"A fine bunch of washers you lot turned out to be!"

Rating: 8/10 (4 April 2004)

I feel ashamed that I only watched Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in order so that my hard, cynical heart could launch itself into an anti-Disney rant. The most sentimental of the major cartoon studios, I was determined to ravage this one after seeing isolated, treacly clips.
Yet seen all together I have to admit that I was softened by a talented picture that is genuinely charming. The somewhat dated animation resembles cut outs from a picture book with its pastel hues, and looks and feels more natural than the angular, jerky computerised movement of the modern Disney features. It helps that they also employ someone who can actually sing in the titular role, with an operatic blend to the proceedings. And it would take the coldest of people not to warm to Snow White's genuine innocence. I concede, I did wince a little at the cutesy blue birds, but this is vastly more charming than I had been led to expect.
It's pacy, too: whereas some of the older Disney films tend to drag (I remember catching the aptly named Sleeping Beauty one Sunday afternoon), this one is suitably brisk in its portrayal of events. And while modern cartoons (or "Animated Features" as they pompously like to be known) blow up the role of the "director", this one really has its eye on cinematic technique. Just look at the early wishing well scene, shot from the perspective of the well bottom or the blend of images and dissolves when Snow White's in the forest.
Many of the songs are classics, of course. Whistle While You Work is still something you can find yourself humming or whistling while doing the hoovering, The greatest contention for me though was the seven dwarves, who always struck me as far too self-consciously cutesy and grating to really like. Yet, come on  It's Off To Work We Go is a belter, isn't it?
The actual plot, which is largely sidestepped to make way for the leisurely song sequences, is more than a little macabre. Even when Snow White's heart (her severed heart!) is substituted; it's replaced with a pig's heart... and all for a family audience. I'm not saying this one is morbid, but they deem Snow White (Or Snow, if we may call her that) so "beautiful, even in death" that they refuse to bury her and place her in a transparent coffin. In a parallel universe somewhere there's an offshoot of this movie where the Prince arrives too late and her rapidly decaying corpse turns into a flesh-eating zombie. Maybe they should do that as one of their special straight-to-video sequels  after all, they're grave robberies, aren't they?
It's a slightly strange plot, too, with Snow White spending the duration being plotted against by a bitter old Queen. And people say Elton John didn't get involved with Disney until The Lion King. Yet in order to elicit Snow White's trust she transforms herself into a scary-looking old hag? Why not just stay in her own image? And if she can transform her appearance like that, then why not use the same magic to make herself the sought-after "fairest of them all"? Yet I guess if she didn't then we wouldn't have a story, and the apple ofference does have some religious connotations. This is a one-note plot, though, and subtext isn't the order of the day. Rather, it's the colour and flavouring of the piece that are there to be enjoyed, not the somewhat redundant narrative. And while, after the initial thrust, the film does lose momentum slightly, enjoy it I did, a delightful and wonderfully made cartoon. Yes, you can read into the white = good/black evil assertions, but for me I'd rather marvel at the songs and images, or make cheap jokes about MOR pianists.
Just two minor points: why are they called "Dwarfs" and not Dwarves in the film's title? And seven dwarves working in a mine? Is that an example of positive discrimination?