Sleeping Beauty (1959)It is a rare kind of love that is destined to be--as sure as the sun will rise. Sleeping Beauty (1959) is a Disney animated fantasy film about the beautiful princess Aurora, cursed by the wicked Maleficent during her infant christening to prick her finger on the needle of a spinning wheel before the sun sets on her sixteenth birthday. She will fall into an eternal sleep afterwards, only to be awakened by "true love's first kiss". Aurora's protection falls to three fairies--Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather--who concoct an elaborate scheme to hide her in a remote cottage until she comes of age. When that time comes, Aurora (now called Briar Rose) dreams of true love, and meets him one day in the forest--unbeknownst to her, he is her betrothed, Prince Philip.
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Sleeping Beauty was a turning point for Disney animated films; until The Little Mermaid thirty years later, the studio stopped releasing animated films adapted from classic fairy tales. Animated movies were becoming synonymous with children's films, and despite plenty of comedy and colorful characters, Sleeping Beauty is more likely to be appreciated by adults. Although it is a musical, the music is never used just to fill the scene, and is more often akin to classical music than something that would be sung ad nauseam by a child. (I'm looking at you, Frozen.) The most memorable song from Sleeping Beauty is "Once Upon a Dream", and is adapted from a waltz by Tchaikovsky--from his ballet titled "The Sleeping Beauty". The film begins with a shot of a gilded tome--like a "book of hours" one might find in a museum. When it opens, Sleeping Beauty transitions into an animated film, resembling the illuminated manuscript preceding it. This aesthetic is consistent throughout the film, emerging everywhere from the pageant attending Aurora's christening to the luscious forest where Briar Rose plays while pining for the man of her dreams; the audience can almost see every detailed brushstroke in the lovingly crafted backgrounds. A narrator sets the stage for Sleeping Beauty, and the last line is sung by a chorus in refrain--a motif commonly found with plays from the medieval era in which the story takes place. When Aurora/Briar Rose and Philip meet in the forest, their duet is operatic in nature; the dramatic irony of their mutual attraction is reminiscent of classic operas and stage plays like "The Marriage of Figaro". The narrative structure of Sleeping Beauty shares motifs with Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream", like how it differentiates between "nobility" and the "common folk"--the latter substituted by the fairies--and uses comedy to maintain the dramatic tempo, while curses and romances play out. Maleficent is arguably the most compelling character in the film, though surprisingly little is known about this dark woman with horns and a predilection toward green fire. Her motivations beg further investigation--which was no doubt the impetus behind the live-action reinterpretation of the story taken from her point of view, aptly titled Maleficent.
Aurora and Philip are almost supporting characters to the story, since most of the film's screen time is devoted to the three fairies. Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather are in over their heads from the moment they conceive the idea to secret Aurora away for sixteen full years--pretending that she is an ordinary girl and that they are her three aunts, and avoiding the use of magic so as to not alert Maleficent. Sleeping Beauty leaps from the christening to Aurora's sixteenth birthday, where the three bungling fairies try to bake a cake and make a dress for her, begging the question how they managed their ruse for so long. Aurora's father, King Stefan, had the idea of burning all of the spinning wheels in the kingdom, intending to prevent Aurora's dire fate by eliminating the threat--as foolish of an idea as keeping the lovely maiden hidden away from the world through her teenage years. Maleficent's curse is a metaphor for the fears that parents have when it comes to dealing with puberty and the burgeoning sexuality in their children. Their efforts are similar to sequestering the virginal girl away in a convent-like retreat, or simply removing anything that might stimulate her arousal to seek the company of men. Sleeping Beauty highlights the extreme lengths to which Stefan and the fairies are prepared to go to prevent her from being "damaged", twisting Aurora's life to fit their own without her say in the matter. Consider when the fairies mishandle their responsibility to save Aurora from Maleficent, resulting in her entering her fated slumber. A precipitous party unfolds in the castle under the presumption that the fairies will return his daughter to them so that she may live the rest of her life in comfort. Instead of owning their failure, the fairies put the entire kingdom to sleep until Aurora awakens. They do not know that her encounter with the boy in the forest--which prompted them to confess Aurora's true lineage and royal obligation to marry Philip--was with the prince himself, so they could not guarantee that she would be awakened any time soon. Despite their noble intentions, their own "curse" over the castle is ethically unsound; it is doubly strange that it is Maleficent who reveals to a captive Philip that were he to kiss Aurora, the spell would be broken. The people who claim to protect Aurora from the dangers of growing up reinforce a maxim about the road to Hell being paved with good intentions. It is ironic that their foibles run counter to the motif of destiny in Sleeping Beauty; despite the efforts by man and fairy to control Aurora's fate, it is by her will alone that she falls in love with Philip.
Recommended for: Fans of a gorgeous fantasy film that recalls a golden age of hand-drawn animated films by Disney, exploring themes like the unintended consequences that come from parental overprotectiveness. Presented in a widescreen 70mm format, Sleeping Beauty is a luscious work of art that is itself a beauty to behold.
Aurora and Philip are almost supporting characters to the story, since most of the film's screen time is devoted to the three fairies. Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather are in over their heads from the moment they conceive the idea to secret Aurora away for sixteen full years--pretending that she is an ordinary girl and that they are her three aunts, and avoiding the use of magic so as to not alert Maleficent. Sleeping Beauty leaps from the christening to Aurora's sixteenth birthday, where the three bungling fairies try to bake a cake and make a dress for her, begging the question how they managed their ruse for so long. Aurora's father, King Stefan, had the idea of burning all of the spinning wheels in the kingdom, intending to prevent Aurora's dire fate by eliminating the threat--as foolish of an idea as keeping the lovely maiden hidden away from the world through her teenage years. Maleficent's curse is a metaphor for the fears that parents have when it comes to dealing with puberty and the burgeoning sexuality in their children. Their efforts are similar to sequestering the virginal girl away in a convent-like retreat, or simply removing anything that might stimulate her arousal to seek the company of men. Sleeping Beauty highlights the extreme lengths to which Stefan and the fairies are prepared to go to prevent her from being "damaged", twisting Aurora's life to fit their own without her say in the matter. Consider when the fairies mishandle their responsibility to save Aurora from Maleficent, resulting in her entering her fated slumber. A precipitous party unfolds in the castle under the presumption that the fairies will return his daughter to them so that she may live the rest of her life in comfort. Instead of owning their failure, the fairies put the entire kingdom to sleep until Aurora awakens. They do not know that her encounter with the boy in the forest--which prompted them to confess Aurora's true lineage and royal obligation to marry Philip--was with the prince himself, so they could not guarantee that she would be awakened any time soon. Despite their noble intentions, their own "curse" over the castle is ethically unsound; it is doubly strange that it is Maleficent who reveals to a captive Philip that were he to kiss Aurora, the spell would be broken. The people who claim to protect Aurora from the dangers of growing up reinforce a maxim about the road to Hell being paved with good intentions. It is ironic that their foibles run counter to the motif of destiny in Sleeping Beauty; despite the efforts by man and fairy to control Aurora's fate, it is by her will alone that she falls in love with Philip.
Recommended for: Fans of a gorgeous fantasy film that recalls a golden age of hand-drawn animated films by Disney, exploring themes like the unintended consequences that come from parental overprotectiveness. Presented in a widescreen 70mm format, Sleeping Beauty is a luscious work of art that is itself a beauty to behold.