#1 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Interestingly enough, this may have actually been the first film I ever saw as a child. Having not seen it in probably somewhere around thirteen years, watching it again was definitely an... interesting experience. Funny how you can go years without watching a film, see it again, and realize you remember every shot, sound effect, and line of dialogue.

First thing to address, Snow White absolutely shows its age. As the first attempt at making a feature-length animated film, it's inherently an experiment. The actual plot of the Queen's attempts to kill Snow White (as an aside, this film has way more explicit references to killing people than you probably remember) unfolds over maybe half the scenes in the film. The rest of the film is chiefly musical numbers serving as fuel for rather charming visual humor. The influence of Disney's background in animated shorts is visible; many of the scenes could practically stand on their own as a string of loosely knitted-together shorts. As a character, Snow White is easily the dullest Disney protagonist: she has barely any actual personality, does nothing of her own agency, and is alternately subservient to the Queen, the Dwarves, and the Prince, who manages to be the only character with even less personality than her. And as for the love story... there really isn't one. The Prince trespasses on the castle grounds to proclaim his love for Snow White in the opening scene based purely on hearing her sing, she later announces that she's in love with him despite knowing literally nothing about him, and then he shows up at the end, administers "true love's first kiss," and they ride off together to live happily ever after, apparently only because the script says so.

And yet, despite its flaws, there are moments of greatness that must have seemed like revelations at the time of the film's release. The Dwarfs and forest animals end up showing far more personality and appeal than Snow White herself (and make the more realistically drawn humans seem out of place by comparison). The lack of plotting is made up for by the film's ability to evoke emotion, ranging from the panicked sequence of Snow White running through the forest to the mounting suspense and terror of the Queen's transformation. Most effective, however, is the scene of the Dwarfs' funeral for Snow White. Disney has earned a reputation for throwing tear-jerky moments in their films, but what makes this one unique is that it's done entirely without dialogue, just a perfect marriage of music and visuals that foreshadows what Disney would go on to do more ambitiously with Fantasia. This is what Disney is at its best: raising and redefining the bar for what animation can be and achieve.

While definitely not Disney's best film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs still stands as an early testament to the spirit of creativity and innovation that would define Disney's Golden Age, and all of its best films for decades to come.