Disney Marathon: 'Sleeping Beauty'
We're on holiday, and that means we're going to smash out some more Disney reviews! For someone who's a bit of a Disney nerd you'd be surprised to hear that I've never seen this classic part of the Princess Pantheon. I've seen it in bits and pieces but this is the first time I've watched it as a complete film!
For those just joining us, this is a movie marathon with a twist. Myself (cranky 40 year old blogger), my son Josh (10 year old Nintendo obsessive) and my daughter Amelia (drama llama 8 year old) are watching Disney movies in a random order and ranking them. We hope to see interesting differences in how we organise our lists.
Released: 1959
Director: Clyde Geronimi, Eric Larson, Wolfgang Reitherman, Les Clark
Cast: Mary Costa, Bill Shirley, Eleanor Audley, Verna Felton, Barbara Jo Allen, Barbara Luddy, Taylor Holmes, Bill Thompson
Plot: A newly born princess is cursed by an evil fairy to fall into a deep sleep on her 16th birthday. Through the efforts of three good fairies she is kept hidden in an effort to protect her.
Review: Out of all the Disney Princess, Aurora is the one I didn't have a handle on. She didn't have a clearly defined personality. Cinderella is optimistic in the face of adversity, Mulan is cunning and a quick learner, and Ariel is a dumbass. After watching Sleeping Beauty it is now clear that Aurora is...
Actually, she's still lacking much in the way of personality. She isn't very instrumental in her own story, with most of the interesting parts of the movie taking place while she is off-screen. When she is around, all she does is talk about her dreams and dance around the forest. If you haven't seen this movie, it's best to think of her as a plot point rather than the protaganist.
This is a production that went through many, many revisions on a script level and the final product feels like the issues weren't completely ironed out. We open with the birth of Princess Aurora, daughter of King Stefan (Holmes). She's immediately betrothed to the son of the neighbouring King Hubert (Thompson) and then visited by three fairies to receive magical blessings. The fairies Flora, Fauna and Merryweather (Felton, Allen and Luddy) give Aurora beauty and song before the party is crashed by the extremely extra evil fairy Maleficent (Audley) who delivers a curse. Maleficent magically decrees that on her 16th birthday Aurora will prick her finger on a spindle and die. Unable to undo the curse, Merryweather uses her blessing to ensure that Aurora will only fall into a deep sleep until true love's kiss revives her.
In order to keep her hidden from Maleficent the fairies take on the guises of peasant women who raise Aurora in the forest under the guise of Briar Rose. Just prior to her 16th birthday, Aurora (Costa) has a chance encounter with Prince Phillip (Shirley) and they fall in love. Maleficent discovers where Aurora is hidden and ensures her curse does occur, leaving Phillip and the fairies to charge into battle to save her and the kingdom from an eternal slumber.
First and foremost, the animation is the star here. The abstract landscapes used to represent the fairies blessings is remarkable, especially for the era in which is was created. The Medieval art style gives the story a delightfully timeless feeling, and the animators aren't afraid of exaggerating expressions and character movements to give everything an epic feel. Maleficent receives the best results of this style, becoming the most memorable and spectacular aspect of the movie. She throws herself completely into the role of the villain and delights in her evil actions. You can't not love her.
Time spent with the fairies is also fun, as they try and fail to live like normal people. The comedy only gets better when they pull out the wands and we get imaginative and fun uses of their spells. The cake ingredients reading their own recipe is charming in a way of Disney movies manage, and the battle of colours is a solid running gag. On the other side of the coin in terms of tone is the epic final battle where Phillip battles through the Forbidden Mountain, the wall of thorns and Maleficent in giant dragon form. It's an amazing set piece and there's a real sense of dread and hopelessness.
What the film lacks is a solid through line. We jump between the fairies being clumsy, Aurora singing to herself in the forest, King Stefan and Hubert getting sloppy drunk and Maleficent cackling evilly to herself. Each scene feels like it could be taking place in a different movie. After all the rewrites of the script it still has no cohesion or clear protaganist. It's also hard to ignore the fact that the fairies have been living in the forest for 16 years and are acting as though it's their first day without magic. They can't even bake without magic, so what have they been doing this entire time? It feels like a day has passed instead of 16 years and it's jarring.
It's a nice slice of animation, but the story doesn't keep us coming back. Just skip to the fairy and Maleficent scenes.
Best Song: 'Once Upon a Dream' is a good song, I guess...
Coolest Easter Egg: The princess is known as both Aurora and Briar Rose in the film, bringing together two traditional tellings of the story. The Tchaikovsky ballet featured Aurora whilst Grimm Brother's tellings called her Briar Rose.
Weirdest Trivia: Prince Phillip is the first Disney prince to be given an on screen name. Snow White's love interest is only known as The Prince (since known as Florian) and Cinderella met with a man known only as Prince Charming.
Rating: SIX out of TEN
THE RANKING MEI'm glad I saw it...but I'll only watch the fairy scenes if it was put on again.
Click those titles if you want to see what we said about the other movies.
AMELIAOh, Amelia did not like this. She was vocal about everything taking too long to happen. The parts of the movie she enjoyed were far and few between.
- Frozen
- Moana
- Tangled
- The Little Mermaid
- Emperor's New Groove
- Zootopia
- Atlantis: The Lost Empire
- The Great Mouse Detective
- Home on the Range
- The Nightmare Before Christmas
- Mulan
- Hercules
- Alice in Wonderland
- Cinderella
- Wreck-It Ralph
- Bolt
- Pocahontas
- Dinosaur
- The Aristocats
- The Princess and the Frog
- Robin Hood
- The Jungle Book
- Fantasia 2000
- The Lion King
- Beauty and the Beast
- The Three Caballeros
- The Fox and the Hound
- The Sword in the Stone
- Saludos Amigos
- Oliver & Company
- Aladdin
- Treasure Planet
- Big Hero 6
- Fun and Fancy Free
- Sleeping Beauty
- A Goofy Movie
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarves
- Chicken Little
- Fantasia
It was fine. That's all he had to offer.
- Zootopia
- Big Hero 6
- Aladdin
- Emperor's New Groove
- Treasure Planet
- Moana
- Ralph Breaks the Internet
- The Three Caballeros
- Saludos Amigos
- Wreck-It Ralph
- Frozen
- Mulan
- The Princess and the Frog
- The Lion King
- The Jungle Book
- Robin Hood
- Bolt
- The Sword in the Stone
- Beauty and the Beast
- Oliver & Company
- Sleeping Beauty
- Tangled
- The Great Mouse Detective
- Cinderella
- The Little Mermaid
- Home on the Range
- Pocahontas
- A Goofy Movie
- The Aristocats
- Fantasia
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarves
- Atlantis: The Lost Empire
- Fun and Fancy Free
- The Fox and the Hound
- Fantasia 2000
- The Nightmare Before Christmas
- Dinosaur
- Hercules
- Alice in Wonderland
- Chicken Little
