Sleeping Beauty (1959) Mary Costa, Bill Shirley, Eleanor Audley, Verna Felton, Barbara Luddy Movie Review

Sleeping Beauty (1959)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Sleeping Beauty (1959)

Beautiful but Sleepy

At the celebration of Princess Aurora's birth an unwelcome guest in the form of evil witch Maleficent appears who bestows a curse on the young baby that before the sun sets on her 16th birthday she will prick her finger on a spinning wheel and die. Whilst a good fairy tries to bestow a gift which will give her a chance of surviving the King fearful for his precious daughter not only burns every spinning wheel in the land but keeps his daughter in hiding with the three fairies taking care of her deep in the woods.

I don't remember going to the cinema much as a child but somewhere in my mind I remember seeing "Sleeping Beauty" on the big screen some time in the 70s. The strange thing is that I remember more the queuing up outside the cinema than the actual movie itself and having finally watched it again I can see why. The reason being is that "Sleeping Beauty" must be one of the most straight forwards Walt Disney animations I have come watched, retelling the fairytale in a fun but frankly typical manner.

Sleeping Beauty (1959)

What I suppose I mean is that for the most there is no real flare to "Sleeping Beauty" especially during the first half as we watch the three fairies take care of the Princess in a secret location in the woods, giving us the comedy of being a bit accident prone. Yes there are some musical moments in there which help to lift it but to be honest I do wonder whether the creative team behind "Sleeping Beauty" had run out of ideas and so recycled elements from earlier animations knowing how well they had gone down before.

The thing is that beyond the lack of creativity "Sleeping Beauty" is still a polished Walt Disney animation with the actual animation work being the star of this movie. The beauty of the woodland back drops combined with the amusing nature of the characters be it the fairies or the woodland creatures still puts a smile on your face. In fact some of the animation work certainly surpasses some of the earlier animations.

What this all boils down to is that "Sleeping Beauty" is still an entertaining and high quality Walt Disney animation. But for me there is something lacking from this animation to make ever single part of it memorable.


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