‘Wild Minds’ explores the creative landscape of early animation

Most people would identify Snow White, Grumpy, and Sleepy as cartoon characters, but it would have been a mistake to call them that within earshot of Walt Disney. Upon the release of his masterpiece “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” in 1937, Disney objected to a journalist describing his film as a “cartoon.” “It’s no more a cartoon,” Disney said, “than a painting by Whistler is a cartoon.”

In an exhaustive and highly entertaining new book, journalist Reid Mitenbuler demonstrates that he shares Disney’s belief