Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

(Note: This review refers to the Blu-ray version of the DVD.)

It's hard to grasp today how revolutionary "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" was in 1937. The beautiful (and at times dark and scary) Brothers Grimm fairy tale of an evil queen, a beautiful princess and a lovable troupe of little men was a grand gamble. Though technically not the world's first animated feature, the elaborately painted images and graceful execution of the Technicolor film redefined the idea of what animation could accomplish and launched the Disney legacy. Delicately shaded and delightfully old fashioned, like a fairy tale come to life from a 19th century illustration, it remains to this day one of the most beautiful animated features ever made and my favorite Disney film of all time.

"Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" is Disney's first animation classic to get the Blu-ray treatment in the new "Diamond Edition," and the new high-definition master beautifully preserves the distinctive texture of the painted cels and the 1930s-era colors. In addition to some of the supplements from the previous DVD edition (including commentary by animation historian John Cannemaker) there is the new featurette "The One That Started It All" and a virtual tour of Disney's Hyperion studio with brief featurettes and archival galleries, recently discovered sketches and story notes from an unmade sequel ("Snow White Returns"), two deleted scenes in rough form and new set-top games and activities, with an enhanced "Magic Mirror" guide through the disc. And there is a bonus DVD edition of the movie for the kids to have for their own, leaving the Blu-ray disc for the grown-ups.