Sleeping Beauty

Yes, I reviewed the 1959 Disney classic, which I hadn't viewed since I was probably a little kid: 

Yep, I have Disney+ for the next month—Hulu, too. That will help me view a wide variety of films for the month of February, which was a silent goal I’ve had in mind since before the month began. What I’ll view on those platforms won’t always be “the popular” choices, although I may check out some beloved pictures I somehow haven’t tackled before. 

Sleeping Beauty is one I recall seeing when I was really young-although the details were quite hazy. Of course I recalled the three good fairies and due to the pair of films, the evil Maleficent. Without having seen those movies, I’m a little puzzled as to why they devoted one, let alone TWO pictures to a figure that curses an entire kingdom and damned an infant to die on her 16th birthday just because she’s “The Mistress of All Evil.” In any case, at least three good fairies have the plan to raise baby Aurora in the forest as-I suppose-a trio of women who could have a polyamorous relationship w/ each other; they certainly argued as if they were in a relationship!

To be less frivolous, the film is simply charming, great for all ages. Some moments are a little silly but that doesn’t seem too critically important when there’s a lovely soundtrack-based on the ballet from Tchaikovsky, some nice songs (especially Once Upon a Dream… heard often), a prince that proved to be a classical hero in the final act, a likable heroine in Aurora-even if they were a bit bland due to the circumstances-and charming good fairies who have three distinct personalities.

But naturally, it was the stunning animation & its aesthetics which were stunning. Only a few minutes in, seemingly all the colors of the rainbow were shown, literally making me utter, “wow.” Animators worked on the movie for the entirety of the 50’s; that effort is apparent. Regrettably for Disney, the storybook visuals and the story wasn’t enough for people at the time-the movie wasn’t a raging success and led to Disney’s animation department going down the toilet for a full three decades, only experiencing a renaissance starting with The Little Mermaid. 

Thankfully, the passage of time has allowed for Sleeping Beauty to be reevaluated, its attributes shining brighter. The animation (it looked amazing in “just” an HD stream. I can’t wait for a 4K release in the future—that should be a stunner) and Maleficent are good enough reasons alone to give this a shot if you love classic Disney animation and hadn’t seen this before—or like me hadn’t viewed it in at least 3 decades.