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Sleeping Beauty

  • 1959
  • G
  • 1h 15m
IMDb RATING
7.2/10
154K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
3,141
1
Sleeping Beauty (1959)
CT 1A
Play trailer1:13
25 Videos
99+ Photos
AnimationAdventureFamily

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.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.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.

  • Directors
    • Les Clark
    • Clyde Geronimi
    • Eric Larson
  • Writers
    • Erdman Penner
    • Charles Perrault
    • Joe Rinaldi
  • Stars
    • Mary Costa
    • Bill Shirley
    • Eleanor Audley
  • See production, box office & company info
  • IMDb RATING
    7.2/10
    154K
    YOUR RATING
    POPULARITY
    3,141
    1
    • Directors
      • Les Clark
      • Clyde Geronimi
      • Eric Larson
    • Writers
      • Erdman Penner
      • Charles Perrault
      • Joe Rinaldi
    • Stars
      • Mary Costa
      • Bill Shirley
      • Eleanor Audley
    • 228User reviews
    • 99Critic reviews
    • 85Metascore
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Nominated for 1 Oscar
      • 4 wins & 6 nominations total

    Videos25

    Sleeping Beauty: Diamond Edition
    Trailer 1:13
    Watch Sleeping Beauty: Diamond Edition
    Our Favorite On-Screen Witches
    Clip 3:43
    Watch Our Favorite On-Screen Witches
    Sleeping Beauty: Diamond Edition
    Clip 1:41
    Watch Sleeping Beauty: Diamond Edition
    Sleeping Beauty: Diamond Edition
    Clip 1:11
    Watch Sleeping Beauty: Diamond Edition
    Sleeping Beauty: Diamond Edition
    Clip 0:56
    Watch Sleeping Beauty: Diamond Edition
    Sleeping Beauty: Diamond Edition
    Clip 1:03
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    Sleeping Beauty: Diamond Edition
    Clip 1:10
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    Sleeping Beauty: Diamond Edition
    Clip 2:34
    Watch Sleeping Beauty: Diamond Edition
    Sleeping Beauty: Diamond Edition
    Clip 1:59
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    Sleeping Beauty: Diamond Edition
    Clip 2:00
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    Sleeping Beauty: Diamond Edition
    Clip 1:13
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    Sleeping Beauty: Diamond Edition
    Clip 1:01
    Watch Sleeping Beauty: Diamond Edition

    Photos263

    Mary Costa, Dal McKennon, and Bill Shirley in Sleeping Beauty (1959)
    Mary Costa and Bill Shirley in Sleeping Beauty (1959)
    Verna Felton and Barbara Luddy in Sleeping Beauty (1959)
    Eleanor Audley and Dal McKennon in Sleeping Beauty (1959)
    Bill Shirley in Sleeping Beauty (1959)
    Mary Costa and Bill Shirley in Sleeping Beauty (1959)
    Barbara Jo Allen, Verna Felton, and Barbara Luddy in Sleeping Beauty (1959)
    Eleanor Audley, James MacDonald, and Bill Shirley in Sleeping Beauty (1959)
    Patrick Dempsey, Amy Adams, Mary Costa, and Bill Shirley in Sleeping Beauty (1959)
    Susan Sarandon, Amy Adams, Eleanor Audley, James MacDonald, and Bill Shirley in Sleeping Beauty (1959)
    Susan Sarandon and Eleanor Audley in Sleeping Beauty (1959)
    Susan Sarandon, Eleanor Audley, and James MacDonald in Sleeping Beauty (1959)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Mary Costa
    Mary Costa
    • Princess Aurora
    • (voice)
    Bill Shirley
    Bill Shirley
    • Prince Phillip
    • (voice)
    Eleanor Audley
    Eleanor Audley
    • Maleficent
    • (voice)
    Verna Felton
    Verna Felton
    • Flora
    • (voice)
    • …
    Barbara Luddy
    Barbara Luddy
    • Merryweather
    • (voice)
    Barbara Jo Allen
    Barbara Jo Allen
    • Fauna
    • (voice)
    Taylor Holmes
    Taylor Holmes
    • King Stefan
    • (voice)
    Bill Thompson
    Bill Thompson
    • King Hubert
    • (voice)
    Bob Amsberry
    • Maleficent's Goon
    • (voice)
    • (uncredited)
    Mel Blanc
    Mel Blanc
    • Samson the Horse
    • (uncredited)
    Billy Bletcher
    Billy Bletcher
    • Maleficent's Goon
    • (uncredited)
    Candy Candido
    Candy Candido
    • Maleficent's Goon
    • (voice)
    • (uncredited)
    Pinto Colvig
    Pinto Colvig
    • Maleficent's Goon
    • (voice)
    • (uncredited)
    Hans Conried
    Hans Conried
    • Lord Duke
    • (uncredited)
    Dal McKennon
    Dal McKennon
    • Owl
    • (voice)
    • (uncredited)
    • …
    Marvin Miller
    Marvin Miller
    • Narrator
    • (voice)
    • (uncredited)
    Clarence Nash
    Clarence Nash
    • Horse
    • (uncredited)
    Purv Pullen
    • Bluebird
    • (uncredited)
    • …
    • Directors
      • Les Clark
      • Clyde Geronimi
      • Eric Larson
    • Writers
      • Erdman Penner
      • Charles Perrault
      • Joe Rinaldi
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      The running gag of Flora and Merryweather arguing about whether Aurora's dress should be pink or blue originated from the filmmakers' problem as to deciding just that.
    • Goofs
      King Hubert and Prince Phillip both remark at certain points in the movie that it's the 14th century. In another scene, we see fireworks being set off. Fireworks were not used for entertainment until the 16th century.
    • Quotes

      Merryweather: [after Flora makes the first version of Aurora's dress] It looks awful.

      Flora: That's because it's on you, dear.

    • Crazy credits
      The opening credits say Technirama, but not Super Technirama 70, which is the process it was filmed in.
    • Alternate versions
      At one point, the Swedish version was slightly edited to remove Prince Phillip hitting the Dragon's snout with his sword, as it was deemed too violent for Swedish children and also not motivated enough. It was eventually restored.
    • Connections
      Edited into The Magical World of Disney: Music for Everybody (1966)
    • Soundtracks
      Hail to the Princess Aurora
      (1958) (uncredited)

      Music by George Bruns

      Lyrics by Tom Adair

      Performed by Chorus

    User reviews228

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    One of Disney's best
    Simplest possible explanation of what cements Sleeping Beauty's place as an immortal classic: Maleficent.

    Sleeping Beauty was never one of my favorite Disney movies, my parents having lost the tape really early. Since maybe ten years I haven't seen the movie, but now, after seeing it again, I have to admit, it's a masterpiece. I don't understand why it was so berated on first release. Where the critics expecting Snow White? 'Cause this is no Snow White. It's much better.

    A long, long time ago, in a kingdom far, far away, King Stefan and the Queen have a daughter, Aurora, so-called because she brought sunshine to their lives. There is a great celebration, and the neighboring kingdom's Prince Phillip is betrothed to Aurora. The three Good Fairies, Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather, are invited. Flora and Fauna bestow gifts of beauty and song upon Aurora. Before Merryweather can cast her spell, the uninvited Maleficent--the Mistress of All Evil--arrives, furious at not being invited. She curses Aurora, predicting that at the age of sixteen the princess will prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning-wheel and die. Merryweather counteracts this by making Aurora go into a deep sleep were she ever to prick her finger, to be reawakened by true love's first kiss. To keep her safe, the fairies take her into the forest, no longer using magic, and calling Aurora Briar Rose. The princess knows nothing of her heritage, and meets no other humans, except for a man "Once Upon A Dream".

    One of the greatest things about the movie is the style. The contrast between characters and surroundings (except for Maleficent) is stark. The backgrounds and layouts are colorful, stylized, round and angular at the same time. The characters, however, aim for total realism, except for the minor ones, who are clearly cartoon characters. The animation is beautiful. The movements smooth, the artistry unbelievably high quality. If there was no other likable thing about the movie, the animation would go a long way to saving it.

    The story of Sleeping Beauty is, of course, set in stone. Despite everyone's complete familiarity with the fairy tale, the movie manages to enliven it and make it gripping, even though everyone has heard it a thousand times. A most definite improvement in the story is the scene in which Aurora pricks her finger. In the original the spinning-wheel was owned by an innocent old peasant, who just happened to own the last wheel in the land, unnoticed by the rest of the world. In the movie Maleficent hypnotizes Aurora, and commands her to prick her finger. In addition to the atmosphere of foreboding already present in the story, the movie adds genuine suspense, largely owing to the brilliant presence of the wicked fairy.

    The characterization is very different from other Disney movies in some ways, but very like others. Usually in Disney's princess movies, the princess herself is something of a cypher, a passive element. This is true for Sleeping Beauty (she has no control over the three basic actions in the movie). The prince usually has an even more minute part, although the story would be nothing without him. Not so this movie. Here Phillip is a much more active character, a hero who battles dragons and witches, who goes through all sorts of hazards. In Snow White all the unnamed prince does is show up and kiss our heroine, in Cinderella Charming risks nothing and is nothing but a prop. But the ultimate character is, of course, Maleficent. Supervised by Disney's women's animator-in-chief, Marc Davis, hers has to be one of the great performances in animation. She is brilliantly drawn, amazingly voiced, and the dragon she transforms into is not just a dragon: it is HER particular dragon (a method taken to greater lengths in The Sword in the Stone). She is magnificent. The three fairies are quarrelsome all right, but they are caricatures that convey particularly clearly their good-naturalness.

    Sleeping Beauty is one of those irreplaceable masterpieces. It is a magnificent retelling of a classic fairy tale, with no undue distortion of the source material. Come to think of it, the story EXISTS to be made into a movie; it's just perfect. And near-perfection is what Disney achieved.

    9.5/10
    helpful•45
    11
    • rapt0r_claw-1
    • Jul 24, 2004

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • January 29, 1959 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Official site
      • Official site
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Uspavana lepotica (Trnjulčica)
    • Filming locations
      • Loire Valley, Loire, France
    • Production companies
      • Walt Disney Animation Studios
      • Walt Disney Productions
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $6,000,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $51,600,000
    • Gross worldwide
      • $51,600,000
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 15 minutes

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