Sleeping Beauty 1959
I just missed getting this movie the last time it was released on blu-ray, as part of the Diamond Edition series before it went back in the vault. It was released again last year as part of the Signature Series, but apparently is the same scan of the movie released not only on the Diamond Edition, but going back to the first of the vaulted movies released on blu-ray with the Platinum edition back in 2008 with almost all of the extras now online instead of included on the disc. As soon as it was eligible as an enrollment selection in the Disney Movie Club, I cancelled my old membership and signed up again so I could get this (plus five other titles, and then two more).
I had never seen this movie. In the rankings I made based on reviews by others, it finishes fairly high on some lists, but averages at an unspectacular No. 16 out of 56 Disney animated features while Snow White finshed at No. 4 and Cinderella not far behind at No. 7. Some people complain that the movie is too similar to Snow White, which is true. Plus Princess Aurora isn’t given much more development than Snow White before she is put under a spell. The movie is more about the fairies and Maleficent’s efforts to track down Aurora, plus some scheming by her father to marry her off to a prince. Even with that stuff and two songs, it is only 75 minutes long. The real highlight of the movie is the animation and artwork. There are some great backgrounds and colors all on a very wide screen instead of Disney’s usual 1.35:1. The villain, Maleficent, is amazing to watch every time she is on screen. Even though they clearly used live action films as the basis for some of the human movements, the animators seem to have used that more as reference than just tracing over, making it look more natural for cartoon characters. The music is decent, but seems to rely more on Tchaikovsky’s ballet music for themes than for big songs, however a couple of songs show up that are decent but not outstanding, though everything sounds great with 7-channel surround sound. Despite being somewhat derivative, this Sleeping Beauty is a great piece of visual art. I will give it an A-, probably towards the lower end of that range.
Written: 08 Mar 2020
Owned on: Blu-ray, DVD, Digital