2023 is a bit of a milestone year for me, because as of July 2nd, 2023, I am now twenty-five years old. Old enough to be justified in having a quarter life crisis. Being serious, it's kind of amazing that twenty-five full years have passed, it's weird to think about time, how it passes and effects us, and twenty-five is kind of a big year for me. As it happens, 2023 is also a milestone year for The Walt Disney Company, officially founded on October 16th, 1923, The Walt Disney Company turns 100 years old this year. It's really not everyday you see such a major company and part of pop culture become one-hundred, and to celebrate both milestones, let's go way back. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was not the first animated feature ever made, nor is it the oldest surviving, but it was Walt Disney's first original feature length production, it is one of the most important feature films ever made, and I thought, to commemorate 25 years of me and 100 years of Disney, why not take a look at it.
Snow White is the iconic Disney fairy-tale, literally it is the one that started it all. Snow White is the classic story of the princess whose wicked step-mother wants to kill her out of jealousy, sending a huntsman to do the job, only for him to spare the princess and send her into the forest, where she comes across the home of the Seven Dwarfs. It is your standard fairy-tale, no real bells or whistles, and as a basic story it is done rather well. There are a lot of scenes that don't really serve a lot of purpose, and could be cut, but the team was smart enough to tie these scenes with musical numbers, I mean we don't need to see Snow White and the forest animals cleaning up the Dwarfs' house, but tie it into a song number and it works. I think a lot of people may have issue with how basic the story is, it does leave a lot open for questioning, specifically the ending, but I can let it slide because... well it is a fairy-tale, and fairy-tales are simple stories at their core. I dunno, if you can suspend your disbelief that Snow White can communicate perfectly with animals but not that the Prince can show up to break the sleeping death spell, I don't know what to tell you.
Some might also take issue with the simple characters, well, two of them anyway. Everyone loves The Dwarfs, their charming personalities and character traits also being their names is what everyone remembers most, and everyone also loves The Queen, her design prior to the peddler disguise is brilliant and of course the actual disguise itself and how she acts while disguised are iconic to everyone. The big point of contention for people would be Snow White and the Prince, and honestly, I don't really agree. Snow White is a better character than I think a lot of people realize, like yeah, she does become something of a mother to the Dwarfs, but she's also playful and does have her stern and serious moments as well as her teasing moments. As for The Prince, while it would be nice to have seen more of him, ultimately this movie is called Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, this story is about them. It harkens back to what I said about The Little Bear Movie, somethings don't need to be deep and complex, what is enough is enough, and though simple this story and characters may be, I think they're enough.
Part of that is simply because this movie gets by a lot on charm, Snow White is just a charming and wonderful character, I don't care that she isn't as deep and complex as Scrooge McDuck or Agent Carolina from Red vs Blue, I'd love to just spend an afternoon picking flowers with this person. Likewise, the songs are all charming, I mean they aren't all fantastic, but Someday My Prince Will Come, Heigh Ho, The Silly Song, honestly no Disney song list is complete without at least one of these, they're just so charming and fun that I can't really help but find myself humming some of these songs on occasion.
There is however, one view of this movie I can respect, the people who don't watch this movie as a movie, but more as a piece of history. That is something I can get, because yeah, I'm not going to sit here and tell you that this is one of the greatest animated movies of all time, I say it up front, it's an animated movie in a basic form, and while I say this wasn't the first animated movie ever made, feature length animation isn't actually that much older than this. Snow White is only about twenty years or so off from El Apóstol which is often cited as the first feature length animated film ever made, sadly that film is completely lost. However, it's always important to have some understanding and respect for the past, we shouldn't be living in the past completely, but we should not be afraid to look back and learn. Ultimately, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is a good movie, and I do think it is one of those movies that anyone, cinephile, animation lover or media historian, needs to watch at least once. As a movie, I'm going to say I recommend this one, not highly, but more than slightly. It's an important piece of film history, and even if you aren't a fan of it, it's worth seeing at least once.
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