X
- 1959
- Approved
- Buena Vista Distribution Company
- 1 h 15 m
- 1959
- Approved
- Buena Vista Distribution Company
- 1 h 15 m
Summary After being snubbed by the royal family, a malevolent fairy places a curse on a princess which only a prince can break, along with the help of three good fairies.
- 1959
- Approved
- Buena Vista Distribution Company
- 1 h 15 m
- 1959
- Approved
- Buena Vista Distribution Company
- 1 h 15 m
Sleeping Beauty
85
7.7
Where to Watch
Summary After being snubbed by the royal family, a malevolent fairy places a curse on a princess which only a prince can break, along with the help of three good fairies.
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 12 Critic Reviews
85
92% Positive
11 Reviews
11 Reviews
8% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 12 Critic Reviews
85
92% Positive
11 Reviews
11 Reviews
8% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Barbie-doll-slim Princess Aurora, cursed to enter suspended animation at 16, and her Abercrombie & Fitch-worthy savior Prince Phillip, who literally rides a white horse — aren’t as much fun as the three fussy-old-lady fairies who become their protectors. This movie is all about the lure of supporting ornamentation.
The masterpiece of the Disney Studios' postwar style. The animation has been stripped down, in accordance with economic imperatives, but what the images lose in shading and detail they gain in strength and fluidity.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 64 User Ratings
7.7
77% Positive
49 Ratings
49 Ratings
23% Mixed
15 Ratings
15 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 64 User Ratings
7.7
77% Positive
49 Ratings
49 Ratings
23% Mixed
15 Ratings
15 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]
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A Disney Classic is Epic
When I was a little girl, Sleeping Beauty was my all time favorite Disney film. I was so in love with this story, it's crazy how many times I wore out the VHS. But growing up, I lost touch with the story, but I recently bought the DVD and re-watched the film and you know what? I'm still in love with this movie. I really miss these old Disney movies where the animation was so bright and beautiful, the characters were so lovable, and the story was so magical. I'm not bashing Disney films from today, just I'm sure we could all relate on this subject where the older Disney films just had a certain charm about it. Sleeping Beauty is just a timeless story and has so much wonderful romance, I guess since I'm a girl, I just couldn't help but still be in love with this beautiful story.
Princess Aurora is born and is the future queen of her land, three fairy's, Flora, Merryweather, and Fauna bless her with three gifts: beauty and song, right as Merryweather is about to bless Aurora, the evil witch, Maleficent, comes in and curses Aurora that she shall touch a spinning wheel by her 16th birthday and die! Merryweather changes it to where she won't die, but sleep and could only be woke up by the kiss of true love. The fairy's wish to keep this from happening still, so they take Aurora and raise her as their own. One day Aurora on her 16th birthday goes out in the forest and meets the charming and handsome Prince Phillipe, but she doesn't know he's a prince and she doesn't know he's fhe man she's actually betrothed too. She is told by the fairy's that she can never see him again and that she's a princess; later that night the curse happens! Now the fairy's need Phillipe to save Aurora before it's too late.
Everything about Sleeping Beauty is just a perfect Disney film and I can't wait until to show this to my future kids one day. I know that their generation is going to have just the CGI animation, so it's good that at least we still have these films, they're treasures. The voices, the animation, the story, Sleeping Beauty is the most romantic fairy tale that anyone could easily fall in love with. If you are a Disney fan, this is a must see, it's a great family film or if you're just a film buff in general, I'm a grown up and I still tear up when I watch Sleeping Beauty.
10/10
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The elaborate, gothic-inspired designs look great, and the supporting characters—most notably the three good fairies and the Joan Crawford-like villain Maleficent—liven up the proceedings despite the bland hero and heroine.
A crisply stylized fairyland, where the colors are rich, the sounds are luscious and magic sparkles spurt charmingly from wands.
Sleeping Beauty is the most beautiful movie the Disney’s feature animation department has ever made.
Just as the film’s gorgeous backdrops suggest characters trapped in suspended animation, the many colorful balls of light that frequently circle their heads hauntingly convey the filmmakers’ idea of fate and love locked in a cosmic struggle.
The drawing in Sleeping Beauty is crude: a compromise between sentimental, crayon-book childishness and the sort of cute, commercial cubism that tries to seem daring but is really just square. The hero and heroine are sugar sculpture, and the witch looks like a clumsy tracing from a Charles Addams cartoon. The plot often seems to owe less to the tradition of the fairy tale than to the formula of the monster movie.
[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]
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It begins promising enough by establishing its beautiful animation and its damning (and surprisingly interesting) villain Maleficent and it ends with an epic, albeit short climax. As classic of a fairy tail as this film tries to be, its prince and princess are about as engaging as two wooden planks and it should have been re-titled as "The Three Good Fairies" because this film is really THEIR film. As a result, the entire middle act of this film is both dry and boring, but the aforementioned animation and Maleficent, along with the likeable three good fairies, are all just enough to make "Sleeping Beauty" a film you only need to see once.
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After many childless years, King Stefan and Queen Leah welcome a daughter, the Princess Aurora. A holiday is proclaimed to pay homage to the princess. At her christening, Aurora is betrothed to Prince Phillip, the son of King Stefan's closest friend King Hubert, to unite their kingdoms.
Among the guests are the three good fairies, Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather. Flora and Fauna bless Aurora with beauty and song, respectively, but Merryweather's gift is interrupted by the evil fairy Maleficent, who is angry and insulted she was uninvited. As retaliation, Maleficent curses the princess, proclaiming Aurora will grow in grace and beauty, but before the sun sets on her sixteenth birthday, she will **** her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and die. The King and Queen beg the fairies to undo the curse, but they are not powerful enough; Merryweather uses her magic to weaken the curse; instead of dying, Aurora will fall into a deep slumber, only broken by true love's kiss. King Stefan orders all spinning wheels throughout the kingdom be burned. At the fairies' urging, the King and Queen reluctantly allow Aurora to live with the fairies, hidden in a cottage in the forest.
Aurora, renamed Briar Rose, grows into a beautiful young woman. On her sixteenth birthday, the fairies ask her to gather berries so they can prepare a surprise party. Aurora befriends the animals of the forest and sings them a song, "Once Upon a Dream". Phillip, now a handsome young man, follows Aurora's voice and is instantly struck by her beauty and grace. She is initially startled, as she is not allowed to talk to strangers, but she and Phillip fall in love. She invites him to meet her godmothers at the cottage that evening.
Meanwhile, Flora and Merryweather argue over the color of Aurora's gown, their magic attracting the attention of Maleficent's raven who learns Aurora's location. Returning home, Aurora is thrilled to tell her guardians that she has fallen in love. The fairies finally tell Aurora that she is a princess, already betrothed to a prince, and she must never see the man again. Heartbroken, Aurora cries in her room. Phillip tells his father he wishes to marry a peasant girl, despite his betrothal to a princess and he is left devastated.
The fairies take Aurora to the castle to await her birthday celebrations and be reunited with her parents. Maleficent appears and lures Aurora into a dark tower and tricks her into touching the spindle of a cursed spinning wheel. Aurora **** her finger, fulfilling the curse only moments before the sun sets. The three fairies place the sleeping Aurora on a bed in the highest tower and cast a powerful spell on everyone in the kingdom, causing them to sleep until the spell on their princess is broken. After overhearing a sleepy conversation between the two kings, they realize that Phillip is the man Aurora loves. They rush to find him, but Maleficent has abducted him. She shows Phillip the sleeping Princess Aurora, and says she will lock him away until he is an old man on the verge of death. Only then will she release him to meet his love, who will not have aged a single day.
The fairies rescue Phillip, arming him with the magical Sword of Truth and Shield of Virtue. An enraged Maleficent surrounds the castle with thorns but fails to stop Phillip. She confronts him directly, transforming into an enormous black dragon. They battle, and Phillip throws the sword, blessed by the fairies, directly into Maleficent's heart, killing her.
Phillip awakens Aurora with a kiss, breaking the spell and waking the kingdom. The royal couple descends to the ballroom, where Aurora is reunited with her parents. Flora and Merryweather resume their dispute over Aurora's gown while the happy couple dance, living happily ever after.
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Sleeping Beauty is an animated film that Disney released in 1959. I'm happy to say that I found more than expected to enjoy about this movie. Most of what I held on to throughout the short run time were little aspects of the film that seem to have been lost to time, for better or worse. One example of this is the delicate application of short choral flares that punctuate key moments in Aurora'a life. I haven't seem many films from this era, but this one was my first exposure to this style and I was charmed. The animation surprised me as well at points in this film. Techniques used to show the magic of Maleficent and the fairies all worked, even when the effects seemed to be drawn on top of existing animation in a different art style. On a similar note, I actually didn't mind the backgrounds being drawn in a different style than the characters. That choice (likely made out of necessity) combined with the multi-plane camera technique makes the characters pop and provides a feeling of depth that I don't think you get out of other animated films that followed this one. Speaking of depth, the characters and plot of this movie lack it. This is an archetypal story and in terms of characters, on all accounts, what you see is what you get. Not a huge complaint - I didn't exactly go in expecting fully formed characters. But still worth mentioning as slight shortcoming.
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Production Company
Walt Disney Animation Studios,
Walt Disney Productions
Release Date Jan 29, 1959
Duration 1 h 15 m
Rating Approved
Tagline Now the magic moment! Full-length feature fantasy - Beautiful beyond belief
Awards
Academy Awards, USA
• 1 Nomination
Satellite Awards
• 1 Win & 2 Nominations
National Film Preservation Board, USA
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
