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.
When Cinderella's cruel stepmother prevents her from attending the Royal Ball, she gets some unexpected help from the lovable mice Gus and Jaq, and from her Fairy Godmother.
When a litter of Dalmatian puppies are abducted by the minions of Cruella de Vil, the parents must find them before she uses them for a diabolical fashion statement.
With the help of a smooth talking tomcat, a family of Parisian felines set to inherit a fortune from their owner try to make it back home after a jealous butler kidnaps them and leaves them in the country.
A poor boy named Arthur learns the power of love, kindness, knowledge and bravery with the help of a wizard called Merlin in the path to become one of the most beloved kings in English history.
Director:
Wolfgang Reitherman
Stars:
Rickie Sorensen,
Sebastian Cabot,
Karl Swenson
After a beautiful princess, Aurora, is born in to royalty everyone gathers to exchange gifts. Everything is perfectly fine until an unwanted guest appears, Maleficent. Maleficent casts a spell on the young princess and announces that she will die by pricking her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel on the evening of her 16th birthday. Fortunately, one of the good fairies, Merryweather, changes the spell so Aurora will fall asleep, and that the only way to wake her from her sleep is true love's kiss. Finally the day comes.Written by
Pat Conolly
For the first time on a Disney animated feature, one man, Eyvind Earle, was in charge of the color styling, background design, and the overall look of the film, even painting the great majority of the production backgrounds. Earle's modernistic approach to design and painting resulted in providing this film a bold, unique art style, even though his colleagues did not care for his production methods and art style while the film was in production. The elaborate background paintings usually took seven to ten days to paint. By contrast, a typical animation background takes one workday to complete. See more »
Goofs
In this story set in the 14th century, the fairies are drinking tea, which was not imported from China to Europe until the 16th century. See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
Narrator:
In a faraway land, long ago, there lived a King and his fair Queen. Many years they had longed for a child, and finally their wish was granted. A daughter was born, and they called her Aurora. Yes, they named her after the dawn, for she filled their lives with sunshine. Then a great holiday was proclaimed throughout the land, so that all of high or low estate could pay homage to the infant Princess. And our story begins on that most joyful day...
See more »
Crazy Credits
The opening credits say Technirama, but not Super Technirama 70, which is the process it was filmed in. See more »
Alternate Versions
The 2008 "Platinum Edition" DVD and Blu-Ray release includes the film in its original Super Technirama 70 aspect ratio of 2.55:1, which makes the movie even wider than when originally presented theatrically in 1959. See more »
When 'Sleeping Beauty' was first released it was the target of critical villification--perhaps because of the more stylized art work. The art work is actually a leap forward from 'Snow White' and the earlier classics. It took me awhile to get used to the new technique when I first viewed the film--but now I recognize how effectively it manages to convey the "feel" of a genuine fairy-tale. A nice discussion of the art work is featured in 'The Making of Sleeping Beauty' which accompanies the latest VHS release of the film. Aside from the richly textured backgrounds and brilliant animation, 'Beauty' is blessed with the rapturous singing voice of Mary Costa's light soprano doing full justice to the ballad, 'Once Upon A Dream'. The idea of using Tchaikovsky's 'Sleeping Beauty' music for the background score and songs was an excellent decision. This is a film that can be enjoyed on so many different levels--music, animation, story, art work--it ranks with the very best of the classic fairy-tales from Disney. And yes, Maleficent, in all of her wicked glory, makes the most impressive fire-breathing dragon you're ever likely to see!
38 of 44 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
| Report this
When 'Sleeping Beauty' was first released it was the target of critical villification--perhaps because of the more stylized art work. The art work is actually a leap forward from 'Snow White' and the earlier classics. It took me awhile to get used to the new technique when I first viewed the film--but now I recognize how effectively it manages to convey the "feel" of a genuine fairy-tale. A nice discussion of the art work is featured in 'The Making of Sleeping Beauty' which accompanies the latest VHS release of the film. Aside from the richly textured backgrounds and brilliant animation, 'Beauty' is blessed with the rapturous singing voice of Mary Costa's light soprano doing full justice to the ballad, 'Once Upon A Dream'. The idea of using Tchaikovsky's 'Sleeping Beauty' music for the background score and songs was an excellent decision. This is a film that can be enjoyed on so many different levels--music, animation, story, art work--it ranks with the very best of the classic fairy-tales from Disney. And yes, Maleficent, in all of her wicked glory, makes the most impressive fire-breathing dragon you're ever likely to see!