Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is one of those animated classics for the whole family. Who hasn’t grown up on this film and can’t sing at least one of its classic sing-along tunes? Walt Disney Studios dazzled us earlier this year with the release of another one of their classics, the enduring tale of Sleeping Beauty in high definition Blu-ray. They have done it again and taken the same care and re-mastering this time with its first original animated masterpiece. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is the first to be released on Blu-ray in their Diamond Edition collection. The 3-Disc set includes a standard def DVD and two Blu-ray discs including the feature film and a disc stuffed with bonus material.
Based on the Grimm’s Fairy Tales, our story centers around the beautiful little Princess named Snow White who is treated poorly and forced to work in rags as a maid by her own wicked Stepmother, the evil Queen. Every day the Queen consults her Magic Mirror to see “Who the fairest one of them all?” and as long as it replies back it is she, all is safe for our innocent young Princess. However one fateful day it comes to reveal that a lovely maid that is now fairer than she. One that has lips red as a rose, hair black as ebony and skin white as snow; it can only be that of Snow White. The Queen angry immediately calls in her henchman to take Snow White deep into the forest to pick wild flowers. There he is ordered to kill her and if he fails the penalty will surely be death for him. When the time comes the henchman can not harm something so innocent and beautiful and lets her flee into the forest to never return. In order to keep her safe, he returns with a pig’s heart in the red jewelry box as proof of her death.
Snow White after enduring a frightful night in the forest awakens to some new friends, the woodland creatures. They eventually take a walk and stumble upon a little cottage. After finding no one there, Snow White enters the place and the little creatures and Snow White tidy up the place. After the long days work, she falls asleep in one of the little beds upstairs. In the meantime, the occupants of the cottage are miles away busy working in the mine. The Seven Dwarfs wrap up their days work and arrive home singing “Hi Ho Hi Ho” to find their place has been cleaned and the monster it’s self is sleeping upstairs. The Seven Dwarfs quickly find out it’s not a monster at all but the beautiful Princess Snow White. All of them instantly fall for her except of course for the one known as Grumpy. Regardless everything looks good for Snow White until the evil Queen once again consults her Magic Mirror who informs her that Snow White is alive and well.
Will the evil Queen find Snow White and complete her dastardly deed? Will Snow White ever find her true Prince and will Snow White ever be able to turn Grumpy around to liking her? Well I can’t spoil it all for you. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is one of those classic films that hold up even after all these years. Released back in December 21, 1937 this 83 minute film proves the enduring genius of Walt Disney that continues to live on today.
Extras
Walt Disney Studios knows what they are doing when they package their movies. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is no exception, of course it is a good argument whether you need both the Blu-ray and a standard DVD version of the film, still it’s nice to have it anyway. On the first Blu-ray disc we find the feature film that can be viewed in both the standard viewing or in the DisneyView option. In the old days films were not wide screen and so were a square. With the DisneyView option, Disney’s artist Toby Bluth has designed a custom painted frame on either side of the film so you won’t have the black borders. It sounds silly but it is my choice of viewing the films every time and helps to enhance the viewing experience.
Once you have picked the viewing option, you can decide whether you want to activate the audio commentary. The commentary track is introduced by Roy Disney (whom has just recently passed away) and includes the voices of Walt Disney himself along with animation expert John Canemaker. There’s something magical to actually have Walt Disney as part of the commentary track and makes this a very special experience.
Also on the first disc is the Backstage Disney that is always included in all of the Diamond Editions. The first feature here is entitled Snow White Returns and is a featurette on a recent finding of animation that was found in the Disney archives. It is admitted that there is very little info on what this is other then they concluded it was probably a follow-up to the film. It would most likely have been an animated short then a full feature. There were scenes that were cut in the final film and these would have been used for this short. We see for the first time a walk-thru of what could have become Snow White Returns. Speaking of deleted scenes, the two that were cut from the feature film also are found here. They are the “soup eating sequence” and the “bed building sequence” and you can see why they wanted to make another animated film to allow these sequences to see the life of day. They are both fun moments and included songs that could have easily fit in the original film.
In addition to these bonus materials there are also a music video by Tiffany Thorton doing her rendition of “Some day my Prince will come”, a family play that includes four games to play with the whole family and a sneak peek at the latest Disney animated film The Princess and the Frog.
On the second Blu-ray disc the bonus materials continue. First up we have Backstage Disney where you can pick between two featurettes. The first one is entitled Hyperion Studios and after a short introduction becomes an interactive feature. It’s separated into thirteen different options or rooms to explore that gives use little featurettes that in total run just under an hour about the early days of the studio that would eventually become Walt Disney Studios. In addition there is The One That Started it All, an almost twenty minute feature on the making and the enduring legacy of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
Next there is Classic DVD Bonus Material with several more extras for you to explore. These are not available in Hi-Def but still worthy of your time. Animated Voice Talent explores the voice actors themselves, Disney Through The Decades is a featurette running about a half hour that is a quick introduction of Walt Disney films through the decades hosted by some of their stars of that period and includes several different Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs film trailers . And finally, there is Dopey's Wild Mine Ride game and a karaoke option of the classic tune “Heigh Ho”.
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