Snow White And The Seven Dwarves - The Signature Collection

It's been many years since I've seen "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs." The characters are so iconic they've been seen in virtually every mixed fairytale adaptation from "Descendants" to ABC's "Once Upon a Time." That's fun; but it casts emotional dispersions on the original film if one's been too far from it. Given the wild animation advances and 3-D technology that's become an expectation in modern times, can a hand-drawn 1937 classic still hold attention?

The answer is probably no... and yes. If you're showing this film to your 3-year-old (as I did), she'll probably want to return to "Frozen" post-haste. The pace is slow, the story simple, the conflict sparse. There's no high-energy pop song for kids to hum from the living room to their bedrooms at night.

But for adults, the original "Snow White" is a revelation all over again (recall that in 1938 the cinematic release was so successful it made four times more money than any other picture that year, at a robust $3.5 million in the US and Canada). Its simplicity is part of its charm, in fact; a slower pace and classical music track mixes artistically with pastel palettes and Snow White's soft, lilting singing voice. This is a film to be experienced for its details, not for its fast-paced cutting. In fact, it's a wonder at times for the smallest things: the way Snow White's dress sweeps when she moves, the elegant posture of her fingers, and the amazingly deft animation of dozens of woodland creatures simultaneously; you'll forget that each cel was hand-drawn in painstaking detail.

Special features abound here, from a four-minute interview with Walt superimposed over archival footage to a rap version of the plot in 70 seconds (not sure what they were thinking on that one). Some are rather boring, others mildly entertaining for Disney buffs. But the prize is the film, and it still stands as an imaginative feast for the heart.