Sleeping Beauty

Animation has changed quite a bit in the ensuing years, but even today Sleeping Beauty is a towering achievement. Now I'm more sensitive to the tricks of the art and can see the masterful use of perspective that made the scenes leap out at you. When I first picked up this DVD I half expected to be disappointed, to find it really wasn't so glorious in retrospect. This is hardly the case - this film is just as vibrant and alive as it was in 1959.

The added dimension now is that I can see how Disney's work was a formative influence on animation even today. Artist/Directors like Miyazaki owe much to this film and its predecessor Snow White. And they freely admit it. As a production, Sleeping Beauty created a sense of legitimacy for animation that proved that high quality animation was something well beyond the Saturday morning funnies.

Disney took a great risk when creating this film, pouring a tremendous amount of resources in making it something as perfect as was possible for his time. While the studio reaped the financial benefits, the audience was the real winner, as a whole genre exploded before our eyes. Even now, with anime rapidly becoming a force to be reckoned with, this film stands out for story, art, and music.

The additional features, especially those that retell the making of the film, are excellent as well. All captures in fine detail on this DVD. This is a must see for anyone who still loves a fairy tale.


Should be part of any child's DVD collection   March 9, 2008
Julie Neal (Sanibel Island, Fla.)
41 out of 45 found this review helpful

In 1959, the New York Times called Sleeping Beauty "a crisply stylized fairyland where the colors are rich [and] the sounds are luscious." In his book The Disney Films, critic Leonard Maltin writes that Sleeping Beauty is "a very good film, but more so for older audiences than for young children." The Gospel According to Disney says the movie illustrates "an eternal promise of resurrection," while From Walt to Woodstock claims it is a "therapeutic experience" that celebrates "a male-female relationship based on true equality."

As for me, I'd say that regardless of what you read into it, Sleeping Beauty is a must-own. A true Disney classic, the movie has such stunning visuals and such a strong villain that it makes up for its one major flaw: the lack of a good lead character.

The art, for example, is astounding. Full of bright 1950s color, each background is a graphic collage of rectangles and straight lines that is filled to the edges with meticulously sharp detail. On each tree you see every leaf; on each shrub you see every thorn. It's a look that set the stage for other Disney movies to come, such as Pocahontas, Mulan and Hercules.

As a whole, the characters are terrific. Kids will love the fairies. On-screen longer than anyone else, Flora, Fauna and Merryweather fly like bumblebees, ooze oodles of personality and are truly funny. They lose their temper and make many mistakes, especially in their attempts to bake a birthday cake and sew a dress.

The villain is perhaps the scariest in any Disney film. "The mistress of all evil," devil-horned, green-skinned Maleficent is a sarcastic, high-class horror show all by herself. She curses baby Aurora to death, imprisons a prince so that he can't save the grown girl, and eventually turns herself into a towering dragon that breathes green fire.

The movie's only weakness is the princess herself. Aurora -- dare I say it? -- is quite a snooze. Unlike the leads in Cinderella or Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, this 16-year-old is a plain, passive Barbie doll who sings like an opera star. Unlike Cinderella or Snow White, she has no history of being mistreated. She's likable enough, but tough to relate to.

Still, that's the opinion of an adult, not a child. I give Sleeping Beauty five stars because of the art, because young kids -- especially girls -- will love it, because parents will also be entertained, and because its wholesome message that love conquers hate has rarely been presented better. A product of its time, the film is not perfect but still tough to beat. If you have kids and are building a collection of DVDs for them, this should be on your list.


Once Upon A Time In 1959: A Disney Masterpiece   May 8, 2003
Rachel Garret (Beverly Hills)
39 out of 43 found this review helpful

1959: Disney's presence had already been established. "Snow White" was the first animated film ever to grace the big screen and Disney had dazzled audiences with the 1940 "Fantasia". But in 1959, "Sleeping Beauty" won the hearts of fairy tale lovers, romance lovers and the young at heart. Disney was back in the saddle. The animation to the Sleeping Beauty was taken from the greeting card designs and artwork of a 50's artist. Set in the medieval 14th century, at times resembling the beautiful tapestries and cathedrals of the day, Sleeping Beauty is embellished with cool hues of purple, blue, green and black. A magic romanticism fills the air from start to finish. The score to the film was taken from the ballet music of the Tchaikovsky ballet by the same name. "The Sleeping Beauty" ballet is in fact Tchaikovsky's greastet musical masterpiece, and Disney merely sliced up some of the melodies to fit certain moods and scenes in the film. He also put lyrics to the enchanting "Sleeping Beauty Waltz"- in the song "Once Upon A Dream" in which the Prince and the would-be Sleeping Beauty meet for the first time, waltz and fall in love.

True in many respects to the old fairy tale, which some claim originated in Germany, others in France, where it is known as "La Belle Au Bois Dormant"- the tale is brought back to life through classic Disney charm. Princess Aurora (named after the Roman goddess of the dawn) is born to King Stephen and his Queen (The March from the Tchaikovsky ballet plays) and all the inhabitants of the land come to her Christening in the great hall of the castle. Aurora's three fairy godmothers Flora, Fauna and Merryweather (later Disney animators said they based them on three actual little old ladies) bestow the baby princess with the gifts of song and grace. But the Gothic enchantress Maleficent, the rotten apple in the bunch, was not invited and naturally, she is outraged. She wears a purple-black robe, has Devil horns on her head and her constant companion on her shoulder is a black raven. "Sometimes I don't think she's very happy" Fauna says of her. Caught up in a nasty mood, the evil sorceress casts an evil spell on Aurora. She will prick her finger on a spinning wheel an die on her sixteenth birthday. To avoid this catostrophe, King Stephen orders all the spinning wheels burned. Merriweather, the fairy in blue, brings hope- only the kiss of a brave and noble prince will lift the curse of the death-like sleep.

That prince is Phillip, who was already engaged to wed Aurora as a boy, (in an obvious statement about political unions in European monarchies). The three fairies do their best to prevent the terrible fate on Aurora, so they hide with her in their cottage in the deep forest and change her name to Briar Rose, raising her as their own child. But.. luck would have it, she meets Prince Phillip as he is hunting, they waltz and fall in love and she is brought back to the castle where she was born. There, Maleficent makes her prick her finger on the spinning wheel in a hypnotic trance. The spell is cat Poor Aurora...

But you know the rest, don't you ? Fairy tale loves always have a happy ending. The Tchaikovsky music, the artistic animation, and the engaging story will delight audiences as far into the future as 2059. In 1959, children and young girls might have been captivated (they said that Aurora was based on either Leslie Caron or Audrey Hepburn) but in the future, the tale will still win hearts. Young girls will once again be gripped. Virtue will be rewarded. After all, "true love conquers all."


Superb Edition of a Disney Classic   July 6, 2003
Stephen Cords (Brockton, MA USA)
29 out of 32 found this review helpful

Disney took a while, but they have finally embraced the DVD format. As with everything else, when they do it, they do it right and big!

When Disney first stuck their foot in the DVD waters they did it slowly, offering movies without major extras and at a price well above their competition. With a stable of classics in their coffers I wrote some scathing reviews and comments on various web sites. Disney finally got it through their heads that DVD has broken through to become the standard format for the new millenium.

Several other Disney Disks have gotten this deluxe treatment. Their collaborations with Pixar; Toy Story One and Two, A Bugs Life, Monsters Inc were among the first. Tarzan, Atlantis, Beauty and the Beast as well as Dumbo and a variety of lesser films have editions chock full of extras as well. It was fitting that Snow White was released as a Double Disk set last year and they have followed that up with one of my faves, Sleeping Beauty.

The film has been remastered all around. Crisp new sound and picture wrapped up with a bevy of extras that will make any cinemafile drool. Along with the standard documentaries and commentaries this edition has something I wish had been packaged with every disk released to date; A widescreen to pan and scan comparison. Finally I can show my friends and family why widescreen is preferable to 'full screen'. (You reading this Blockbuster video??)

Getting off the soapbox now...

I pre-ordered mine. Make sure you don't let this one slip away for another generation.


Stunning Remastering   October 14, 2003
J. Hardy IV (Snohomish, WA United States)
22 out of 28 found this review helpful

Sleeping Beauty was one of the first Disney animated films I remember my folks taking me to see. As a child during my `dinosaur' phase, I loved watching Maleficent turn into the dragon and fight Phillip. The story, you should know by now of course, young princess whisked away by three fairy `godmothers' to protect her from evil sorceress, raised in the forest unaware of her heritage, meets prince charming unaware he's a prince, eventually finds out they're betrothed to each other as prince fights sorceress. The re-mastering technique employed on this DVD yielded incredible results, the image was actually more vibrant and colorful than originally aired in 1959 and it looks marvelous on today's widescreen HDTVs. I was quite taken with the art, quite unlike anything Disney has done before or since with it's angular geometry and perpendicular themes. Aurora and Maleficent duel for most beautiful Disney female forms to date. The extras on the DVD are quite interesting as well. The original theatrical companion pieces The Grand Canyon was sublime and the snippet of how four artists paint a tree helped glean a bit into the mindset of the brilliant artists on the Sleeping Beauty project. Highly recommended, not just as a child's story, but as an impressive art piece and study of mood and texture.