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Sleeping Beauty (Special Edition)
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List Price: $24.99
Our Price: $6.69
You Save: $18.30 (73%)
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Product Details
- Starring: Mary Costa, Bill Shirley, Eleanor Audley, Verna Felton, Barbara Luddy
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- Audience Rating: G (General Audience)
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- Binding: VHS Tape
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- Director: Clyde Geronimi
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- EAN: 9780788844720
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- Format: Animated, Closed-captioned, Color, Special Edition, Digital Video Transfer, THX, Restored, Full Screen, NTSC
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- ISBN: 0788844725
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- Label: American Broadcasting Company (ABC)
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- Manufacturer: American Broadcasting Company (ABC)
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- Number of Items: 1
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- Product Group: Video
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- Publisher: American Broadcasting Company (ABC)
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- Release Date: 2003-09-09
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- Studio: American Broadcasting Company (ABC)
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- Theatrical Release Date: 1959-01-29
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- Title: Sleeping Beauty (Special Edition)
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- UPC: 786936213652
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Avg Customer Rating: 
Product Description: Disney's 1959 animated effort was the studio's most ambitious to date, a widescreen spectacle boasting a gorgeous waltz-filled score adapting Tchaikovsky. In the 14th century, the malevolent Maleficent (not dissimilar to the wicked Queen in Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs taunts a king that his infant Aurora will fatally prick her finger on a spinning wheel before sundown on her 16th birthday. This, of course, would deny her a happily-ever-after with her true love. Things almost but not quite turn out that way, thanks to the assistance of some bubbly, bumbling fairies named Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather. It's not really all that much about the title character--how interesting can someone in the middle of a long nap be, anyway? Instead, those fairies carry the day, as well as, of course, good Prince Phillip, whose battle with the malevolent Maleficent in the guise of a dragon has been co-opted by any number of animated films since. See it in its original glory here. And Malificent's castle, filled with warthogs and demonic imps in a macabre dance celebrating their evil ways, manages a certain creepy grandeur. --David Kronke On the DVD
Sleeping Beauty was the last and most lavish of Walt Disney's animated fairy tales. He told the artists not to hurry and to give him "a moving illustration": The film required almost four and one-half years and one million finished drawings. Instead of the 19th century storybook illustrations that had influenced the look of Snow White and Pinocchio, the artists adapted the flattened perspective and jewel-like colors of 15th century French illuminated manuscripts. The results remain unmatched for sheer visual opulence. However, Sleeping Beauty suffers from a weak story: the vision of an ageless princess slumbering in a vine-shrouded tower was replaced with elements of Snow White and a boy-meets-girl musical. The evil Maleficent and the three Good Fairies (Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather) dominate the film, rather than Princess Aurora and Prince Philip. Sleeping Beauty was originally released in 70mm, and the Blu-ray edition restores the film to its original splendor. (Many earlier releases trimmed the wide-screen images and/or muted the glowing palatte.) The Bonus DVD looks good on a flat screen monitor, but it pales in comparison to the richness of the Blu-ray. In addition to the commentaries and a making-of documentary, the set includes myriad extras that vary widely in quality. Nostalgia buffs will enjoy the recreation of the old Sleeping Beauty's Castle attraction in Disneyland, and the TV program "Four Artists Paint One Tree" provides a welcome showcase for key talents from the film. But the CG animation of the dragon and the voice imitations of the Good Fairies fail to capture the magic of the originals in the "Dragon Encounter"; the "Maleficent's Challenge Game"--a hi-tech Twenty Questions--sounds only vaguely like the redoubtable sorceress. (Rated G: violence) --Charles Solomon
Stills from Sleeping Beauty (Click for larger image)
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Customer Reviews
prompt and perfect
cannot comment beyond above as this is Christmas gift for grandchild and has not been viewed.
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simply classic
A timeless story; still classic. The new technology enhances the imagery and truly brings out the vividness of the colors. A very nice addition to one's collection.
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As good as I remembered!
My whole family enjoys watching it together. It brings back a lot of memories. Being in Blu-Ray makes it even better for viewing. Highly recommended for big and small kids, young and old adults.
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Sleeping Beauty
I'm one of the many who faithfully turn out every time Disney release a new DVD of one of their classic animated films. The Platinum series, bi-annual releases of the Disney films which sold best on VHS, has proved an exemplary program, and the impressive streak continues with this edition of Sleeping Beauty.
First, the movie; Sleeping Beauty was one of the last Disney movies I'd not managed to see in my childhood. It never came across my radar, so I was very excited to see it. The story is classic Disney, and well-executed classic Disney at that. The characters are all well-developed, and the voice acting is extremely good. But it's the visuals that sell it. This is the most beautiful piece of eye candy in the entire Disney library. I couldn't stop looking at the animation, with vibrant colours filling every inch of frame. This was the last Disney movie before they started using a photocopying process, and while I love the look of the next group of films (101 Dalmations and The Jungle Book, for example), there's nothing that can compare with the beauty of hand-painted cells. It's gorgeous from start to finish.
As for the bonus features, I've loved the Platinum Series as much for the documentaries as I have for the movies. Each one in the line has come with a tremendous thirty- to sixty-minute feature on the making of the film, and this one is an interesting and informative watch.
I didn't buy the previous release of Sleeping Beauty, so I can't say how the transfer or the bonus features compare to that, but if you haven't already added this movie to your collection, there's no reason to hesitate. It's a classic for a reason, and well worth your time.
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Disney's Masterpiece!
I own the previous DVD edition of this product and will keep it.
Saying this, I agree the picture's aspect ratio is much better.
Why it wasn't issued at the aspect ratio initially is another story for another time.
I give it only four stars for the fact that the 50th Anniversary Edition does not retain all the features from the previous edition and the full screen version forcing me to keep the previous edition.
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