Why So Blu?

Snow White And The Seven Dwarves – The Signature Collection (Blu-ray Review)

Forever enchanting and inspiring, Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs embodies The Walt Disney Signature Collection’s legacy of animation.  In this epic story of love and friendship, the kind and beautiful princess Snow White wins the hearts of the Seven Dwarfs and triumphs over the evil plans of a wicked Queen.  Share the movie called “The Greatest Animated Film Of All Time,” (American Film Institute) on Blu-ray February 2nd and on Digital HD January 19th, with special features for the entire family!  This is the film’s second appearance on the Blu-ray format and first time for a digital copy.

Film 

After meeting the charming prince of her dreams, Snow White is pursued by a jealous queen.  Her servant, the Hunstman allows Snow White to live.  She finds a group of dwarves living in the woods, befriending and staying with them. But the queen learns of Snow White’s continued existence from her “mirror mirror on the wall” and prepares to feed her a poison apple.

A timeless Disney classic, this movie has been with me since I was a child.  I first saw it during a revival screening when my mother took me to see it.  The evil Queen in her old haggard form scared the living shit out of me.  Leaving the film, she was all I could think about, haunting my thoughts.  Not too long after, I had my first trip to Disney World.  We rode the Snow White ride.  There’s a part in that where the Queen transforms and then chases you in a boat.  Scared the living shit out of me.  I’m not sure that’s how one is supposed to take Snow White, but as a child she overshadowed those funny, lovable dwarves and the good natured happy feel to the entire movie.

Many have claimed over the years that the Disney mold lightened up and try to make the Grimm Fairy Tales too happy.  However, revisiting the film here, the film still has some very dark and adult aspects that did take me by surprise.  And so what if the movie doesn’t end super dark and depressing, the film actually still works.  It was so popular and impactful that this version wound up overshadowing and becoming what people thought of with this story, the iconic edition.

While its not a long movie at all, its still a film with plenty of fat on it.  It really does move itself fast to the dwarves stuff, but once there, it takes its sweet time and dicks around.  Plus, this movie could probably be one dismissed by feminists by its “true love’s kiss” and every girl needing a prince to save them sort of motif.  But, it should be looked upon for the time with which it was released and its value to the time.  And you know what…a lot of girls dig the whole Prince Charming stuff.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarves is a landmark in Disney, animation and film history in general.  It set forth the Disney animation juggernaut and sort of changed the game for things.  The film entered the world in 1937…and here we are, it still hasn’t left.  I don’t know what more to add to it, but its a great piece of history and a fun and charming film still to this day.

Video 

Encoding: MPEG-4 AVC

Resolution: 1080p

Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1

Clarity/Detail:  This is the same transfer used on the Diamond Edition release.  It also comes with a “Disney View” mode in which some animated borders appear in the space occupied black side bars, making for full used of a 1.78:1 frame.

Depth:  N/A

Black Levels:  Blacks are solid and look as they should in an animated film.

Color Reproduction:  Colors look rich and beautiful.  They feel an accurate depiction of the brush strokes and colors as intended in 1937.

Flesh Tones:  N/A

Noise/Artifacts:  Clean

Audio 

Audio Format(s): English 7.1 DTS-HD MA, English Mono Dolby Digital, French 5.1 Dolby Digital, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital

Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish

Dynamics:  Well, well.  Just slap a 7.1 track on it, eh?  This isn’t some sort of 7.1 for 7.1’s sake, there has been some stuff done with this mix, but overall its just a bit excessive.  The film sounds great, but I would have been more than happy with a lossless addition of the mono track, too.

Low Frequency Extension:  Mostly the subwoofer is used for hits in the score.

Surround Sound Presentation:  Birds chirping, a couple hi-ho’s, to go with ambiance and some other things pop up in the side and rear speakers.  Most of it is kept to the front, though, which gives a terrific representation of the scenes progressing on screen.

Dialogue Reproduction:  Clean and clear.  It sounds of a recording in its era, but sounds nice and polished up and fresh.

Extras 

This release comes with a DVD copy and Ultraviolet Digital Copy of the film.

Audio Commentary

• By Roy E. Disney and Historian John Canemaker, and Recordings by Walt Disney

In Walt’s Words: Snow White And The Seven Dwarves (HD, 4:22) – An archival audio interview from 1956 in which Walt Disney discusses many aspects of Snow White including what drew him to the story.

Iconography (HD, 7:16) – A discussion by women talking about the characters, imagery, objects and such that has become iconic and inspiring to every generation.

@DisneyAnimation: Designing Disney’s First Princess (HD, 5:16) – Disney animators give a bit of history lesson on Snow White while looking through sketches and early designs.

The Fairest Facts of Them All: 7 Things You May Not Know About Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (HD, 4:37) – Disney Channel star Sofia Carson takes you through some trivia factoids and such for the film.

Snow White In Seventy Seconds (HD, 1:12) – A kid’s hip hop rendition of the story in the form of a short song.

Alternate Sequence: The Prince Meets Snow White (HD, 3:39) 

Archival Bonus Features

• Disney’s First Feature: The Making Of Snow White And The Seven Dwarves (HD, 33:15) – Ported over from the Diamond Edition, reportedly a longer cut.
• Hyperion Studios Tour
• Decoding The Exposure Sheet
• Snow White Returns
• Story Meetings: The Dwarves
• Story Meetings: The Huntsman
• Deleted Scene: Soup Eating Sequence
• Deleted Scene: Bed Building Sequence
• Animation Voice Talent

Summary 

Here’s the breakdown with this one; its a great release.  If you have the previously release Diamond Edition of Snow White, do you need to double dip?  Absolutely not.  Plus, some of the bonus features from that release are missing here.   This one may have been a bit of a cash in on including a digital copy with the film.  If you don’t have Snow White, this is your second chance to pick this one up, so don’t miss out!