Sleeping Beauty
3/4
Starring (voices): Verna Felton, Barbara Jo Allen, Barbara Luddy, Eleanor Audley, Bill Shirley, Mary Costa
Not Rated
Snow White. Sleeping Beauty (aka Princess Aurora). Cinderella. You know them all, don't you? They're the Disney princesses. I haven't seen "Cinderella" since I was a kid, but neither of the other two has aged well (apart from film enthusiasts, I can't recommend "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves"). "Sleeping Beauty" isn't as good as the films from Disney's Golden Age (i.e. "Beauty and the Beast" or "The Lion King") but it's still entertaining.
In the 14th century, there lived a king and queen. After many years, they finally had a child they named Aurora. She will be betrothed to the son of the king's best friend, a young lad named Philip. Three fairies, Flora (Felton), Fauna (Allen), and Merryweather (Luddy), bestow gifts upon her. But a witch named Maleficent (Audley) was not invited the the ceremony welcoming Aurora into the kingdom. Out of spite, she curses Aurora: on her 16th birthday, she'll touch a spinning wheel and die. The fairies can't take back the curse, but they can make it so that instead of dying, she falls into a deep sleep. In order to prevent this from occurring, they take the child into the woods and raise her themselves. But as Aurora's (Costa) 16th birthday approaches, Maleficent still lies in wait.
The story for the film could charitably be called thin, and the character development is even more so. I've seen trailers with more complex plots and characterizations. Much of this can be attributed to the fact that animation was a painstaking and difficult process in 1959 when the film was made, but that doesn't make it hold up any better.
For a movie about a princess, it would be interesting to note that not only is Aurora not the central character of the film, she has the least amount of screen time (not including two brief songs, she has 18 lines (the least amount in a Disney film after Dumbo in, well, "Dumbo." Instead, the main characters are the well-meaning if bumbling fairies. They're pretty funny, but they love Aurora deeply, and that makes them endearing. Of course, no fairy tale would be complete without a handsome prince, and Prince Philip is handsome enough to make me swoon (the smooth vocals of Bill Shirley enhanced this immeasurably).
Then there's Maleficent, who recently got her own movie starring Angelina Jolie (which I will see tomorrow, and this is why I am reviewing this movie tonight). She's certainly evil, and she's drawn malevolently enough to give the tiny ones nightmares. But her motivations are poor to the point where I missed them entirely. I only realized them after reading the blurb on iMDb; that's how glossed over they are.
Still, it should be said that this film is most definitely entertaining, even though it drags during the middle despite having a skinny running time of 75 minutes.
Starring (voices): Verna Felton, Barbara Jo Allen, Barbara Luddy, Eleanor Audley, Bill Shirley, Mary Costa
Not Rated
Snow White. Sleeping Beauty (aka Princess Aurora). Cinderella. You know them all, don't you? They're the Disney princesses. I haven't seen "Cinderella" since I was a kid, but neither of the other two has aged well (apart from film enthusiasts, I can't recommend "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves"). "Sleeping Beauty" isn't as good as the films from Disney's Golden Age (i.e. "Beauty and the Beast" or "The Lion King") but it's still entertaining.
In the 14th century, there lived a king and queen. After many years, they finally had a child they named Aurora. She will be betrothed to the son of the king's best friend, a young lad named Philip. Three fairies, Flora (Felton), Fauna (Allen), and Merryweather (Luddy), bestow gifts upon her. But a witch named Maleficent (Audley) was not invited the the ceremony welcoming Aurora into the kingdom. Out of spite, she curses Aurora: on her 16th birthday, she'll touch a spinning wheel and die. The fairies can't take back the curse, but they can make it so that instead of dying, she falls into a deep sleep. In order to prevent this from occurring, they take the child into the woods and raise her themselves. But as Aurora's (Costa) 16th birthday approaches, Maleficent still lies in wait.
The story for the film could charitably be called thin, and the character development is even more so. I've seen trailers with more complex plots and characterizations. Much of this can be attributed to the fact that animation was a painstaking and difficult process in 1959 when the film was made, but that doesn't make it hold up any better.
For a movie about a princess, it would be interesting to note that not only is Aurora not the central character of the film, she has the least amount of screen time (not including two brief songs, she has 18 lines (the least amount in a Disney film after Dumbo in, well, "Dumbo." Instead, the main characters are the well-meaning if bumbling fairies. They're pretty funny, but they love Aurora deeply, and that makes them endearing. Of course, no fairy tale would be complete without a handsome prince, and Prince Philip is handsome enough to make me swoon (the smooth vocals of Bill Shirley enhanced this immeasurably).
Then there's Maleficent, who recently got her own movie starring Angelina Jolie (which I will see tomorrow, and this is why I am reviewing this movie tonight). She's certainly evil, and she's drawn malevolently enough to give the tiny ones nightmares. But her motivations are poor to the point where I missed them entirely. I only realized them after reading the blurb on iMDb; that's how glossed over they are.
Still, it should be said that this film is most definitely entertaining, even though it drags during the middle despite having a skinny running time of 75 minutes.
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