Walt Disney's first feature, 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' is one for the history books

Story 

Snow White is a princess living with her evil stepmother. The
Evil Queen is dead set at being the fairest in the land and forces Snow White to work as a maid and spending years asking her years asking "Who is the fairest one of all?" To which the mirror always responds "Snow White."

She then tasks a huntsman with killing Snow White but he spares her and leaves her in the forest where she encounters 7 dwarfs names Sleepy, Grumpy, Sneezy, Happy, Dopey, Bashful and Doc. When the evil queen finds out Snow is alive, she disguises her as an old woman and convinces Snow to each a poisoned apple that puts her in a sleep that can only be cured by true love's kiss.

Voice Acting 

Walt Dinsey's marketing tactic for this was very unique. Adriana Caselotti who voices Snow White was not allowed to do any radio interviews to promote the movie which is really weird when you consider that actors today promote their movie, but Walt had a good reason. Adriana's voice is very unique and because of that, I associate that voice with the character. Snow's voice is very calming while also being incredibly shrill and I can't lie it was a little jarring hearing her sing, but that feeling passes really quickly.

When you look at all the performances in the movie, the standout is Lucille La Verne as the evil queen. She was legit terrifying, more so as the queen than the evil witch but as far as Disney villains go I can see why she would be someone's favourite (even though she's not ming

The other actors that voiced the 7 dwarfs were also really good, my favourite being Roy Atwell as Doc. They are all such cute characters bur he's my favourite.

Writing/Direction

When I review really old movies like this one, I'm a little more lenient cause movie-making was different then than it is now. That being said, from a writing standpoint, this movie is very two-dimensional (get it? cause the film is 2D amination... I'll see myself out now.) Okay, but on a serious note, there is nothing more to thins film than what you get on the surface which isn't a bad thing. It's a fairytale and usually with fairy tales what you see is what you get. A story about how opening doors to strange old women can have you fall into a sleep-like death that can only be healed by true love's kiss.

Animation 

This movie is 81 years old and while it looks old, it doesn't look OLD. If you know what I mean. For a movie that came out in 1938, the animation holds us really well. While I was watching the movie I commented on the attention to detail in the background and then I found out that Albert Hurter, the primary authority on the design of the film, made sure everything that was animated had his approval before being finalized, and the film is all the better for it.

The animation looks incredibly fluid and makes sense when you look at the way the characters move. That being said the actual character design is kinda lacking and doesn't hold a candle to animation now, but hey the movie came out in 1938 so I can't be too hard on it.

Soundtrack 

The soundtrack is iconic. Songs like 'Heigh-Ho' and 'Some Day My Prince Will Come' are two of most recognisable Disney songs and there's a reason for that. While they aren't my personal favourite, I cannot deny that they're good songs and I found myself singing along to all the songs. It's no wonder the movie was nominated for Best Musical Score at the Academy Awards.

Overall Thoughts

Snow White is one of those movies that stand the test of time. I wouldn't say that it's the best Disney movie but you can not deny it's iconic status. It was the movie that paved the way for the Disney movies that we know and love. Without Snow White, you wouldn't have like Beauty and the Beast, Tangled or Frozen. It's incredibly sweet while also being a lot more dramatic than I usually give it credit for.