Sleeping Beauty (2008, Blu-ray Disc)

I re-watched Sleeping Beauty this weekend for the first time in years...I've been a critic of the recent Disney attempts to regain their former glory, and I needed some affirmation that the glory was EVER there. This film put those fears to rest. "Sleeping Beauty" is indeed a Masterpiece. Every part of the film is the epitome of animated storytelling. The story is at its most basic a tale of good versus evil, and all parts of the film grow from that dichotomy. Light versus darkness, Love versus hate, Beauty versus...well, ugliness I suppose, although Maleficent is strangely appealing. If you..

This movie used to scare the living daylights out of me. I think Malificent may well be the most frightening villain ever to enter a Disney animated feature. The scene where Aurora pricks her finger is ethereally creepy, and the final battle between Prince Philip and Malificent is downright scary. For those reasons, I'm not sure that this movie is appropriate for children under five, and it may well scare children older than that. However, not all of the movie is so dark. The story centers around Aurora, a princess who is cursed by Malificent days after her birth. The evil witch declares that.

This is the first movie that I remember seeing in a theater. I was a few months short of five years old when I sat between my two brothers in the back seat of Dad s '56 Mercury at the Culver Drive-in to see Sleeping Beauty. Too bad the days of the drive-in theater are pretty much over. There is nothing quite like the experience of snuggling in a blanket while watching the movie (through the car windshield) on a huge outdoor screen and listening to the sound track from a box that hangs on the car window. You could even control the volume with a little knob on that box. Back in those days, you..

Introduction This is a film that marks the end of the Disney classic era. Released in 1959, with the next film (101 Dalmatians) the Mouse House switched to a limited animation with less emphasis on artwork, to save money. Not surprising, considering Sleeping Beauty cost $6 million to make, and lost money at the box office on its initial release. This film at once represents the pinnacle of Disney filmmaking, and all the worst of Disney s faults. Plot We open with the opening storybook device. A child named Aurora has been born to the king and queen, and a holiday proclaimed. Young Prince...