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.
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