[BWSmith]

We've had the Sleeping Beauty DVD for many months now, and we have watched it with the kids pretty regularly in that time. Each time I watch the movie, I am awed at the stunning visuals, and I wince at the numerous gaffes that make this movie the "Phantom Menace" of its day - a movie that tried so hard to be different from its predecessors that it lost its central artistic focus.

Good: Earle's backgrounds are visually stunning. The characters are visually stunning, far surpassing anything that preceded them.

Bad: The characters superimposed on Earle's backgrounds don't fit. One can't superimpose Mickey, Donald, and Goofy on the Sistine Chapel and expect to be taken seriously. Either the backgrounds needed to be simpler or the characters should have been rendered from tangible models.

Good: The music is outstanding and inspiring.

Bad: Many of the vocal performances are less than inspired. Maleficent, Flora, and Fauna are excellent, with honorable mention to King Hubert, but the rest are forgetable. Aurora/Brier Rose is over-the-top in both song and melodramatic prose, and her character draws little sympathy because of it. King Stefan can't decide if he's dignified or buffoonish. Nor can Prince Philip decide if he's a comic character (falling in the creek) or a hero. Merryweather is a cute character on paper and in visuals, but her voice is unpleasant.

Good: The storyline accomplished its goal of distancing itself from the past heroine-centered princess stories Snow White and Cinderella.

Bad: The storyline removed some of the main themes that made Snow White and Cinderella so compelling. While Briar Rose is inconvenienced by her 16-year exile from the royals, she hardly counts as a "tragic" princess. Maleficent's motive for tormenting the royals is never developed as it is with the vain Queen of Snow White or the opportunistic stepmother Lady Tremaine in Cinderella. The animal companions are under-utilized and never produce the "cute points" that the extended animal scenes in SW and Cinderella did.

Like "Phantom Menace", SB is an example of the problems that result when the technical achievement holds a higher priority than the artistic message. Unlike Phantom Menace, nothing in SB is truly "horrible" like Jar-Jar or Jake Lloyd or any of the other aspects that make that movie unwatchable for purist Star Wars fans.

I will continue to watch SB every few weeks or so with my kids, but regret that Walt wasn't able to contribute more of his genius as a unifying vision to help SB reach its full potential as possibly the greatest animated film of all time.

Comments?

[tragic312]

i do'nt know the word for it, but i don't see the bad side of any disney movie. i love sleeping beauty. i think it's a great movie that is often being underrated by critics. sure, the animation is not as good as the likes of cinderella and the movies before SB, but are you going to let that get in the way of you enjoying a good movie? i don't let that get to me. i just sit back and enjoy the movie.