I know, I know.
“What’s the point of this Mouse?” I hear you cry. Your feelings about this are probably the same as mine towards the Beauty and the Beast reboot; All questions of quality aside, who asked for this and why does it need to exist? Why do another review of Snow White when there are so many fantastic/terrible movies I haven’t had a chance to savour/suffer for your amusement/amusement? Well, a couple of reasons. Firstly, a confession.
When I initially reviewed Snow White back in 2012, I hadn’t seen it in literally years and I based my review on memories as faded and unreliable as an old VHS tape. I’m sorry, I was young, I was reckless. Mea Culpa. Second, oh my God, FUCK 2012 Mouse.
“Hey, listen man…”
“FUCK YOU!”
That guy was an asshole. So I thought that the fifth anniversary of the blog was a good opportunity to go back and revisit my first review and show that hack who’s boss. And lastly, because when I finally got Snow White on DVD I noticed something really enticing.
Oh yes. Oh yessssssss…
Yeah. You all thought that when I talked about Walt Disney being an immortal warlock it was just a bit. So how come there’s a DVD commentary by him when he SUPPOSEDLY DIED BEFORE DVDS WERE INVENTED?! HMM? HMMMMMMM??
“YOU FOOLS! YOU CALLED ME MAD!”
Alright let’s do this. Snow White versus Mouse 2. Place your bets.
Snow White is not actually the first feature length animation (depending on how you count, it might actually be the seventh) but it might as well be considering it’s impact on the medium. Pick any random scene in this movie and there’s a good chance that there’s something being done there that had never been done before, that pushed the boundaries of what was considered possible with animation. Let’s take the very first scene.
The Queen approaches the magic mirror and passive aggressively asks it to tell her that she pretty. Instead, the mirror tells the Queen that she’s hot and all but she’s got nothing on her 14 year old step-daughter.
You utter creep.
So the mirror was animated by Wolfgang Reitherman, who, despite his name, was not an infamous German Fighter Pilot who terrorised the skies of Europe during the Great War but one of the best animators to ever work in the Disney studio (he would later direct Sleeping Beauty, the entire Scratchy era and The Rescuers). The mirror presented a unique challenge and here’s why; in most facial animation you only bother animating the eyelids and the mouth, the rest of the face is rigid and unmoving. The rest of the work of conveying a character’s emotional state is done through body language.
See the problem?
So because the mirror is literally just a face Reitherman had to animate that entire face, resulting in incredibly smooth, beautifully realistic facial animation. Everytime the mirror opens his mouth the shape of his entire face changes. Reitherman was actually quite annoyed when the smoke effects were added later, as they partially obscured his amazing work.
We now see Snow White herself, singing I’m Wishing. My feelings on Snow have mellowed ever so slightly since my last review, mostly because I don’t think I realised just how young she’s supposed to be. That voice tho’. Oy. Caselotti’s performance is…
“How did I put it, 2012 Mouse?”
“Like she’s hunting for moths in a pitch black cave.”
“Bravo. Your one good line from that review. You must be so proud.”
“Dude, what did I DO to you?!”
She is animated beautifully though. Using a combination of rotoscoping and model referencing the Disney animators set a new standard for realistic human movement in animation and they only made it look easy. To be honest, all the main realistic human characters created massive headaches for the studio, especially the Prince. In fact, that’s the reason he’s barely even in the damn thing, he was just too much effort to animate.
Real high maintenance kinda guy.
Obviously, that wasn’t an option with Snow White herself and the model had a tendency to misbehave and go off model. Her eyes, for instance, tended to wander like Bill Clinton’s at a beauty pageant and the animators had the devil’s own time trying to keep the size of her ribbon consistent from scene to scene. They had to find creative ways around this. For instance, in the scene where Snow White sings Someday My Prince Will Come to the dwarves, she is hardly seen, with the camera instead focusing on each of the dwarves in turn to show their reactions to the song. That’s good story-telling, but it was dictated by the fact that the dwarves were so much easier to animate.
The same thinking led to the creation of the eighth dwarf “Roundy”, a black circle who doesn’t say or do anything or move in any way.
A lot of this information, incidentally, comes from the DVD commentary I mentioned earlier, composed of old archive recordings of Walt Disney discussing the film. If you get a chance I strongly recommend giving it a listen if you have any interest in animation history. Walt is fascinatingly candid and often quite strikingly harsh about the film. He’s dismissive of the quality of the animation at times, and admits to resenting the film for overshadowing the much better films that came later.
His masterpiece.
The Queen orders the Huntsman to take Snow White out into the forest and cut out her heart.
“With a spoon.”
“Why a spoon?”
“‘Cos it’s dull, you twit, it’ll hurt more.”
To give you an example of just how completely Snow White changed the landscape consider this: The scene where the Huntsman almost kills Snow White was one of the most agonised over scenes in the movie. Why? Because the animators were worried that the audience simply wouldn’t care about the fate of a cartoon character. It seems ridiculous now, after generations have been traumatised by the deaths of too many animated characters to mention, from Bambi’s Mother to Mufasa to Ellie from Up. But it could not be taken for granted that audiences would actually form an emotional bond with Snow White and that they could engage with the animation on anything but the most surface level. So the scene was revised, again and again and again. Finally, when one animator was describing how the Huntsman would lunge towards Snow White with the knife one of the younger animators blurted out, “What if she gets hurt?!”. They then realised that they had started thinking of her as a person, not as a collection of drawings, and knew they were on the right track.
So the Hunstman can’t bring himself to kill Snow White and tells her to am-scray and scray she does am, running into the forest which her panicked mind turns into a nightmare world of leering eyes and grabbing hands.
“Jesus! This is worse than Comic-Con!”
We now enter probably my least favourite stretch of the movie, where Snow White meets the Usual Disney Forest Detritus who take her to the Dwarves cottage and help her cut through the layer of solid filth that has encrusted itself over every surface. This is where the movie feels least like a film and most like the extended Silly Symphony it was always in danger of turning into. The little bits of business the animals are given are all charming enough, and while I’ve never been in love with Whistle While You Work, it’s one of the unassailable classics of the Disney songbook so who the damn cares if I like it or not? But it feels unmistakably like padding to me, despite this movie’s reputation for pared-to-the-bone narrative efficiency. And it’s true, Walt was absolutely ruthless in cutting scenes and sequences (some which had been already fully animated which was devastating to the animators who had put months of labour into them). But this is, after all, a fairy tale originally meant to be told before bed time in around ten minutes. To get it to feature length there was going to have to be some padding here and there. The strongest elements of the movie, character-wise, are of course the dwarfs and the Queen/Witch so any stretch of the movie where they are not onscreen is going to suffer in comparison.
Just power through, guys.
Speaking of the dwarves, we cut to their jewel mine where they are busy digging too greedily and too deep.
“Urrrr they’re singing again. Keep it down up there!”
Let’s be honest, there’s a reason this movie has stood the test of time outside of its historical significance and the dwarfs are it. Oh, and also the songs. And the animation. And the Queen, fine, but the dwarfs are definitely the biggest of all the really big reasons why this movie is so beloved. The dwarfs were principally animated by the odd couple of Vladimir Tytla, a classically trained Ukrainian maestro and Fred Moore, an American with next to no training who compensated by being one of the most naturally talented animators in the history of the medium. That was the plan, anyway. In practice, because the dwarfs really are the stars of the show and Moore and Tytla were only human…
Supposedly. Tytla may have been some kind of vampire count.
…some of the dwarfs’ scenes had to be done by other animators. This apparently led to some problems with continuity and keeping the models, mannerisms and characters of the dwarfs consistent but I will throw my hands up and admit that personally I can’t see it.
Wait, yeah, Roundy’s totally off-model here.
The movie really is a great example of extremely talented people facing setbacks and turning those setbacks into assets. For instance, the whole business of Dopey being mute works so well that it feels like it had to be planned, right? Nope. They simply weren’t able to find a voice actor who fit the part so they decided not to have him speak at all. And it worked! So well, in fact, that for a brief period Dopey was probably the most beloved of all Disney characters. The design is great too, the kind of instantly iconic character that only a fool would try to tamper with.
Yes. They made a series about the dwarfs. This is Dopey. What even is life?
I made a joke back in the Cinderella review that if Snow White had been released today with the same success it would have already been spun off into endless sequels and TV series. What I should have known is that Hollywood never changes, because it turns out Walt actually was under enormous pressure to cash in on the movie’s success with a sequel, or at least another project featuring the Dwarfs. But Walt had learned of the dangers of rehashing past work following the monumental success of The Three Little Pigs. It’s weird to think of it now, but between Steam Boat Willie and Snow White Disney had another massive, game-changing, cultural touchstone-level success in animation (even though Pigs hasn’t had nearly the kind of staying power as the other two). Bowing to pressure, Disney dutifully cranked out a few sequel shorts featuring the pigs which were released to little fanfare and faded into obscurity. From that experience Disney coined his famous mantra:
“BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!”
“No, not that one.”
“Oh, right. “You can’t top pigs with pigs!”
Disney always strived to avoid repeating what he had already done. It’s why, despite coming close to bankruptcy so many times, it wasn’t until 1950 that he finally released another movie in the mold of Snow White. It’s also why he, by his own admission, came to hate Snow White, as the early crowning achievement he could never seem to top. Financially, at least. And it must have been especially galling when the failure of Pinocchio (the finest film released by Disney during Walt’s lifetime if you trust your faithful rodent) was blamed by critics on being too dissimilar to Snow White.
“Oh yeah. And I’m sure the SECOND WORLD WAR had nothing to do with it.”
“Good to see you SMOWE.”
“Happy anniversary, dude.”
“We’ve come a long way, baby.”
“No we haven’t.”
The dwarfs find Snow White chillin’ in their dwarfery and when they hear her story they agree to hide her from the Queen, who they know is an evil witch. Which raises some interesting questions as to how they…
“Hm? What? Prequel? Prequel?!”
“No! Go back to sleep, ya drunk!”
Back at the palace, the Queen learns from the Paedo-Mirror that the heart the Huntsman gave her is actually the heart of a pig. Which causes the Queen to exclain “The blundering fool!” which kinda suggests she thinks that the Huntsman did this by accident. Like, he honestly tried to get Snow White’s heart but uh oh spaghetti oh he got a pig’s heart instead!
You loveable doof.
It’s one thing to give one of the all-time great villain performances, and another to give two and in the same movie, besides. Lucille LaVerne voices both the Queen and her aged alter-ego and they’re both fantastic, iconic and terrifying in very different ways. The Queen is a study in icy restraint, rarely raising her voice above a harsh whisper. What makes her stand out from her obvious descendants like Lady Tremaine and Maleficent is that there’s very little joy in what she does. Maleficent is evil for the sheer love of the craft, but Grimhilde is driven more by black, implacable rage. It’s only when she drinks the potion and transforms into the Witch that she allows herself to cut loose and it’s a darkly delicious delight. I used to think it was weird when I was a kid to think that a character so consumed by vanity would voluntarily transform herself into an old crone but now the scene strikes me as weirdly, darkly liberating. The Queen doesn’t have to worry about her appearance anymore and she’s free to laugh and gurn and punk her crow and generally let her hair down.
The transformation scene is a great example of the difference between a cartoon and an animated film. The Disney studio during the production of Snow White was like something between an artist’s commune and a university, with art courses and regular screenings of all the latest films to give the artists a greater understanding of film language. This included a hefty diet of horror films from that genre’s first golden age and in the transformation scene and indeed all the scenes set in the Queen’s dungeon you can see the influence of horror maestros like Whale and Murnau. In fact, this scene worked so well as horror that some cinemas in Britain refused to allow children to see the film.
Between that and the Blitz evacuations, it truly was a golden age for MOLLYCODDLING.
Back at the dwarfs house, the dwarfs sing Snow White The Silly Song, in a sequence that probably holds the record for the most swiped animation in the whole canon as the entire dance was pretty much recycled in its entirety in Robin Hood along with some pieces from Jungle Book and Aristocats and god damn but that was a cheap ass movie. Half of the animation was robbed.
“That’s a naughty word. We just borrow from movies that can afford it.”
The dwarfs heigh ho off to work the next day and warn Snow White not to let anyone into the house. But wouldn’t you know it, as she’s making a pie for Grumpy who’s playing hard to get, the little tease, Snow White meets the Witch.
Say “no” to meth, kids.
The Witch gives Snow White a poisoned apple (he said, recounting one of the most well known stories in Western literature) and Snow White collapses to the floor, as dead as College Humour. The woodland critters run and get the dwarfs and they return too late to save Snow White but not too late for VENGENCE! They chase the witch up a mountain where she dies through a combination of lightning, large rocks, gravity and being eaten by vultures. It is, no question, one of the more metal deaths in the canon.
The scene where the Dwarfs hold vigil around Snow White’s body presented yet another challenge to the animators. The dwarfs had to be still and unmoving, because they were in mourning, but still required some kind of motion to stop them going flat and becoming still images. Hence the constant stream of tears running down their faces.
All except Roundy. Roundy was a rock.
The dwarfs can’t bear to bury Snow White so they put her in a glass coffin so that they can watch as nature does its thing. And the Prince arrives because, if there’s a body decaying in full view, why would you not want to come and put your lips on that?
So, have you heard of the “Prince Charming is Death” theory? It was first posited on Reddit that the Prince, the guy on the pale horse who takes Snow White away after she’s eaten the poison apple is actually the Grim Reaper. Ludicrous, of course. At the end the Prince isn’t taking her to heaven he’s taking her home. To his…golden castle. Floating in…the…clouds…
Holy shit. Walt Disney killed Snow White.
“Lets see the bastards try and make a sequel now!”
***
Snow White will never be my favourite Disney movie, or even close. But the last five years have made me appreciate how much of an unpayable debt both I and the medium of animation owe this movie. It was, and remains, a work of true genius and a landmark not merely in animation, or film, but in human culture. Definitely one of the four or five most influential films of all time, and while it might show it’s age here and there, it has held up stunningly well. I began this blog to find the best Disney movie to show my daughter first, and while Snow White mightn’t be her favourite she absolutely loves it. And that’s incredible, isn’t it? I certainly can’t think of another film from 1937 that my daughter would happily sit through from beginning to end.
Know what’s even more incredible? Decades from now, her children will probably do the same.
Scoring
Animation: 17/20
Perfect? No. Revolutionary? All the hells yes.
Leads 08/20
Snow White is still the weakest element in her own movie, but I’ve thawed on her ever so slightly over the years.
The Villain: 17/20
Fifteen out of twenty in the original review, was I high? I must have been high.
“You know I wasn’t high.”
“So just an idiot. Got it.”
Supporting Characters: 18/10
#TeamRoundy.
Music: 16/20
FINAL SCORE: 76%
NEXT UPDATE: 28 September 2017
NEXT TIME: I’ll be reviewing The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, an animé that I know absolutely nothing about. Like, zero. Bupkiss. No idea what I’m in for. All I know is that there’s a teenage schoolgirl on the cover and that it’s Japanese.
Please don’t be fucked up.
Please, please don’t be fucked up. I don’t want to go to jail.
unshavedmouse 
Love seeing your revised thoughts on the film, Mouse. Yeah, your reviewing style has changed a lot in five years, but all in good ways; I love how informative and analytical your reviews are, and how well you tend to put movies in their proper context. I could find a hundred reviews calling Snow White a masterpiece, but this one is wonderful at explaining how and why.
Ooh, looks like you’ve changed its place on the Rankings too. Neat, I was just about to ask if you’d do that.
Tackling Haruhi, huh? Well, “fucked up” is not how I’d describe it. It’s strange and interesting, that’s for sure. How much of it do you plan on watching? Because if it’s just the first arc, you’ll likely be fine. If you make it to Endless Eight, I’d fear somewhat for your sanity.
I have a DVD of the second season so I honestly have no idea. Thanks for the kind words.
Probably your safest bet would be the first six part story arc, conveniently titled “The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya” Part I-VI. Obviously keep watching if you want to, but that’ll cover the important stuff, and tells a complete story.
The show did a really WEIRD thing, where season 2 isn’t a sequel to season 1. Instead season 2 was season 1 interspersed with new episodes. So they basically re-aired the whole thing, but it was now twice as long.
So you get a very different experience if you watch in production order, vs if you watch in “canon” order. And sadly, the season 2 episodes tend to be considered inferior (I think some of them are great but then there’s Endless Eight, which lives up to its name), so if you watch in “canon” order, the quality dips and peaks.
It’s almost like if you decided to marathon Star Wars and insisted on watching the Holiday Special, Ewok spin-off movies, and Nelvana cartoon series at the points where they occurred.
Thanks for the advice
The part with the Balrog killed me, I pictured him banging on the ceiling with a broom handle!
Also, you might recall that I mentioned the 7D in the comments section of your original review, and how I actually enjoyed it. That said, I understand your reasoning on why you might not enjoy it. That is, assuming you’ve seen any episodes of the show.
Any chance we’re going to see a re-review of Pinocchio anytime soon?
Nah, onward! Besides, my feelings on Pinocchio havent changed a jot.
I see the score went up by seven points, and I was happy to see the older images of yourself before Anime Month being used again. When I last put my VHS tape of this movie on the first thing I realized is I had never put it in before, as that was always someone else.
I never liked the design of the titular character, as I thought she looked more sickly pale than anything else.
I really enjoyed seeing this review updated with new information (especially the part about the mirror’s animation), and better comedy despite how funny the zombies were in the original.
Zombies?
I always think the angry mob photo members look like zombies and think of them as that. Sorry for the confusion.
Ha!
I laughed really hard, so I guess it was worth the revisit. Thanks, Mouse. 😄
As for Haruhi, I’d have to say that it *is* kinda fucked up, but not in the way you’re probably worried about. 😛 It’s also something of a classic in the genre — although, just what that genre might be is also a little unclear. 😋
Well, that’s my opinion as someone who never really got into it, I suppose. First arc and out, right here. 😅
This definitely feels like the Mouse we know and love. I wrote a piece on folktales this week as well, revisiting my good old Grimms’ anthology. This paedo-mirror’s got nothing on the one in ‘Sneewitchen’. Not only does it start saying she’s the fairest of them all when she is SEVEN YEARS OLD, but it rats her out to the Queen: ‘Snow White, beyond the mountains, with the seven dwarfs, is a thousand times fairer still.’
The decision to replace the Queen’s death with lightning and vultures is a solid one. I find that dance-party endings – even fatal ones – rather subtract from a film’s gravitas.
They trample her, right?
She’s forced into a pair of red-hot iron shoes and made to ‘dance until she [falls] down dead.’ Talk about your killer heels, galfraaaand!
First time commenting! Great review. The spoon gag was just hilarious to me!
Oh boy. Haruhi. You’re gonna need a lot of help on this one, Mouse. Fortunately, I happen to be quite the anime afficionado (read the first book, saw all the original television anime and the movie. Haven’t seen any of the spin-offs, though.) Feel free to ask about an anime insider’s experiences. Hint hint.
I may take you up on that
Okay! So while there are plenty of articles detailing the rise and fall of Haruhi, let me tell you a short version as someone who wasn’t there but knows people who were. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya was a 2006 anime series produced by Kyoto Animation, based on the light novel by Nagaru Tanigawa. Alongside Code Geass, it was one of the biggest hits of that year. To be more accurate, it was a PHENOMENON. If you were an anime fan in the mid-late 2000s, you had to have seen Haruhi. On the other side of the pacific, all five lead actors became celebrities overnight, and most of them still have thriving careers. And that’s not even getting into the cosplays, the spinoffs, and the infamous Hare Hare Yukai dance.
And then…Endless Eight happened.
Season Two featured one of the most hated arcs in all of anime. Kyoto Animation took what was originally a short story from Volume Five and turned into eight episodes featuring the exact same events over and over again. I’m not going to lie; I believe that the way KyoAni handled Endless Eight killed the franchise. After the end of the second season, KyoAni made a movie that, while somewhat successful, was not enough to justify a third season. A recent spinoff based on said movie proved to be a huge failure, and it wasn’t even a KyoAni production. Worst of all, there have been no new novels published since 2011.
Haruhi Suzumiya is dead. She remains dead. And we have killed her.
That…sounds fascinsting.
Is CollegeHumor really dead, tho?
No, but their videos have been really bad for years, and their best workers left. All their good material is now on Dorkly.
OverMaster will probably be popping by any minute now with a more in-depth explanation, but for now I just want to say Haruhi Suzumiya is way more fucked-up than you can imagine, but (mostly) not the going-to-jail kind of fucked-up.
I’d say Godspeed, but given the content you’d probably strangle me for making that pun alone…
I think the progression of my feelings towards this movie kind of mirror yours Mouse. I tend to get kind of irrationally pissed off whenever I see some ranking of best animated films (like the AFI list) put Snow White at number 1 because I feel like it’s just short changing the now 80 years of animated films to come after Snow White. I mean are you seriously going to say that NOTHING that Disney ever did afterwards, or that Hayao Miyazaki or Pixar or anyone else ever did has been better than Snow White? REALLY? But then I remember just how unbelievably influential and important this movie is and that the parts of the movie that are good are still REALLY DAMN GOOD. So yeah, I’ve definitely softened my position on it and while it never will be my favorite (not even close) it is still absolutely deserving of its place of reverence in the animation canon.
Also, Mouse, I don’t know if you got around to watching that PBS Disney doc I linked on the last review, but probably my favorite part of it was the discussion about Walt and the animators trying to make the audience care about the characters in the movie. They didn’t use that anecdote about the animator but they talked a lot about how much effort they put into making the characters feel real, and how when the movie premiered and there was a moment (I think it was when Snow White bit the apple and died) where the entire audience was just dead silent because they were so engrossed by what was happening and they couldn’t process that the main character had just died. Would have been incredible to be there.
Oh for a time machine…
It was really interesting seeing you go through the review again and use the commentary for extra info. The stuff about the challenges with the Mirror and Prince were pretty neat.
You know, I was actually thinking you’d give the Queen/Witch a 20/20. There was that one part in your first review, when she kicked away that poor prisoner’s bones, that later reminded me of how you explained the “moment” that defines perfect villains like Scar. Still, 15, 17, or 20, she was a great villain.
On another note, I’m really excited that you’re going to review Haruhi. However, there is one thing that I need to emphasize before it’s too late:
Watch the episodes in the order they aired on TV, NOT their chronological order.
You see, when the anime aired on television, they showed the episodes in a nonlinear order, and they did this on purpose. It helps vary things up more, and it’s not quite the same if you watch them in straight order. If you watch them in chronological order, the climax comes too soon, but if you watch them in the nonlinear fashion it all lines up just right. If you’re confused, refer to the Wikipedia episode page and use the A list for the right order.
Anyway, hope you have fun with it!
Thanks!
I’ve never heard of that theory but it reminds me of the musical Elisabeth where death stalks the empress Elisabeth and kills by kissing his victims. He falls in love with her and she resists him but finally when she is assassinated, he gets his chance and they leave as lovers
I think that you are still underrating the Queen. She is after all one of Disney’s most prolific and memorable villains, in both incarnations.
Anyway, I agree with your feelings towards the movie. It will never be one of my favs, even as a child I got pretty bored by it at times (this stupid washing scene just goes on waaaaay too long), but what is good about it is really good and holds up surprisingly well after all this time. Fairy tales are timeless by definition and can get away with way more than more regular movies, but it is still and impressive achievement
Happy anniversary! Yours was the first WordPress blog I ever came upon. You made me want to create a WordPress account just so I could subscribe to your blog and comment. And then you inspired me to create my own blogs and even gave me a lot of help/advice when I was unsure if I was a good reviewer or how to deal with ratings, etc. If not for you, I probably wouldn’t have been where I am today blogwise and animation community-wise. Thanks a lot, Mr. Mouse!
And great job on the re-review! When I did my Forgotten/Minor Characters Project for the Disney Canon, I also didn’t rewatch the first 5 or so films and just based things out of my memory or what I found online, lol. #Loser
Thanks AC, I really appreciate all your support over tge tears.
What can I say except, “You’re Welcome”? For the wonderful world you…oh you know the rest!
Great review. This movie feels so much richer now with all of the additional context. Also you gotta love a good Balrog joke.
When I was young, I had no idea that Snow White was the first Disney movie, or even that it was all that old. In fact, I assumed that Pocahontas was the first Disney movie, because I was dumb.
Mom told me the first one was Steamboat Willie, so I thought it was that.
“Yes. They made a series about the dwarfs. This is Dopey. What even is life?”
That is what happens when you try to merge the original Dopey and Harpo Marx into a single character, that’s what happened. Mixing two great things together, more often than not, only results in an unholy abomination.
Although in the 7D’s sort of defense, I’ll say I’ve always liked Queen Delightful as a character. Usually she’s the only part I like about the show, and that hurts because I really liked Animaniacs, made by the same writing team.
Concerning how the movie dwarfs knew the movie’s queen was a witch… I imagine everyone in the kingdom but Snow White knew? I mean, can you imagine that woman being discreet about what she wants to do, when she wants to do it? I’d bet she was a regular Elizabeth Bathory offscreen, but with nobody to answer to. Why do you think the castle was so oddly void of any other people but her, Snow and the Huntsman, decades before Kingdom Hearts made every Disney location into eerily abandoned locales where the leads roam around in existencial loneliness? She’d killed the staff long ago, that’s what happened!
As for Suzumiya Haruhi, I don’t think I can say much other posters haven’t said already. Haruhi the character DOES things that would get anyone arrested, yeah, but the series itself is mostly tame other than a few gropings and juvenile sexual jokes here and there. You’ll probably hate Mikuru with a passion, though.
I also watched this movie again a couple of months ago for the first time since my canon marathon in 2013, and you were spot on. While Snow White will never be among my favorites, it’s still an important cinematic landmark (that’s still enjoyable to this day, to boot.) I still can’t believe that the majority of the stuff in the movie was hand-drawn all the way back in 1937.
Although what’s with the American Film Institute calling it the greatest animated film, yo?
http://www.afi.com/10top10/
If they mean in terms of impact, I understand. But it ain’t better than Pinocchio, bro.
But that top 10 classifies Jerry Macguire as a sports movie, so I don’t know…
If I ever can somehow find a way for you to obtain a copy, I WILL have you review the anime “Wolf’s Rain” one day, Mouse. ONE DAY!
Oh yeah!? Well I’D LIKE THAT!!
WHAT?! WELL….oh, you would? Well…what region of DVDs are you in? i.e. Region 1, etc.
2, and proud.
Oh god Wolf’s Rain is SO GOOD.
Not trying to sound accusatory but when did you start watching the movies for the reviews?
From Fantasia onwards.
Really curious what exactly you’re going to end up reviewing of Haruhi Suzumiya. I love the show, but it’s one of those things where you really kind of have to see it if not from the beginning
then at least from one given episode to really understand anything at all about it.
Fair enough.Forgot to say, good review (rereview?).
Hey Mouse,
In Snow White:TOR (The Original Review) you link to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80UIC1g__yY to show how far Disney has advanced.
That video has been DCMA-cimated. What was it?
It was a Silly Symphony called The Goddess of Spring.
What did CollegeHumor do?
As I explained earlier they simply lost their best creators, and their new videos are consistently very bad and boring.
I like them well enough. Of course, Adam Ruins Everything has been spectacular.
I’m new to this blog.
I think I saw this movie so young I now effectively don’t remember it. Like I used to think till today that the Huntsman wasn’t in the Disney version of this story.
As an Otaku, it’s often difficult to wrap my head around how Disney was an influence on very early Anime. But just looking at those stills of the Dwarves, I can see the prototype of what we now call Anime Eyes.
Haruhi should be interesting, I wonder what order you’ll watch the Episodes in.
I don’t know if you read fanfiction, but there’s an excellent story out there shipping Snow White and – you’ll never guess it – Gaston. Think about it for a second. Snow White is actually Gaston’s dream woman; even though she’s a princess, she loves to cook and clean and do things to please the people she loves including the man of her dreams. Also, unlike Belle, Snow White seems to have no problem submitting to her man as her protector.
It’s called The Fairest of Them All, Who’s as Beautiful as Me by TrudiRose. In it, Gaston learns over time that what he did was wrong and seeks forgiveness for his crimes against Belle, Maurice and the Beast. Also, Snow White is still in character from the movie but she grows and develops from that character, and I believe you’d really enjoy watching her development. She also brings out the best in Gaston and is a turning point in his journey turning from bad to good. Check it out when you get the chance.
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8333296/1/The-Fairest-of-Them-All-Who-s-as-Beautiful-as-Me
Ahh, Mouse. You never fail to make me laugh. That cursing out of your past self was funnier than that one time in the Back to the Future movies where Biff keeps angrily calling his future self (and maybe his past self as well?) butthead. Though I definitely enjoyed some of your past stuff (it was what got me into the site after all, me being a read-from-the-start guy), and it still makes me laugh when a super old in-joke pops up from out of nowhere. Also, I hope it’s not starting this blog which you hold against your past self. You’re probably my favourite reviewer of all time (ok, actually you certainly are now, seeing as Doug Walker’s publicity went belly up), and this site’s definitely been a positive place for a whole lot of people.
Hmm, guess Snow White was kind of Disney’s Planets, huh? I wonder what his favourite of his films was (it was Sleeping Beauty, wasn’t it?). Also, go figure, I remember being a kid and loving the parts with the animals the most (I’m an animal-lover, ok? Why do you think I’m most drawn to a review blog written by a rodent?). I especially liked the turtle who could never quite make it up the stairs. That poor turtle just couldn’t catch a break. And yikes, post-animation cutting from 40s animated movies does sound like an utter nightmare. Almost makes it seem like those animators for Lord of the Rings got it soft when Andy Serkis got cast, and they were told they had to scrap all the concept art they made for Funny Baby.
Thanks Goose, that means a lot to me. I just hope nobody finds out my TERRIBLE SECRET.
Hmm, I guess Walt really was mad about that 3 Little Pigs blunder, he had the Huntsman go all Mesoamerican Priest on one of the poor porkers. Yeesh. Though it actually took me quite a while to really notice all the tar of this tar ‘n’ sugar movie. Yeah, I remember the transformation scene was a bit freaky to kid me watching the movie, but I just remember that scene Snow White runs through the woods terrified at all those horror trees and evil eyes and my sister (who would have been, like, four at the time maybe?) just blankly asked, “Why are they all so very mad at Snow White?” The movie was much scarier when I was older, and I could understand the true implications of some of the horror scenes. I think the worst was where they show the body of that guy whom the queen had clearly tortured by imprisoning him and placing a glass of water outside his dungeon just out of his reach, letting him strain to get it until he died of thirst. That’s horrific now, but if other kids are like me when my age was one digit, that probably wouldn’t register as much more to them than Halloween decoration. In short, it’s kind of funny people try to shelter kids from overly scary things, as I find there are a lot of things which don’t scare you until you’re older.
Ha ha, classic comeback, Robin. There’s a reason you’ve always been the favourite in my family. Also, I actually still watch College Humour. It might not be about college anymore, but I actually find Katie hilarious, and have been enjoying Raph and Rekha’s bits as well. Also, classic move killing the first ever movie’s protagonist, Walt. That guy gives about as many damns as your typical honey badger, doesn’t he? Also, Haruhi is next? I think I saw her as a character in Mugen once? Ok, I barely know more than you.