Sleeping Beauty (DVD)

I re-watched Sleeping Beauty this weekend for the first time in years doing some research for our annual Christmas pantomime. As I sat with my mug of coffee in my hands, not taking my eyes off the screen, I was whisked away to the Land of Make Believe ...


** INTRODUCTION **

This is a film that marks the end of the Disney classic era. Released in 1959, it was the culmination of Disney's animation art during its ...
...go too far into it. Sleeping Beauty, based on the classic fairytale, follows the basic outlines of the story. 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 Phillip is betrothed to the newborn. The three good fairies, Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather, bestow upon the child gifts of beauty and song. As Merryweather starts to give the child her gift, Maleficent ... more

I re-watched Sleeping Beauty this weekend for the first time in years doing some research for our annual Christmas pantomime. As I sat with my mug of coffee in my hands, not taking my eyes off the screen, I was whisked away to the Land of Make Believe ...

** INTRODUCTION **

This is a film that marks the end of the Disney classic era. Released in 1959, it was the culmination of Disney's animation art during its classic phase. Taking seven years and costing nearly seven million dollars to make, this film represents the pinnacle of Disney filmmaking. Walt Disney's "Sleeping Beauty" was billed as the ultimate animated film. This is a heavy claim to make, but I am sure you will all agree, it is well deserved.

** THE PLOT **

We all know the plot by heart, so I won't go too far into it. Sleeping Beauty, based on the classic fairytale, follows the basic outlines of the story. 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 Phillip is betrothed to the newborn. The three good fairies, Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather, bestow upon the child gifts of beauty and song. As Merryweather starts to give the child her gift, Maleficent appears. Looking demonic, complete with red eyes and horns, she curses the child to die on her 16th birthday. After her exit, Merryweather gives as her gift a modification of the curse: rather than death, Aurora will sleep until awakened by true love’s first kiss. The three fairies then take the baby girl into the woods to raise her and hide her, naming her Briar Rose.

Years later, as the fairies plan for a birthday party, Aurora meets Phillip in the forest. After the fairies try unsuccessfully to prepare by hand, they resort to magic for the first time in 16 years, only to be observed. The fairies bring the princess back to the castle, then leave her alone, as Maleficent enters and causes Aurora to prick her finger on a spinning wheel, activating the curse. The fairies put the entire castle to sleep with Aurora, then go to get Phillip to awaken the princess. Maleficent and her minions capture the prince, leading to the climactic showdown. Needless to say, all ends well.

The story is at its most basic, a tale of good versus evil, and all parts of the film grow from this dichotomy. Light versus darkness, Love versus hate, Beauty versus...well, ugliness I suppose, although Maleficent is strangely appealing. If you watch the film looking for that subtext, it becomes more and more apparent.

** CHARACTERS **

The characters of "Sleeping Beauty" have wonderful personalities and characteristics to make a well-rounded cast.

PRINCESS AURORA - Aurora is a beautiful girl, both visually and characteristically. She is loving and is fond of "Aunt Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather", as well as her forest friends. Although startled and careful of her first meeting with a man, Prince Phillip, she still acts courteous, and also apologetic, that she must leave him without telling him even her name. Her gentle soprano voice was provided by future famed Opera star Mary Costa.

PRINCE PHILLIP - When viewers first meet Phillip they see a jovial, curious young man whose head is turned by the soprano singing of a young girl, and also a bit strong-headed as he goes against his father's wishes. Yet he proves to have a heart of gold as he does everything in his power to save the girl he loves, and exhibits a strong sense of determination, honour, and duty. (Voice: Bill Shirley)

THE THREE GOOD FAIRIES - The 3 fairies have more screen time than either the Prince or Princess, and therefore must have excellent characterisations to carry much of the film. This is really their movie more than Phillip or Aurora's. Therefore, the young couple is portrayed in a more distant manner, and you are drawn more into the characters of the fairies, which is as it should be. BTW in case any reader gets confused or forgets, the colour matches of the fairies are like so: Flora/Pink, Fauna/Green, Merryweather/Blue.

The interplay of the fairies provides the comic relief, and they also function as the heroes. The action would not move forward without them, and they are by far the most interesting characters. Few of the other characters even show personalities, but the fairies are fully realised. They are this movie’s greatest strength, but the lack of characterisation is the film’s greatest weakness.

FLORA - Flora is the unofficial leader of the trio. She always takes charge and feels responsible not only for Aurora, but for the other fairies as well. Her priority is always to find the best solution to problems, and the best way to handle things. (Voice: Verna Felton)

FAUNA - Fauna is the most gentle of the three. Where Flora takes on more of a guardian role, Fauna serves more as a surrogate mother. She worries the most, and is the first one to get teary-eyed in a situation, be it despairing or joyful. She doesn't mind not being in charge, and is always eager to help. She is also my favourite character. (Voice: Barbara Jo Allen)

MERRYWEATHER - Merryweather is the most rebellious fairy. A bit put off by Flora's constant domination and leadership, she wants more equality among them in this respect, and is first to point out any downfalls or holes in plans. Merryweather is quite fearless and often, if not held back by Flora, would fly at Maleficent in a rage. (Voice: Barbara Luddy)

KING STEFAN - King Stefan is a proud and caring father, and quite protective (as seen in the opening scenes of the film). He enjoys a great friendship with neighbouring King Hubert. Though the more levelheaded of the two, he can be duped into stooping to Hubert's level of temper if the latter works at him long enough. (Voice: Taylor Holmes)

QUEEN - The Queen has the smallest part in the film (she doesn't even have a name). She proves to be a loving and nurturing mother, whose potential is taken away too soon when her daughter is sent away. Upon Aurora's return, the Queen is speechless and obviously affected, and their reunion hug is an emotional highlight in the film. (Voice: Unaccredited)

KING HUBERT - The father of Prince Phillip, Hubert is moody, and prides himself in the fact that Phillip will marry Stefan's daughter and inherit his kingdom. He enjoys an old friendship with Stefan even if he is inclined to ignite silly arguments. (Voice: Bill Thompson)

RAVEN - The raven is a character, which some viewers love to hate. He is often seen with his mistress, and seems to feed off of the huge presence of villainy, which she displays. He likes nothing better than to witness the abomination of good at Maleficent's hands, and does all he can to get the goons to stop Phillip from escaping the Forbidden Mountain.

MALEFICENT - The real star of the film. She may not have had a great number of scenes, but what she did have were memorable. Maleficent is not only evil, she is elegantly evil, which makes her all the better. She is strikingly frightening in appearance, cruel in action, and eloquent in speech. Her voice covers a broad range from soft taunting to screeching laughter, and her horned headdress and flowing, black robes merely make her all the more imposing and demonic.

Self-declaredly "the mistress of all evil", she pulls out all stops in killing the princess (so she first thinks) and first abducting and then defeating the prince. Her delivery of "Now shall you deal with me, O Prince, and all the powers of HELL!!", as she then transforms herself into a monstrous dragon, is petrifying, and provides further evidence of just how utterly evil this villainess is.

Maleficent is definitely one of Disney's greatest, and scariest villains and her voice must be given credit to actress Eleanor Audley. Young or old, this witch is sure to send a few chills up your spine.

Animals do play a part in this film, from the forest creatures to Phillip’s trusty (and far more animated) horse to the creatures that act out Aurora’s dream with her.

SAMSON - Prince Phillip's horse shows an amazing range of character. In his first scenes he is silly, selfish, and comical. Yet in the later scenes at the Forbidden Mountain, and during the escape and the fight with the Maleficent dragon, Samson proves to be a noble steed indeed, who knows what is important when it really counts. He never fails his master in these scenes, a moving portrait of loyalty.

Maleficent's GOONS are incompetent fools of fortress dwellers, who serve as her spies and army. Their leader (voiced by Candy Candido) tells their mistress of their spying operations to find the princess, and they succeed in capturing Prince Phillip, dance a demonic revelry around a fire in celebration of him, and do their best to stop him in his escape.

OTHERS - The LACKEY who serves Kings Stefan and Hubert their wine just before their royal argument is a comical treat. He secretly indulges in the beverage and proves to take in more than he can handle…

** STYLE **

When it comes to style, "Sleeping Beauty" is in a class by itself. The film took seven years to animate, and the costs became overwhelming. No other Disney film comes even close to resembling its structure of rigid horizontals and verticals with absences of curves. The uniqueness of the styling of the film gives the film a certain medieval flavour it otherwise would not encompass. The castle, forest, cottage, and fortress are all wondrous to visually explore.

Artist Eyvind Earle came up with the basic style for the film, and the resulting backgrounds are amazingly detailed, yet they in no way detract from the actions of the characters. The characters themselves fit in quite well with their one-of-a-kind fairy tale world. The human characters are more realistic than most others in previous features, they are more elongated and humanised, watch out for the natural movements of Aurora's hair in her first meeting with Phillip, and the couple's descension into the throne room at the finale, - stunning realism.

** SPECIAL EFFECTS **

Special effects animation is used appropriately throughout the film. First there are the bestowing of the gifts of Beauty and Song by Flora and Fauna, done so in dreamlike visions, Maleficent's curse is of course much more unsettling and demonic.

The magic from the fairies' wands sparkles with goodness, and the several times when the fairies change size is a treat to see. The wands are found to serve as other functions as well, in the form of flashlights and blowtorches, much more discreetly and effectively done when seen than reading as described. Flora's helps to Phillip while escaping the Forbidden Mountain are both amusing and beautiful, as she changes boulders to bubbles, arrows to flowers, and boiling oil to a colourful rainbow.

Then of course, there is Maleficent's thorn forest, her mad flight to the castle, and the climactic transformation of her into the hellish dragon, right before she transforms there are even streams of black and purple smoke seeping from her, as if suggesting the culmination of her evil and black magic burning within her.

** FACTS YOU MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT **

Music - Rather than composing new music, the Disney artisans turned to Tchaikovsky’s classic score to his Sleeping Beauty ballet. They snipped here, added there, placed in a few lyrics (the grand waltz from the first act becoming 'Once Upon A Dream', for instance). George Bruns’ score adaptation won an Oscar.

Blasphemy - This is also the only Disney animated feature with any profanity in it, the word "Hell" yet uttered by Maleficent, it doesn't sound like profanity, but rather serves as her manifest proclamation of conjuring up the very powers of Hell itself.

Sadly, "Sleeping Beauty" was not well received by most critics or audiences in its original 1959 release. On a better note, it has become much more respected and loved today.

** THE BOTTOM LINE **

"Sleeping Beauty" will do anything but put you to sleep (except for the self-titled lullaby, but that doesn't count, it's supposed to be that way). Filled with adventure, thrills, charm, romance, and more music than you can shake a medieval stick at, "Sleeping Beauty" reigns as one of Disney's most beloved films.

A beautiful film, Disney's Pinnacle. Buy it. Watch it. Cherish it.

"The Ultimate Animated Film", that's a pretty big statement to make . . . but then again, I can't say I disagree.

Thank you for reading :-)
 

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