Sleeping Beauty

Rating: 5/5

A triumph in both its storytelling and artistry, Sleeping Beauty is easily one of the strongest showings of the classic Disney films.

At the celebration for the birth of the new Princess Aurora, three fairies, Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather, have come to grace the new baby with gifts that will help her as she grows. The occasion is seemingly joyous, that is until the evil sorceress Maleficent appears at the ceremony and bestows upon the princess, not a gift, but a curse. It is because of this curse that Aurora must be hidden from the kingdom until her 16th birthday, or she could be the victim of a fate worse than death.

I have always loved the look of all the original Disney animated films, and it really seems as if they upped their game for Sleeping Beauty. Not only are the illustrations absolutely stunning, but the sequence in which Aurora is given the gifts by the fairies is mesmerizingly beautiful. There was a scene semi similar to this in Cinderella, but it didn't possess the same depth or storytelling capabilities as this one. This sequence has an almost celestial quality to it that is unexpected yet fitting when put together with the magic from the fairies and the choir of voices that narrate what each of the fairy's gifts will do for the princess.

Though I have seen Sleeping Beauty numerous times, I was surprised on my most recent rewatch how little I remembered from it. I of course was always able to recall the most famous scenes; Aurora's slow walk towards the spinning wheel, Maleficent's entrance and then her transformation into a dragon, but the details in the middle had apparently slipped my mind. What really surprised me, was how humorous I found the interactions between Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather to be. It wasn't so much the physical comedy between them, but the small comments they make throughout the film. These remarks were very likely lost on me as a child, but that's what's so wonderful about watching a film more than once. When you take the time to give a movie another go around, especially one you watched when you were young, you get to experience it in a whole new light and find even more to love about it than you had before.

As famous as Disney villains are, Maleficent is very likely the most notorious. She is often portrayed as the leader of the evil beings found in these beloved films and that seems very fitting. She certainly comes off as the most formidable, and has one of the best villainous entrances in the entire animated Disney catalogue. Maleficent is one of the rare times where the villain may perhaps be more famous and cherished than the hero/heroine that is supposedly the star of the story.

Though I would say of the original three Disney Princess movies, Sleeping Beauty is technically the most brilliant, I am not sure if it is my favorite; I have a soft spot for Cinderella, but Sleeping Beauty is without a doubt a remarkable film. It is one that I will most certainly see many more times throughout my viewing lifetime, and is an icon when it comes to the original Disney animation.