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Techtite's DVD Reviews! |
----------------- Feel free to contribute. As always, review submissions are accepted! ------------------
------------- Sidebar :: ------------- Is the magic mirror slowing you down? No problem!... Admittedly, as cool as the Magic Mirror is, the animations between manus can seem to slow you down from your goals, when looking at all that cool bonus material! No problem; just click "Next" on your DVD remote, and the animation will skip forward to the menu you wanted to see. One clip I haven't seen on the DVD's behind the scenes footage (yet) was an amusing anecdote by one of the original animators, of how the premiere audience was actually crying during the scene when Snow White is presumed "dead" in her glass coffin. It was at this time he realized the impact of animation, and how it can be just as effective of a tool as live-action film. This film proves that to this very day.
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Snow White and The Seven Dwarves: Platinum Edition
Click DVD box cover to order A Techtite ReviewThe Film: Forget Star Wars. Forget Titanic. Forget E.T.: The Extra-terrestrial. If you adjust for inflation, this film is perhaps one of the biggest blockbuster champions of all time, even to this very day. This is little surprise, when you consider the film's impact; this was the animated feature film that started it all, from Dumbo to Lady & The Tramp, from Cinderella to The Little Mermaid. Finally, Disney gives their premiere animated feature film the DVD respect it deserves, with a two-disc DVD set that is, quite frankly, a collection in which all future 2-disc sets will be judged. This is a flawless salute to a flawless film. The story is classic enough, in a tale of Princess Snow White, and the evil queen who would kill Snow White just to be the "fairest" in the land. While escaping the queen's evil clutches, Snow White comes across a small cottage owned by seven dwarves: Doc, Sneezy, Sleepy, Happy, Grumpy, Bashful, and Dopey. They decide to look after the princess, though the queen has other plans. The Queen disguises herself as a peasant woman, offering a "harmless" apple that is actually cursed. The apple will put Snow White into an eternal sleep, unless true love's first kiss can break the spell. Will love triumph over evil? Well, let's just say Disney Studios wouldn't have lasted very long if it didn't! The core of any animated feature, though, is the animation. Using Disney's patented "multiplane" animation process, the background and foreground seem to have several layers, adding to the realism. Characters are also well animated, based on filmed footage of human models performing the more complex scenes. All this has been digitally remastered, with color made more vibrant and all dust, hair, and other obstructions erased from each frame. The final product is the best way to see the film since its initial release in 1937...perhaps, even better. Of course, the whole film is made even better with its unforgettable music, which will leave one and all humming the tunes for ages. From "Whistle While You Work" to "Heigh Ho, Heigh Ho, It's Home From Work We Go," this film probably has more musical hits than your favorite pop album. In short; you really should buy this DVD set! If you need kids to find an excuse to buy it, then you really need some kids right away. Otherwise, go out and buy it anyway; entertainment for all ages is hard to come by these days, and this film is a classic. The DVD: Where do I begin? The extras on this disc cover 5 menus and 16 mini-menus, on Disc 2 alone. Disc one includes even more added material. I guess I'll begin with the most intriguing enhancement, right on disc one: an audio commentary by none other than Walt Disney himself! With comments by Roy Disney and animator John Canemaker filling in the gaps, the DVD audio editors used old interviews by Walt, and re-mixed them into the form of an audio commentary that can be played while you watch the film. What an innovative addition! Of course, this is just one small portion of a plethora of bonus features. However, with so many menus comes a bit of intimidation, to find exactly what you're looking for. Fortunately, disc one includes a guided tour of both discs, hosted by the Magic Mirror and Roy Disney. In addition, the box case includes a foldout map of all the main menus and their included features. This will help you find just what bonus materials you're looking for...though with all due humility, I still would be unable to list them all here, in one review! Instead, I'll list some of my favorite enhancements. For one, there's the singing of the classic song, Someday My Prince Will Come, as sung by Barbara Streisand. This is offered to be viewed either separately, or plays automatically, after viewing the feature film itself. This is one of many nice additions on the first disc alone, including a well-edited, brand-new documentary about the film and when it was released, narrated by Angela Lansbury, and featuring numerous anecdotes from Disney crew and fans young and old. This documentary even shows how the film was re-edited for overseas audiences, right down to foreign language versions of the storybook in the prologue and finale. At 39 minutes, this is a nice addition to the set...and we haven't even gotten to disc two yet! As for Disc Two...where do I begin? Perhaps with the biggest, jaw-dropping addition of them all: deleted scenes! From an animated, 1937 film, this is a real surprise! Of course, some of these scenes (5 of them) are only available in their black and white, animated sketch form, while others (3 more, under "abandoned concepts") are offered with audio played during a slide-show of the original storyboard. See such intended scenes a fantasy dream sequence during the song, "Someday My Prince Will Come," as well as a particularly PG-type musical number, titled "Music in your soup," when the dwarves eat their food with a musical array of slurps, until Snow White teaches them how to use a spoon. There's also a scene when the dwarves attempt to build Snow White her own bed, which was unloadable deleted due to the risqué nature of seven men building a woman a bed, which in the eyes of 1937 audiences would not have gone over very well. Other video includes a short film reel of the original 1937 premiere, which will be a hoot to kids and adults alike, when you see the 1937 costumed versions of classic Disney characters, compared to how they look in the theme parks today. There is also a timeline of eight trailers used to promote the film through the ages, from its 1937 opening to its 1944 re-release, right on up to its DVD release today. Rare audio is also offered, including the original radio broadcast of the premiere, two Lux Radio Theater radio show clips (1936 and 1937), and Mickey Mouse's Theater Of The Air (1938), in addition to 7 radio commercials. Best of all is audio of a deleted song, "You're Never Too Old To Be Young," which is truly hilarious. If you listed to one audio clip, this is the one. As for everything else, there's animation tests, a video clip of the live-action actors used as reference for the animation, a sample of how the multiplane camera works, "A Trip Though Walt Disney Studios," "How Disney Cartoons Are Made," and a whole, whole lot more! I'll leave the added details for you to discover, upon purchasing the DVD. This is bound to be a must-have purchase for all ages, and adding any more to this review would be overkill. All I can say is, this is perhaps the one disc you can both buy yourself and/or a family member, and have nobody disappointed.
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