 | Starring: Mary Costa, Bill Shirley, Eleanor Audley, Verna Felton, Barbara Luddy Director: Clyde Geronimi Format: Animated Collector's Edition PAL Widescreen Released: 13 Jan 2003 RRP: Average Rating:  |
Disney recreates the old tale with new characters--giving the good & evil fairies much more of a role--in fact, they steal the show. The good fairies are Flora, Fauna & Merrywether, three chubby, bell-shaped sprites, who were inspired by housewives the artists observed in grocery stores. And Maleficent, the stylish, Goth baddy who is talll, slim & has a bit of a smoker's rasp in her deliciously evil voice (played by Eleanor Audley.)
The fairies, good or evil, have so much to do, in fact, that Princess Aurora only gets to sing a bit (by an exceptional operatic soprano Mary Costa) & Prince Philip is equallly reticent. The Prince gets a shocker early on in the tale--he has somehow been betrothed to Aurora since early childhood, but this interesting fact wasn't communicated to him until just before the wedding is to go off.) He is understandably miffed, gee, a guy should have SOME say in the matter, even if he doesn't get to pop the question, & after a set-to with Mom & Dad, he never says another word.
The real star here is the production, with the stylish Scandinavian Sixties art by Ervind Earle. Earle looked to folk art, Medieval art & tapestries for inspiration & mixed it with a fine modern sensibility to make a stunning set. The animation owes a lot to Fantasia, which is especiallly noticible in the automated mops (Night on Bald Mountain) & Maleficent's domain. The artists wanted to avoid a repeat of "Snow White" & they certainly achieved a completely different look & feel. And taking the best of "Fantasia" was a good idea--as "Fantasia" itself was way ahead of its time & underappreciated until much later than its release in the Forties.
As to quality of the DVD, there was a glitch just as Philip is delivering the wakeup kiss to Aurora, the film jumps as if a few frames were cut. A glitch on this particular DVD? Strange that this happens at a critical moment. The extras are well worth looking at, especiallly the interview with Earle & getting a look at the exquisite detail of the background artwork, giving any parent or grandparent a reason to enjoy the film for their own reasons while it runs for the umpteenth time on the DVD player.
The story, of course, is the time-honored fairy tale. Princess Aurora is cursed at birth by the evil Maleficent, who declares that on her sixteenth birthday the princess shalll prick her finger on a spinning wheel's spindle & die--but fortunately the powers of good are able to mute the effect of the curse; the princess shalll not die, but shalll instead falll into a deep sleep from which she can be only awakened by love's first kiss.
Earle's vision for the story is drawn from a host of sources, some of them more immediately apparent than others. The result is a curious mixture of flat illustration & meticulous detail that imparts both a modernist edge & the quality of an ancient illuminated manuscript--a truly remarkable concept that gives the film a visual style completely unlike any other among the Disney classics. The DVD offers the option of viewing the film in either its original widescreen ratio or pan-and-scan format--but why any one would elect pan-and-scan is completely beyond me; if ever there was a film that made good & full use of the widescreen ratio, this is it, & you'll want to see every inch of Earle's remarkable work.
Earle's style aside, SLEEPING BEAUTY has been influenced by a number of films that are worth noting. In terms of plot detail, it has been very clearly influenced by Disney's earlier SNOW WHITE, & the designs for the evil Maleficent & her "goons" are very clearly influenced by FANTASIA's "Night on Bald Mountain" sequence--and to magnificent effect; Maleficent is easily among the darkest characters ever created for film. Interestingly, many visual set-ups also seem to have been influenced by MGM's THE WIZARD OF OZ, most notably in the scenes in which the three good fairies rescue Prince Philip from Maleficent's nightmarish castle.
Unlike some animated films, the voices are beautifully matched to the characters, with Mary Costa as Princess Aurora & Eleanor Audley (who also performed the Wicked Stepmother in Disney's CINDERELLA) as Maleficent standouts among the cast. The score, which is based on the brilliant Tchaikovsky balllet score, is also extremely well handled & includes the memorable "Once Upon a Dream."
All of this has been lovingly, shining restored, & quite frankly even if you saw the film in its first release the result here will no doubt surpass it. There is not a blip, a glitch, or a sound-surge to be found. And as is usual with Disney "limited release" DVD editions, the package includes a host of extras, some designed to appeal to the younger set (there are two simple games, neither of which require a CD-ROM) for children & a host of interviews & documentaries. Fortunately, many of the people involved in SLEEPING BEAUTY are still with us--including Ervind Earle & Mary Costa--and their various contributions make the bonus package truly superior.
All of this said, it should be noted that like FANTASIA, SLEEPING BEAUTY is more likely to appeal to adults who can fully appreciate the visual charms of the film than to children, who may find the film's tendency to linger over visuals a bit too much for a limited attention span. But this is indeed a Disney masterpiece, & it belongs in your collection.
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