Snow White Diamond Edition Blu-Ray Review
Walt Disney's First Animated Film Coming to Blu-Ray on October 6th
Oct 7, 2009
Disney has never stinted when releasing its animated classics on home video. The Mouse House has always known that movies like Peter Pan, Pinocchio and Bambi are their bread and butter, even when they don't give their current animators any respect – more than a few executives must regret kicking geniuses like Tim Burton and John Lasseter out the door . . . especially when it cost so much to get them back.
Which brings us to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Diamond Edition. Walt Disney's first (and, the AFI argues, his greatest) feature-length animated film gets the royal treatment in this combined DVD/Blu-Ray reissue. And, to paraphrase those Revlon ads, the flick's worth it.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Diamond Edition: Walt Disney's First Animated Film Comes to Blu-Ray
If you don't know the story of Snow White – who hides out with 7 dwarves* to escape her homicidally jealous stepmother – you have your first reason to watch this movie. It's a classic for good reason. The first animated feature film ever made was also the first fantasy blockbuster: its influence reaches from The Wizard of Oz (MGM greenlit that flick when they saw Snow White's box office) down to Star Wars and Lord of the Rings.
So Snow White is a groundbreaking film: how does it hold up? Very, very well. Despite some dated imagery and characterizations – Snow White shrieks and cowers instead of kneeing the Huntsman in the nards – the story pulls you in. Disney's genius was in creating memorable characters, no matter how small their screen time was: you remember the over-eager baby songbird, or the turtle who's spun around like a top, even though they barely get 5 minutes between them.
Animation fans will get their freak on checking out the myriad ways in which the Disney style was developing: the European visual flourishes (courtesy of concept artists Gustaf Tenngren and Albert Hurter), the big-eyed woodland creatures and the sidekicks who threatened to overtake the main characters. Oh yes, and the art is top-notch: fans of Arthur Rackham or Tenngren (also a revered children's illustrator) will lose their nut over the visuals on display here.
Nitpicks? One or two. Despite the gorgeous digital restoration, the Prince looks wonky and underdeveloped – to be fair, Walt's gang realized this, which is why they limited the Prince's screen time as much as possible. You also wonder why the evil queen decided she had to kill Snow White all by herself, instead of putting together an army of bad boys to perform some scorched earth policy. Gotta hate that whole acting-dumb-to-further-the-plot thing.
However, those are minor when one sees the overall awesomeness on display. The gags get laughs, the visuals make art lovers swoon, and the sad moments still bring tears. What more do you want?
DVD Extras
Disney seriously over-delivered on this set. DVD holdouts get a copy to play in their girly-man machines, but the real action is on the twin Blu-Ray discs. Here are the highlights.
The Magic Mirror MC's the main menu: he remembers if you've played the disc before, and points out anything you haven't seen yet. You can view the film with, or without, Toby Bluth's painted side wings that help the flick fill your 120" plasma screen TV. Nothing against Bluth's beautiful watercolours, but they prove distracting when the film switches from interior to exterior shots. Best watch without them.
There's the first 6 minutes of Disney's upcoming The Princess and the Frog (looks great so far), and producer Don Hahn shows off some recently unearthed concept drawings for a possible Snow White sequel that never came to fruition.
John Canemaker's extensive audio commentary features vintage recordings of Uncle Walt discussing the film. Canemaker clearly knows his stuff, but he speaks like he's reading his post-grad dissertation.
Disc 2 features an interactive look at the old Hyperion Studios lot, where current Disney types like Andrew Stanton, Andreas Deja, John Musker and Ron Clement show you the various rooms and share 'I was there' stories featuring vintage recordings from Disney employees. Mix in some documentary featurettes, interviews with past and present animators and vintage footage (including some deleted scenes and reference footage) and you have one heck of a bonus features menu.
If that isn't enough, you get some Silly Symphonies, including 'Babes in the Woods,' 'Skeleton Dance' and 'Music Land' shorts. Those last two are worth the price of admission right there.
The only bummer in this feature-laden set is the art galleries don't work too well: they constantly reset to the first image. Oh yes, and there's a music video featuring Tiffany Thornton singing a saccharine version of 'Someday My Prince Will Come.' Does Disney grow these people in a cloning tank somewhere?
The Final Analysis
Take one of the most important films in cinematic history, add enough extra features to appease a roomful of insomniacs and animation freaks (there's a difference?), and you have a killer Blu-Ray set. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Diamond Edition is a must-have, and gets a 10/10.
*Fun Fact: Despite the film's title, the plural of 'dwarf' is actually 'dwarves.' Gotta problem with that?
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