New ‘Snow White’ Release Gives Animation Fans a Reason to Rejoice

At 78 years of age, Snow White is looking pretty good and her debut film, Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs, has been holding up remarkably well, too. The Blu-ray and digital HD versions of the have been released this week and they are full of extra features not included in previous releases.

Originally released in 1937, Walt Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was the first full-length animated movie with color and sound. At the time, it was often called “Disney’s Folly,” as many critics didn’t believe that audiences would want to sit through a full-length cartoon. The film was definitely a gamble; if it hadn’t done well, it would have ended Disney’s career. As audiences now know, the film was a huge success.

When compared to more recent Disney princess movie characters like Rapunzel from Tangled and or Elsa from Frozen, Snow White’s character reflects a simpler time. Snow White is somewhat timid and immature, and the film itself has a dated look to it. The voice actors are a bit more theatrical than they are natural, too. However, many of the distinct Disney attributes are still there — a young heroine, jolly sidekicks, an evil villain, joyful songs and funny little animals — and the film is still beautiful to look at. For some fans, Snow White is still the fairest of them all.

While not all of the extra features will appeal to all audiences, animation fans will appreciate the following extra features:

• Iconography (7:16)
  Snow White still influences artists and this short films highlights those artists who still pay tribute to the iconic film
• @DisneyAnimation: Designing Disney’s First Princess (5:16)
  Some of today’s animators from Walt Disney Animation Studios discuss the Disney animators from yesterday and what they contributed to the Snow White feature.
• The Fairest Facts of Them All (4:37)
  Sofia Carson (from Disney Channel’s Descendants movie) shares seven fairly unknown facts about Snow White.
• Snow White in 70 Seconds (1:12)
  Rapper Baby Kaely tells the entire story of Snow White in just over a minute.
• Alternate Sequence: The Prince Meets Snow White (3:39)
  This short film uses taped recordings of Walt Disney and his crew, along with original artwork samples, to discuss an alternate scene proposed for the film.
• Disney’s First Feature: The Making of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (33:15)
  This documentary focuses on what it took to create the movie and features interviews with historians Brian Sibley and John Canemaker, animators Eric Goldberg, Ward Kimball and Marc Davis, music composer Michael Giacchiono, director John Musker and author Neal Gabler.
• Bringing Snow White to Life (11:35)
  A short documentary about Disney’s earliest animators.
• Hyperion Studio Tour (30:36)
  Snow White was not created on the current Disney lot, but instead, it was filmed at Hyperion Studio in Silverlake. This documentary shares what a work day was like a the studio.
• Decoding the Exposure Sheet (6:49)
  Producer Don Hahn shares about all of the detail that went into the Snow White film by analyzing the scene in the film when Snow White first meet the prince.
• Snow White Returns (8:44)
  A short film discusses the cartoon short, Snow White Returns, and why it was never produced.
• Story Meeting: The Dwarfs (5:51)
  This short film is a reenactment about comments made about how the dwarf characters should look act and sound like.
• Story Meeting: The Huntsman (8:44)
  This short film is a reenactment about comments made about how the huntsman character should look act and sound like.
• “Soup Eating Sequence” Deleted Scene (4:07)
• “Bed Building Sequence” Deleted Scene (6:28)
• Animation Voice Talent (6:20)
  This short film discusses what Walt Disney was looking for back then and what the current studio looks for in voice talents for its films.
• Audio Commentary
  Compiled from numerous audio files, this commentary is narrated by Walt Disney himself.

[All images courtesy of Disney]