El 7º enanito

Agreeable if rather cheap looking animated fair of the more familiar kind.

About 20 years behind the times with its unironic fairytale narrative, it still has a cute sincerity that we don't see much of these days. I think that when continental movies try to make animated movies in the American style we get something more imitative than original but this can still be refreshing.

Not one of the more dignified examples of an animated movie marketed toward families, it's inoffensive fun whose story doesn't sag anywhere. The dwarfs (traditionally that is the correct plural) themselves are a pleasant mix of cartoonish characters that would be more at home in a TV show but aren't annoying here.

That Princess is more memorable than most of them. I think she's kind of punk rock but that might be because she so rocked that eye-brow look.

It is not bad, but it is very annoying ... Reseating it by mistake, and I still find it annoying, 2 years later, but with cute messages about friendship, trust and empathy...

This review is about the English version.

It all started so-so, but 20 minutes later I realised I was hooked by its charm. I watched the rest in a better spirit and in a forgiving mood. There is just enough in The 7th Dwarf to soften up an old fart like me. The animation is not the best out there, but the graphic design is very cute. The songs have rather poor lyrics, but they've got enough heart and soul to make up for it. The humour, very gentle, did make me laugh at times. The pace is perfect, not rushing into the common frenzy plaguing the genre.

The high points for me are Burny the dragon, and Nina Hagen voicing the villainess. The ice monster also looks pretty cool; I wonder if it would successfully scare a child. Ah, and in the end credits, there is a section for the "Children born during this Production." I told you this film was cute.

As a huge fan of animation and as someone intrigued with the idea of mixing different fairy tale characters, Fairytale: Story of Seven Dwarfs, despite a few good qualities, was a let down.

While the animation isn't amazing, it's not awful either, and is the asset of Fairytale: Story of Seven Dwarfs that comes off the least badly. A lot of the character designs with the exceptions of Burny and the ice monster (both of which are pretty cool-looking) are ugly and lack expression, but the colours are beautiful and vibrant and the backgrounds have a lot of colour and detail. The fairy tale references early on in the film are fun to spot, some of the music score has the right amount of energy and melodious whimsy and while the voice acting on the whole is not that great Nina Hagen is deliciously evil as Dellamorta.

The character designs, as aforementioned, are ugly with a couple of exceptions. The songs are very weak, they try to be emotive and sweet but sound irritating, mawkish and dumbed down and escape your head after a few hours. Fairytale: Story of Seven Dwarfs contains a muddled script, with lots of half-baked moral lessons, juvenile dialogue and misplaced innuendo that interferes with the generally safe (perhaps too safe) tone the film adopts. The story had a very good concept, but spoils it with a complete lack of wit or originality, it's mostly pretty charmless too, most of the second half seemed rushed, some parts felt randomly shoe-horned in and any emotional parts seemed downplayed or forced.

Fairytale: Story of Seven Dwarfs has characters that are not only visually unappealing but annoy rather than charm, and that's including the dwarfs. There are even some racially stereotypical mermen. And of the voice acting, Hagen is the only one who doesn't irritate or sound bored. Overall, has moments but is one big fairy tale muddle as an overall whole. 3/10 Bethany Cox

No relation to Seventh Son obviously, even though the dwarf probably is someones son too. But apart from that unnecessary comparison what do we have here? It's a sort of sequel to a German series about the seven dwarfs and Snow White and other fairy tale characters. The other two movies that were made were shot with real actors, this one is animated (not very well done by the way).

If you have a child that is under 5, the movie might work on that kid. Do not try to show it to anyone older. Unless they are much older and like the actors who speak the roles. Some known German actors behind the dwarfs here. Maybe it's fun to know the voice to the dwarf you see on screen. Other than that there is too much of the "Don't do this because something bad will happen", just for people to do "it" and something "bad" to happen. It's primitive on a level that should not be able to entertain you ...