemistry room. Split into two sections, the lab and the actual classroom. He saw the cause of the sound. A broken beaker that must’ve fell off one of the lab tables. Or so he thought until he also saw the body of the chemistry teacher next to it. He rushed over. He never had the teacher, but he was worried nonetheless. He saw the lifeless looking body bleeding out from the head. He checked all the places that people on TV check when determining if someone’s living or not. There was a pulse. Thank God.
???-“Why hello there.”
Evan looked up and saw a man with messy brown hair and goggles. He wore a lab coat, but that wasn’t as noticeable as the sinister smile he had on.
???-“You look scared.”
Evan realized he was in the face of danger. He needed a bravado and fast.
Evan-“Not as scary as your face.”
Evan mentally beat himself up for that awful comeback, but it got his point across. He wasn’t gonna be scared.
???-“You think my face is scary, I would say you shockingly look a lot like me. Either way, you need to go.” The mad doctor reached his gloved hand into his pocket and pulled out a weird looking gun that looked like it was pulled directly from a space adventure cartoon.
Evan-“Did Marvin the Martian give you that gun?”
???-“I can tell you don’t take this very seriously, but I would like to attest that this is a very real threat.” He shot off a warning blast at the wall behind Evan. A red laser came from the gun and ended up leaving a decent sized hole in the wall. At least big enough for Evan to reach his hand into. Screw the bravado, he needed to run. Without hesitation Evan ran out the door into the hallway. It seemed for a good while that he had a decent head start ahead of the mad doctor, until he saw a streak of light dash beside him out of the side of his eyes. Then, as if out of nowhere, the doctor appeared at the end of the hallway, right in front of Evan.
Doctor-“Speed Boots, never leave home without them.” He said before punching Evan right in the stomach. Evan felt a force he never felt before. It was so powerful it was able to push Evan all the way to the other end of the hallway, where he hit a bullet proof display case of the school’s trophies. The doctor once again appeared before him, this time with the laser gun pointed towards Evan’s head.
Doctor-“That there was my Power Glove.”
Evan-“It’s so bad.”
Doctor-“What? Do you know when to shut up. Ah, whatever. Your mouth will be shut for good in no ti....”
The doctor was interrupted by a flash of light emitting from the boy he was staring down.
Doctor-“What the hell is that? Who are you?”
Evan-“God, if I know!” The light filled up the entire room, and before Evan knew it everything was black again. But that was because his eyes were closed. When he opened them again, he realized that he was still laying in bed. A dream? He thought. No, it felt too real. But there’s no other explanation for this. Evan convinced himself it was nothing more than a nightmare he had during his daily nap, and left it at that. If he thought about it too hard who knows what would happen. It was just better if he left it at that.
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