My Review of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs · 3:34pm 6 days ago
Rating Scale:
12/10—a complete masterpiece; flawless and outstanding
11/10—Excellent, near-perfect film
10/10—the standard rating; awesome film with a couple of flaws
9/10—a wonderful film with several flaws
8/10–a great film with numerous flaws but not enough to ruin it
7/10—a fun and entertaining movie; not great but still enjoyable
6/10—a slightly above average film; it is something I might watch again
5/10—mediocre movie; not awful but not great either
4/10—a below average film; it could have been much better
3/10—a bad film; poorly written and poorly executed
2/10—a very bad movie; the few good things in the movie overshadowed by the bad things
1/10—a terrible movie; a total waste of time
0/10—a worthless piece of abomination; should have never been made
Greetings, ladies and gentlemen! This is Mr. J back with another movie review for today. This morning, I will be giving my official review of the first animated feature film made by Walt Disney entitled “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” released in 1937. This was the first movie I’ve ever watched as a kid, and this film gave me a very deep impression of what animation should look like and how a story should be formed.
As some of you may be aware, I used to have bad memories of this movie solely because I used to have childhood nightmares from certain scenes therein. But as a grown adult, I was able to re-watch this gem and was able to fully appreciate how significant these scenes are.
Therefore, I can confidently say that “Snow White” is a beautifully-made animated film that must be appreciated for the legacy it left behind and the impact it made on the world of animation and on Walt Disney Animation Studios as well.
This film is about a young girl who is the fairest of them all, doing her humble chores. Jealous of her beauty, the Evil Queen orders her hitman to kill her so she can be the fairest in the land. Learning of her murderous intent, Snow White runs away and finds herself at the hands of seven little men who will become her closet friends.
I gotta say that the animation looks beautiful even by today’s standards. For a movie that came out in 1937, it certainly looks very unique with the way the characters move and speak. It’s one of the most admirable things about this film.
As for the story itself, it’s very basic and simplistic. It’s nothing groundbreaking or anything like that, but it’s easy to understand when it comes to the plot and the character growth. Plus, contrary to popular opinion, I don’t see it as a love story.
Rather, it’s more of a friendship story between a young girl and seven midgets who view her as a mother figure because they have no parental guardians at home. It’s literally in the title, and that’s the primary core of the movie. The Prince barely has any screen time, so I don’t even count him as an integral part of the story.
Speaking of the Prince, I don’t have a high opinion of him other than the fact that’s he’s a generic guy with no actual character. However, he’s NOT a stalker as some idiots would claim. He simply admired Snow White’s beauty and sang a song to her which she herself enjoyed hearing.
Although the brief scene of him kissing her in her deathly slumber isn’t exactly…well…ideal, I see it as an act of paying respect to her and wishing her a mournful farewell. But of course, this was back in 1937, so obviously it won’t sit well with a lot of people living in the 21st century.
So I’m saying all of that to say this: he’s okay. That’s it. He’s an okay character.
Moving on to the titular character herself, Snow White is undoubtedly iconic for her sweet and gentle personality; but she isn’t just an innocent princess. She’s also shown to be quite resourceful and firm with how she organizes herself.
For example, when she and her animal friends enter the Dwarfs’ home, it was full of dust, dirt, and spiderwebs. Basically, it was so dirty and disorganized she had to clean up the entire house with the help of her furry little companions. She gave instructions how to properly clean the house.
This is an example of how well she was raised and how good of a leader she is. If that isn’t an example of a “strong female character”, I don’t know what is.
She’s far from being my favorite, I’ll admit, but it would be asinine to think she’s a bland character with no personality. That’s just not true; she does have a character, and she is a good one at that. She has every right to be considered as one of the most memorable Disney princesses of all time.
The Dwarfs were pretty fun characters as a group and individually. If I had to choose between Doc, Grumpy, Happy, Sneezy, Sleepy, Bashful, and Dopey, I think—nah, it’s hard to select a personal favorite. But Grumpy is the only Dwarf who actually had an arc who went from disliking Snow White to being fond of her.
After all, he led the charge to chase the Evil Queen and cried the most over Snow White’s lifeless body. I think he’s my favorite out of the seven.
The Queen herself isn’t exactly a fantastic villain or anything, but she’s certainly proven to be intelligent and menacing enough to be taken serious. But there is something I noticed about her that, I believe, makes her stand out.
As a ruler, she’s stoic, cold, and callus. But when she transforms herself into an ugly old hag, she’s more sinister, crazy, and wickedly expressive. It symbolizes her descent to madness and her utmost willingness to go to any lengths to kill Snow White. Now that’s dedication.
But I have to confess that my absolute favorite scene is the “Far into the Forest” part where Snow White was hallucinating all those scary hostile eyes glaring down at her and imagining logs as alligators and trees as monsters.
It doesn’t scare me anymore because it looks so well-animated; the soundtrack makes it even better. Snow White no longer sees the world as sunshine and rainbows because the very person she thought cared about her is out to murder her. She’s terrified, and she isn’t thinking straight.
She thinks the whole world is out to get her, but the hallucination goes away once she sees all the friendly animals looking at her compassionately. Now she’s no longer alone; she has new friends to guide her to safety in this new journey.
This is what the whole movie is about: it’s about a girl who learns about friendship, perseverance, and true love—friendship love. Those Dwarfs saw the goodness in her heart and were touched by her kindness; she changed their lives forever which is why they wept over her death.
Anything else such as the romantic love for the Prince was secondary at best. In other words, it wasn’t a central part of the story. Yes, it was the Prince’s love for her that brought her back to life, but…that’s just the beginning of one of Disney’s classic tropes: true love’s kiss. Ugh, give me a break.
But regardless, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” is a classic that should be recognized for its own legendary beauty, charm, and simplicity. Without this movie, all the other animated works of art would not exist—Disney or non-Disney.
Wherefore, this gets an 8/10. I think this rating is fair because while it is definitely a great film, it still falls short of vastly superior Disney movies such as “The Lion King” and “Tarzan”. It’s just not the best. This is my opinion, and you can feel free to disagree.
Peace out, folks. Rest in peace to all the amazing actors and actresses responsible for bringing these characters to life. 💜They all did a phenomenal job. Thank you, Walt Disney, for the work you put into it.
I agree with you on all these points, my friend.
"Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" was a movie I grew up with, regardless of whatever moments would seem scary or intense. And I'm not gonna lie, every comedic moment revolving around the Dwarves always made me laugh, and I could tell Walt Disney & the animators often had a field day working with them.
Well, this is how long length animated movies began so Snow White is very important. While not as epic as other animated movies, the beauty of this movie lies on its simplicity, aesthetics, animation and characters.
Oh wow... Mine I think it was The Lion King. Before that I watched Winnie the Pooh but it was the series. I still keep Snow White´s VHS on my grandparents´ house (may they rest in peace).
With this exact movie I don´t have any bad memories. BUT I do remember crying on the ride on Disneyland. Very scary...
That´s the beauty of 2d and old cartoons. They had lots of fluid movements and expressions. Perhaps the retro audio also gives it the charm. But in my opinion, what makes it better and the main reason why we should appreciate is because they did by hand. This art must never die.
This is actually a very pretty interpretation of the story, I love it.
She may not be my favourite princess but I like her a lot. When you get older you start appreciating older princesses and understanding what these movies were actually saying. You also learn not to bash on female characters just because they don´t have `masculine´ attributes, which ironically is sexist because you´re saying that a woman is only strong when she´s `more like a guy´. Sometimes being strong is about going through life the best that you can and not letting others bitter or corrupt you. As you well said, Snow White is actually a pretty good model, quite resourceful and she´s the boss of the house. But most importantly, she stays kind despite the adversity, which is something people, even little children, forget to do. She´ll make a great queen.
And to be honest, with the cleaning and being a maid is not about her doing that because it´s her duty as a woman. It´s a quid pro quo, she knows she can´t stay for free and I don´t think it´s the dwarves don´t clean because they don´t know how but rather because they´re working all day. After having been an intern with elderly people it´s funny to watch Snow White´s interactions with the dwarves because it is exactly like that
As you said, this was made in 1937, and a lot of disney movies and other cartoons are a product of their time. To be fair, I don´t think Walt Disney himself was discriminatory intentionally or wanted to do real harm (but maybe this is because I´m naive and I tend to see the good in others), but unfortunately, sexism and other atttiudes were normalized. Luckily, now we have more awareness. Thus, Snow White portrays an expectation of what a woman should be like, but it doesn´t make her a bad role model, worthless or meek. Some women are like that and that´s perfectly fine.
To make it less worse, I am of the belief that he and Snow White had known each other for a long time. When Snow White runs away when he sees him I believe it was because she was in rags and that made her embarassed. That makes the kiss more beautiful because it was kind of a goodbye kiss and who wouldn´t like to be woken up by your lover like that? But yeah, kissing a girl you´ve known for a few days while she´s unconcious and hasn´t given her consent is not a good idea. At all. That being said a kiss is far better than what princes do in the original fairytales with sleeping girls.... (not Snow White specifically but read the original version of Sleeping Beauty and you´ll see what I mean...). But like we said, this was 1937!
Snow White is a simple story, so the villains won´t be like those in the 90´s. Nonetheless, I agree with what you say. She may not say much or have much depth but man she´s scary and ruthless. She straight up asked for Snow White´s heart as a proof the huntsman killed her! Villains nowadays are not that scary or that evil or evil anymore. Plus, I love her design.
Anyway, that´s all I have to say about this, hope you like my thoughts on the movie! Hope you´re doing great.
By the way, I´ve just watched Inside Out 2, much recommended!