A DVD That Made Me Fall in Love With Seven Men...

"Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" has always been the only Disney film that my Very Grumpy Father can tolerate. He's really not that bad, but he maintains that the studio hit its peak in 1937 with "Snow White," and has been churning out cheap imitations of that masterpiece ever since.

I won't go that far. But I will say that the recent DVD release of "Snow White" has made me appreciate the artistry that went into the making of the film as I never had before. I've always thought it was clunky, there was no action, and Snow White looked so young as to make Prince Charming vaguely pedophilic...some of these things still stick out to me, but I overlook them now as I call it a groundbreaking masterpiece, and the DVD, especially, is one that you should have in your collection.

"Snow White" was the first feature-length film that the Disney studios put out, and when compared to what the studio was doing just a few years before, it really is a leap forward, as great as...the conversion from black and white to color. The DVD includes a "Silly Symphony" animated short film, "Goddess of Spring." It preceded "Snow White" by only five years, but seems incredibly crude in terms of animation, character, and voice in comparison. It explores many of the visual themes that we'll see in "Snow White," including a lot of animals, nature assisting a young woman, and the flames of villainy.

The movie itself is incredibly rich. As my wife and I were watching this, we were both commenting on how beautiful, and how bright the backgrounds and characters were. The Dwarf's cottage is a masterpiece of design, with ornate carvings all over the place--my favorites may be the carved owl faces in the sides of the stairs leading upstairs; a combination of Scandinavian and Native American influences blend beautifully in the cottage. The scene where Snow White is fleeing from the huntsman is wonderfully dark and scary, as she sees monsters in the dark forest that are in her imagination, but real threats nonetheless. She's eventually saved by some animals (of course), and these animals are also light years ahead of what we see in the earlier films and sketches on the DVD.

When compared to recent animated fare, it blows them all away. Whether the traditional animation of "Atlantis" or "Anastasia," or the computer animation of "Shrek," a movie I found funny, but abysmal visually..."Snow White" comes out on top.

The music was amazing, and so much better than the formulaic approach Disney adopted wholecloth in the 1990's...."Some Day My Prince Will Come," "Heigh Ho," "One Song"...all are classics in their own right outside the movie, and the same certainly can't be said for the schmoo they're factory producing these days.

In terms of character, Snow White is really just an innocent, beautiful, nice girl. Which is what she should be. Prince Charming is a big nobody on a horse, but for this story, that doesn't matter so much. The Dwarfs are of course by now icons in their own right: Doc, Bashful, Sleepy, Grumpy, Sneezy, Happy, and Dopey (HEY! I got them all without looking!) Are wonderful both as comic relief and as the protectors and friends of Snow White. But the greatest character of all, in my opinion, is the Queen (or the Witch, depending on how you want to look at her). As the first of the Disney Villains, she makes quite an impression....one of pure evil. There's no comic relief here, no wisecracking sidekicks, no slapstick at her expense. She's evil and even those who are closest to her are terrified of her. And there's no beating around the bush with the Queen-- she wants Snow White DEAD. Her vanity is incredible, and the only other Disney Villains I'd put on her same level would be Cinderella's Stepmother and Maleficent, from "Sleeping Beauty." Even they start to slip into comedy now and again, but this Queen is Pure Evil, and I love her for it. Villains should be SCARY...it makes the triumph of the heroes that much more impressive.

Anyway, enough about that. The DVDs (it's a 2-disc set) are SO jam-packed with goodies that I haven't seen all of them yet, although I have seen/played with several hours of them. In fact, I'm more impressed with this DVD than with either "The Phantom Menace" or "Superman," both of which I adore and are more in my area of geeky expertise than anything Disney. There are so MANY extras, there's a sort of organizational flowchart included to help you through the discs so you don't forget anything. The parts I recommend most (so far):

* The Making of Snow White — this 40-minute documentary was VERY enlightening about just how innovative the movie was, and how it broke box office records worldwide upon its release...wonderful documentary that really showcases Walt, the animators, and designs for the movie. Walt laid it all on the line for "Snow White;" if it hadn't paid off, well, there'd be no Disney now, would there?

* Game — Dopey's Wild Mine Ride — the Queen's Magic Mirror takes you on a journey collecting the seven dwarfs through their diamond mines, trying to save Snow White...it's a great trivia game that is simple enough for children, but challenging for adults. I had fun playing it. Really.

* Audio Commentary — this was another source of enlightenment for the movie, although I preferred the documentary above...this still had some great tidbits that I hadn't ever heard before.

* Visual Development — you get very different views of What Might Have Been in these galleries, which I (as an amateur artist and idiot) found very interesting...the whole look of the film hinged on a few decisions Disney made early on, and contributed greatly to the success of the movie.

* Abandoned Concepts — similarly, this explores three plot points that were fleshed out, but abandoned because of their toxic cheesosity or the way they slowed down the story.

Man, there's just too much. You can watch this for hours on end, and it's a revelation the entire time. There's also a "history of Snow White" that shows how the film was released each decade so new audiences could discover the charming movie, radio broadcasts from the 1930s...it just doesnt' stop. When Disney started churning out their "Bare Bones" DVDs, THIS is the sort of thing we were all expecting. And as the first of their planned series of ten Platinum Editions, this impressed me in every area. We all know that Disney must have enormous archives, endless vaults of information about everything they've done, and we've seen them in book form a few times, but never presented like this. I know the next Platinum Edition (Fall 2002) will be "Beauty and the Beast;" if it's as marvelous as this one, I'll be first in line.

In all, I recommend this DVD version of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" to everybody. Really. If you're a Disney hater, this could be what makes you appreciate their early work. I really don't like anything they've done since "Beauty and the Beast," and precious little from the twenty years before that. Disney's reputation lies largely in the past...in their history. And back in the day, they were GREAT. They were groundbreaking. They were creative geniuses. They've lost much of that genius, and much of the innovation. Revisit the glory of Disney past, and go buy this DVD for yourself or a loved one. It's that good.