Miserable, Darling, As Usual, Perfectly Wretched

Sleeping Beauty was a failure at the box office, so Disney had to scale back on the scope of their animated films and 1961’s One Hundred and One Dalmatians was the result. Experimenting with the new Xerox process allowed the animators to skip the step of hand inking when transferring their drawings from paper to cell. With the artist drawing being directly translated on the cell the animation became sketchy, with visible pencil marks all over the movie. While the look is very messy, there is something to be said about the fluidity and life these movies have over the rigidity and structure of the Disney Animated movies of the 1950’s. So I usually see this movie as a successful experiment the studio tried that would dictate the look of the next two decades of movies.

This is the story of Songwriter Roger, his wife Anita, and their Dalmatians Pongo and Perdita. Anita’s old college friend, Cruella DeVil, is a fabulous fashionista obsessed with fur and wants the new litter of puppies to make a new fur coat. It’s a really simple, straight forward story that I would describe as cute and entertaining enough.

The biggest highlight of the movie is, again, its villain. Cruella is an absolute hoot to watch. She’s animated with such gusto by Marc Davis. Her body looks so pale and weak yet she has the movement and attitude of someone three times her size. And she’s not one of those calm, collected villains whose emotions turn on a dime, she is just always mean and in a bad mood. I think she’s actually the first Disney Villain to wield the weapon of passive aggression as she is never slow on a backhanded compliment. Being set in a modern time of the mod 60’s, it’s pretty fun to see a car chase in a Disney Movie. Another fun touch is that you can almost see Cruella delve deeper into insanity as she’s chasing the puppies in her car. Her eyes become wilder, her hair is more disheveled. It’s a super fun sequence. 

As I grew older and started to get a fondness for graphic design of the Mid Century, I notice that these backgrounds are wonderfully 1960’s. When you look at the 50’s and 60’s you’ll notice the colors are simple and they usually bleed over the lines due to the printing process of the time. The artist who painted the backgrounds of the movie achieved this same effect. It’s pretty fascinating considering this the backgrounds were most likely hand painted. 

It’s not that I dislike the movie. Not by any measure. In fact, I used to watch this movie over and over again when I was a child. It’s a fun movie with lots of cute doggy characters and a fun villain. There’s not much to say other than it’s a whole lot of fun. The simplistic nature of the movie helped Disney recoup its losses from Sleeping Beauty, thus keeping the Animation Department from dissolving. Seems like a big trend with the Studio, Fantasia bombed and little Dumbo saved the day. So the 60’s ushers in a new era for Walt Disney Animation Studios. Goodbye to the polished looking fairytales and hello to hipper, more free flowing stories.

A Crown to Wear in Grace and Beauty; as is Thy Royal Duty

It took nearly a decade to complete 1959’s Sleeping Beauty and is easily the artisitc crowning achievement of the beautifully animated movies of the 1950’s. Production designer Eyvind Earle hand painted many of the elaborate backgrounds, so detailed that you can see the leaves from trees miles away. Live action footage of many of the characters was filmed so that the animators could make the movements as life like as possible. A beautiful score was used, adapting and repurposing the music of the famous Tchaikovsky ballet of the same name. This was obviously an epic undertaking to deliver an epic product. But after all the hard work the movie is just OK. It’s a grab bag of really good and really mediocre. 

Starting with the Princess Aurora herself, she is what every cynic thinks of when they think of the typical Disney princess trope. She is really nothing more than a plot device for the story to story around. Sure, her design is spectacular and has the stunning singing voice, provided by Mary Costa, but she only has about 20 minutes of screen time and literally does not have one line after the first half of the movie. I do like the little bit of character they give her when the Three Good Fairies tell her she is betrothed, she is genuinely upset that she is a princess and has to fulfill her royal duties, but after that she silently goes to the castle to fall asleep. Prince Philip is in the same boat, given small development when he doesn’t want to wed his betrothed, but after that he’s just there to wield a sword and kiss the girl. 

The movie makers were clearly in love with the supporting cast as evident by the fairies in the film. The Three Good Fairies (Flora, Fauna, and Merriweather) are the true protagonist. First off, they’re damn funny. I can watch the famous “Pink/Blue” scene over and over. They interact just as you’d think 3 old ladies with conflicting personalities would in this situation. Sort of a medieval Golden Girls, if you will. When they fail to protect Aurora, they feel so ashamed that they put the entire kingdom to sleep to cover their failure. Then it is them who rescue our “hero” from the clutches of the evil fairy Maleficent. And then, it’s the fairies that guide Phillip in the defeat of Maleficent. These old ladies rock! In a time where there might have been few female protagonists it’s amazing they made these women of age so powerful. 

Speaking of powerful, Maleficent is possibly the most popular villain in the Disney canon. And it’s a title that she whole heartedly deserves. Is she my favorite Disney Villain? No, but I can totally see why she gets the distinction of villainess supreme.  She’s elegant. She’s insane. She’s subdued. She’s over the top. Given that she has the flimsiest reason to be mad (she didn’t get invited to a baby shower), it’s all thanks to the awesome animation and character design of Marc Davis and the delicious vocal performance from Eleanor Audley that she became the evildoer we all love to hate. Who am I kidding? No one hates Maleficent. One particular scene I love is after she captures Prince Phillip she reveals her plan to keep him locked up for 100 years and release him to wake Aurora, who will not age in her slumber. She wants Aurora to wake up to a frail old man. That’s evil. Not one for subtlety, she summons all the forces of HELL and turns herself into a dragon and gives us one of the best climaxes in any animated film. 

Even though this film is extremely uneven, it’s one that I’m always up for watching. It’s gorgeous to look at. It’s lovely to listen to (Side note: I’ve always been curious if Disney could pull off adapting Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker in the same way they did this movie. I know that they used a lot of the music in Fantasia, but I’d love to see a good animated Nutcracker for once.) And it’s got a superb supporting cast. All hail to the Princess Aurora Mistress of All Evil, Maleficent.