DAC 16: Sleeping Beauty

Sleeping Beauty - 7.9/10

I only ever saw this one maybe once or twice as a kid, largely due to the fact that Maleficent scared the flipping bejeezus out of me. I honestly think she is the greatest Disney villain of all time, and it says a lot that she was voiced by Eleanor Audley, the same woman who did the Lady Tremaine in Cinderella.

I saw this once again in high school with some friends, and though I still don't remember much about it from then, I do recall thinking that the art was cheap and lazy. Watching it again now, I can't believe I never noticed before that it was a stylistic decision - the art looks almost like it came right out of a medieval European tapestry. I love it.

Compared to the previous two princess films, Snow White and Cinderella, the prince gets a ton more development in this one, and the princess much less. They do, however, get to spend a little time together before riding off at the end, which is kind of interesting. I suppose Snow White's prince met her once very briefly at the beginning, and Cinderella did dance with hers a bit at the ball, but this was the first time that the two characters actually met and interacted somewhat early on in the film. I thought that was kind of a nice change of pace.

Neither the princess nor the prince who awakens her are the main characters, though. That title, along with being the heroes of the film, goes to the Three Good Fairies. They get far more screen time than anyone else, the story is told mostly from their perspective, and they're even the ones who infiltrate the evil lair and eventually save the day. Kind of breaking from the norm, and I gotta say, I like that too.

Where this one falls a little short of Cinderella, in my opinion, is the story itself. It just isn't really very interesting, and while it was well executed (what there was of it), there just really wasn't much meat there. Even the villain's motivation - being snubbed at a party - was a tad lame (though interestingly it is one of the elements that makes her such an awesome villain in the first place, that she would go so far to avenge such a slight, so I guess it works both ways there). Also, I didn't buy for one second that Briar Rose/Aurora's voice actress was anywhere near 16, but I suppose license has to be taken in order to get the type of singing voice they wanted. Still, they could have tried a little bit harder.

All around, I enjoyed this flick far more than I ever remember doing in the past, and had a few good laughs along the way. Definitely another classic.