Rating: Summary: Still the fairest of them all Review: After all these years, Snow White still shines like a gem! Of course a lot of that has to do with the amazing restoration work, but if it wasn't there to begin with, we wouldn't be seeing it now. Simply put, this film set the standard for all animated films. Even to this day films are compared to it and judged against it. But it's not only a landmark film, it's an incredibly entertaining one!Sure it's dated in it's art style and some of it's characterizations, but amazingly it still works. In fact I think the Queens and Snow Whites dramatic movements, 30's acting and singing style and the german influence on the art give a sense that this is indeed a tale as old as time, from another era. I think the film has only grown more "fairy taleish" as the years have passed. Now, this DVD presentation is truly one of the greatest ever bestowed on a film. The two disc set includes the gloriously remastered film and enough bonus material to keep you indoors for a few days! Thankfully the set provides you with a detailed map of the features in the booklet and goes the extra mile of providing guided tours on the discs themselves! The magic mirror is your host and is always there to tell you what to do next or what your options are. If you're more experienced with DVD you can bypass his instructions by simply pressing the enter button on your remote control. You'll have to work pretty hard to get lost in this maze of features. And what a maze it is! From behind the scenes information on the making of the film, to it's world premier, ALL the info you could hope to know about Snow White is included here. There is even a commentary with Walt himslef (just like on the Fantasia DVD)! If you love Snow White, Disney, are a film buff, or just want to see a charming fairy tale, then you simply have to pick up this Snow White DVD. It's still the fairest of them all!
Rating: Summary: WOW! Please Disney, do this for ALL your great features! Review: I cannot say enough about how great this DVD is. First of all, there is the great classic, the first of them all, Disney's lovely and scary Snow White. Then, all the additional material. I spent at least 2 evenings looking at all the extra stuff--and enjoyed it immensely. If you have any doubts, please buy this DVD---if not for your children, then to enjoy your own childhood all over again.
Rating: Summary: Simply Amazing!!! Review: I have had a DVD player on my computer for a year and a half and it wasn't until I recieved this DVD as a gift that I ever bothered to use it. One word, WOW!!! This thing is amazing; a MUST HAVE for any Disney fan. I would say it is worth double or triple the price for the unseen footage, background information, outtakes, Disney through the decades, interviews etc. without the movie even being on the discs. I did have a small problem with the simplicity of Dopey's Mine game until I remembered that it was in all likelyhood designed for kids, not adults. And Barbara Striesand was never meant to sing "Someday My Prince Will Come" as hers is not the voice of a sweet innocent young girl, but other than that I have no complaints at all. This is a real treat. I can't wait to see what added features come on the Platinum Edition Beauty and the Beast DVD next fall.
Rating: Summary: Pure magic Review: Forget new-Disney, this is the real thing. I just love oldfashioned animation, oddly enough I find it more "alive" than the clean and sterile animation of today. Actually, animation hasn't been very interesting to me for many years now, I'm not quite sure when I lost interest but I definitely prefer the very old stuff. I love old cartoons (vintage Tom & Jerry, etc.), and loathe the new cold ones. (Besides, I'm actually more into stop motion animation anyway.) This 2-disc DVD is an absolute must if you're a fan of this movie, and if you don't like this movie you're not an animation fan. Period. The movie is a true classic with a lot of memorable scenes, done the lively way I want my cartoons, oops, animation to look. This is one of the best special edition DVDs I've ever seen, packed with a million goodies too many to mention here. The animated menus are also wonderful, and I bet there must be a few Easter Eggs hidden here and there on these two discs. The one thing I could've done without though, is the Barbra Streisand song presented with clips from the movie in music video style. -The Disney studio seem proud of it, but I see it as an obvious attempt to modernize the movie. This movie needs no updating, and you can always skip the chapter of course. "Snow White" hasn't dated in the least, it's looking more fresh than ever. Forever. P.S., think of the protests if this was a new film; I mean, a young woman living with seven dwarfs !?. Scandalous !.
Rating: Summary: A Gorgeous Achievement Review: SNOW WHITE is an animation textbook as well as a history of one of the most famous films ever made. It is beautifully produced and gorgeously restored. The colors have never looked better. The Disney studio cleaned out their refrence library for the superb Gallery section, to the immense benefit of animation fans, animators, and animation students alike. It is also instructive to see footage which was cut at the last minute: this truly shows Walt Disney's particular genius, that of the expert storyteller. Which is all that matters when making a film--not just a feature length cartoon. My one complaint (as with all the new Disney discs) is that the artists who made the drawings are never identified except in one or two instances. There are discussions about background painter Sam Armstrong, and one character design of the Prince and Snow White was signed by Fred Moore and Hamilton Luske, but in some cases the artwork has appeared in books with the artist properly credited; and in two instances the artists are actually still alive and working for the Disney company. (Working in animation keeps you young.) Don't miss this one if you love animation, and love the movies.
Rating: Summary: Simply one of the best DVD's ever Review: Snow White and the Seven Dwarves is a classic movie, no doubt about it, but this will soon be known as a classic DVD in its own right. From one of the best re-mastering jobs ever known, the masters at Disney have made this 1937 movie look like it was just made. Besides crystal clear and bright colors, it also features the addition of 5.1 digital audio, something obviously not even available when the film was first created. After all the hard work in restoring it, the movie shines and allows the great story to have its full emotional impact. The features, in addition, are done with a phenomenal menu system that's easy enough for anyone to approach. The menus themselves are narrated by a newly computer animated magic mirror that just adds a magic touch. The features are smartly organized and even feature guided tours through them by some celebrity hosts. Overall, this is one of the best DVD's ever and a classic gem for any collection. Don't hesitate to get this one.
Rating: Summary: Dwarves, surely? Review: Well, you know the film. I'm going to review the DVD, and it's quite a special DVD as well. For a start, the animation has been polished to within an inch of its life - the colours and so forth are extremely vivid, and although released in 1937 you can't tell from the film quality alone (the music and the 'look' of Snow White and the Evil Queen are very 1930s, however). As the above list indicates, there are rather a lot of extras. As with Lucasfilm, Disney often get a lot of bad press for being stingy - this is Disney's equivalent of 'Star Wars: Behind the Magic', in that they've gone to the other extreme and including almost anything possible. Disc two has a couple of afternoon's worth of stuff, highlights of which include the various trailers dating back to 1937 ('See what the genius of WALT DISNEY has created!') and some galleries of concept art. It's odd looking at galleries of concept art from the 1930s - the animation and storyboarding 'work in progress' frames don't seem dated, and some of the throwaway pre-production illustrations are as gorgeous as anything in the film. The menus are very nice, but as with a lot of flashy menus (the ones for MGM's 'James Bond' films) they get a bit tiring the second time. There are deleted sequences, some audio clips, shots of live action test shots, short films on animation presented by Walt himself (looking surprisingly dapper), the works. There's even a short history of the Disney company itself, a piece of fluff which skims over the studio's dimishing artistic fortunes after the death of Walt, and has a blankly-smiling actress sum up the 80s as 'a decade of agressive investment and expansion!' and not, say, 'a decade of 'The Black Cauldron' and 'Tron''. Disc one has the film, Barbra Streisand (for two minutes), some games, and an intriguing audio commentary by Walt himself, assembled from bits of interviews. It's a bit muddy and hard to hear, but that's definitely his voice talking. I haven't actually listened to it all the way though, but it deserves a nod for the effort involved (unless, of course, it's all faked and Walt isn't really dead at all). To top it all, it's reasonably-priced. As a landmark in cinema, and as a classic Disney film, I can't think of a reason not to own it.
Rating: Summary: I can't believe the excellent work Review: I have been buyin DVDs since last year, but no DVD left me as astonished as this one. First of all, I must say (a must say) that this is a spectacular film, one of the must beautiful disney's masterpieces, evey single person should see it. Kids will simply love it, as it is clean an lovable, I assume that every body has seen it, so, I will not bother you repeating it. The new audio tracks along with te restorated collor are great, as they are new and beautiful, but not making the restoration grotesque, it's a very soft restoration. The second DVD is another work of art, the scenaries are basically the queens castle beatufully rendered. inside of which you will find the art galleries and stuff. The galleries include the evolution of te characters from the begining up to those that were drawed, I mean,up to those that were brought to life by that genie that was walter disney. This disc includesthe original script of the tale (no animation :-( ), from the brothers greem. The only negative points the DVD has, are that the proof of purchase are on the back cover of the pack, so, if you want tho use them, you'll have to cut it, the othe is that the box is a tiny bit wider than any two disk set found elsewhere, but I think no one will care about it, I don't.... This is a must buy for every body, this along with Dumbo will make your DVD collection a great one, Kid will love them as thy are the two best movies ever created by disney.
Rating: Summary: Still Remains to the Queen's Disdain The World's Fairest Review: After four largely arduous years of painstaking development, when Walt Disney released his initial full-length animated feature upon the world in 1937, every reputable cinema insider, film critic, studio executive, and film business analyst at the time considered this Grimm Fairy based cartoon movie (nicknamed Disney's Folly) to be nothing more or less than professional suicide. Who they considered in their sane minds would sit through an hour and a half cartoon. Primarily who could stand such a prolonged exposure to such brightly tinted colors, conceptually unrealistic images, and plausibly inane child oriented entertainment for such a significant duration. It appeared to the Silver Screen industry that the immensely popular Disney animation studio responsible for such lucrative successes as Steamboat Willie (1st sound animated short) and Flowers and Trees (1st Color animated short) had plundered all of it's amassed wealth and interests into a project that would single-handedly signify it's obituary. With such a relentless stench of failure looming over it's theatrical release on December 21,1937, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs astoundingly persevered over all of the nay-saying gossip and metamorphosed into an international cultural phenomenon (that comparatively by 1937 standards received crudely equivalent revenue to other film blockbusters such as Star Wars, Jaws, or the Godfather) that heralded in the inception of the Animated Feature as incredibly viable cinematic genre, bolstered the Walt Disney Animated Studios as major Tinsel town heavyweight, and kick started the golden age of Disney Animation that included such milestones as Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo, and Bambi. Amidst the aftermath of it's gargantuan success, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs earned a special technical Academy Award celebrating Disney's massive advances in the art of animation (the award consisted of one large golden statuette and seven miniature ones), created both the massive demand and financial revenue necessary to sustain Disney Studios for years to come, and inspired countless generations of fans to seek animation as a career field. Yet sixty-four years after it was first cherished and adored by children and adults alike, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs still lingers as a colossally endearing cinematic landmark that habitually enthralls, frequently delights, and metaphysically transports us (the adults) to that intangible childhood glee and innocence that is so unfortunately lacking in our lives most of the time. It was the imagination kaleidoscope for generations of children, the granddaddy template for ALL animation films to follow, and the film that introduced such unforgettable characters as Happy, Doc, Bashful, Sneezy, Sleepy, Grumpy, Dopey, Snow White, and the Evil Queen to our collective unconscious for all time. Would really want to have it any other way? As for the Disney Platinum Edition of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, it contains a entrancingly THX remastered print of Snow White, a highly informative making-of documentary, deleted scenes (including the famous Soup, Making a Bed for Snow White, Doc and Grumpy's bedroom brawl, and many others) feature commentary, rare inclusive historical drawings, a Disney through the years prospective documentary, rare aborted idea storyboards for Snow White including a fantasy rendition of Someday My Prince will come, the Prince's incarceration at the Evil Queen's castle, and countless others, and numerous other first-class features befitting of this classic. P.S. Don't Miss The Best Apple to Harvested this Halloween Season
Rating: Summary: Much better than previous restoration issued on VHS Review: If you already own the older video release of this landmark animated feature, you should grab this new, superior edition. The previous restoration was commendable but artificial-looking; the image was cleaned but the result was too bright and antiseptic, robbing the film of its vintage, warm patina. (Imagine antique woodwork stripped and bleached and you'll get the idea.) This new DVD uses more recent technology to balance the contrast, brightness, color values, and soundtrack elements, and the video and audio technicians have done themselves proud. There is a wealth of additional material, including rare reference footage, out-takes, session recordings, radio broadcasts, coming-attractions trailers, promotional films (including one assembled by Disney in two days for the RKO sales force, whose own short is also included), and recollections by those involved in the original production. There are also closed-captions and an alternate version in French (fascinating in itself, with superb dubbing). The "magic mirror" serves as the user guide, directing the viewer to the various menu features. (And if you don't follow his instructions, the mirror scolds you with a few pointed remarks!) This very enjoyable DVD is truly "the fairest of them all," a magnificent showcase for a timeless classic.
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