Sleeping Beauty returned to Blu-ray in a new Diamond Edition on Oct 7.
Sleeping Beauty may very well be one of the biggest jewels in the crown of 1959, in turn one of the greatest years in American cinema which also brought us several major classics like Ben-Hur, Anatomy Of A Murder, North By Northwest, and Some Like It Hot, as well as lighter fare like Operation Petticoat, Pillow Talk, and Rio Bravo, among many others.
The greatest strength of Sleeping Beauty is its absolutely gorgeous visual design, presented in Super Technirama 70mm widescreen. Walt Disney had commissioned his creative team to create a towering achievement unlike anything ever seen before, and they succeeded. Headed by master artist Eyvind Earle, the film’s iconic and ultra-detailed visual language has a dreamlike and medieval aesthetic which draws inspiration from illustrated manuscripts and tapestries of old. In my opinion, it was unmatched in animation until at least Beauty And The Beast. Maybe never.
Besides the highly detailed renderings that make up the backgrounds, there’s also a very advanced kind of dexterity at work with lighting and visual effects. Red flames blaze as a haunting pillar of smoke towers over. Light and shadows dance on walls as evil minions surround an eerie bonfire. As Aurora ascends a secret corridor led by Maleficent’s mysterious green aura, the passageway is bathed in ethereal green light which moves dynamically through it.
Closely following the visuals is the musical experience — the orchestral bombasity of Tchaikovsky’s wonderful Sleeping Beauty ballet complements the story with beauty and ferocity. The songs may feel a bit old fashioned with their choral parts, but Tchaikovsky’s score is absolutely timeless, and truth be told I’ve been humming the “Once Upon A Dream” theme for days. The newly rebuilt (for the 2008 Blu-ray edition) soundtrack implements rediscovered original recordings which were remastered and re-engineered into a surround mix that’s probably the best the film has ever sounded — certainly on any home release.
Weighing in much lower down the quality ladder is the film’s lightweight story. On the announcement of the Royal Princess’s birth, the evil witch Maleficent shows up to proclaim a curse on the infant girl: she will fall into a deathlike slumber by her 16th birthday. Three good fairies, who are the true heroines and primary protagonists of the story, steal the young princess away to hide her from Maleficent’s reach. The titular Sleeping Beauty, Princess Aurora, is a hollow archetype of a character with no real involvement in the tale. Her childhood, spent in hiding, is completely skipped over. In fact, we don’t really meet her until 23 minutes into the film! My theory on this matter is that she’s a sort of passive audience-surrogate designed for young girls to inject themselves into the story.
Her Prince Phillip is similarly a pretty hollow character, and their sweeping love-at-first-sight romance smacks of no small amount of shallowness. Basically, if I understand this correctly, he’s probably the first man she’s ever met. Nevertheless, it’s hard to be cynical. It’s an absolutely gorgeous segment which marries sight and sound in an astounding arrangement of inventiveness and grandeur, and the theme of “Once Upon A Dream” suggests that these two lovers have always known each other somehow, which lessens the abruptness of their rather sudden infatuation.
In terms of story, the real goodies of the film come from its “supporting” characters. The three good fairies, the chattery and lovable Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather, are secretly the heroines and true protagonists of the film, and understanding this makes the movie better. They may seem at first to be mere comic relief, but it’s they who hide Aurora, raise her, rescue Prince Phillip, defeat Maleficent’s crow, and enchant the sword that seals Maleficent’s fate.
It’s the villainous witch Maleficent, though, who absolutely steals the show with her terrific design. Her segments also provide a lot of great visual darkness and macabre that probably made it cooler for boys to dig it. Her demonic appearance, startling apparitions, dank castle and green visual theme, and of course her dragon-form finale, all provide some undeniable awesomeness in a film that desperately requires some meat on its (very pretty) bones.
THE PACKAGE
Sleeping Beauty returned to Blu-ray last week, in a new Diamond Edition from Disney. The Blu-ray release is a combo package which includes a slipcover, DVD, and HD Digital Copy.
The film was previously released on Blu-ray as a 50th Anniversary Platinum Edition in 2008 before making its way back into Disney’s price-jacker/supply-and-demand manipulator, aka “The Vault”.
The new release sports a few new features, including newly produced interviews and some reconstructions of deleted scenes made from storyboards. It also lacks the majority of features from the original 2-disc release, including some you might miss — the Cine-Explore viewing mode, Grand Canyon short, “Sequence 8”, “The Peter Tchaikovsky Story”, “Four Artists Paint One Tree”, an alternate opening, 3 deleted songs, storyboards, and art galleries — and a whole lot of fluff that you probably won’t: “Dragon Encounter”, “Princess Fun Facts”, several games, a pair of features on the Disneyland Sleeping Beauty attraction, and Emily Osment’s execrable “Once Upon A Dream” video.
Besides the regular edition with a slipcover with identical cover artwork, there are also retailer exclusive versions from Best Buy (Lenticular Slipcover) and Target (Digibook with Story CD).
Special Features
Like most Blu-Ray releases of Disney classics, this one has an absolutely idiotic menu structure that organizes the features in a way that spotlights newer additions and buries older ones into a sub-menu. It’s a haphazard design that doesn’t weigh or organize features correctly. It’s dumb enough when burying SD/DVD features, but smacks of even greater stupidity considering that this double-dip disc is now burying newer HD/Blu-ray features — which are far more substantial than anything in the upper menu. Each brief “deleted scene” gets separate top menu billing while the 45-minute feature-length making-of feature is buried in “Classic Bonus Features”. It’s absolutely inane. Disney: STOP DOING THIS.
Deleted Scene: The Curse Is Fulfilled (2:58)
This worthwhile scene actually plays more sensibly than the film as we know it.
Alternate Scene: The Arrival Of Maleficent (1:58)
Deleted Scene: The Fair (1:58)
This narrated scene presents a very different, apparently much earlier take on the film, involving a talking vulture (presumably in place of Maleficent’s Crow) and a different version of the spinning-wheel incident.
Once Upon A Parade (8:49)
If you’re over the age of 8, you’ll definitely want to skip this annoying short. In a glorified ad for Disney World, some twerpy kids spin a Sleeping-Beauty-inspired tale that ties into the Disney Parade. It feels quite disjointed; I’m guessing it’s a scene pulled from some Disney Channel show but I’ve wasted 10 minutes of my life on this already and can’t be bothered to put any more effort into this nonsense.
The Act Of Evil: Generations Of Disney Villains (9:49)
The cynical part of my brain tells me this is a subtle ploy to sell Maleficent but it’s actually a reverent look at the legacy of Disney villains, featuring conversations with animators Lino DiSalvo and Andreas Deja.
@DisneyAnimation: Artist in Motion (4:27)
Again, another feature designed to pimp Maleficent. Visual development artist Brittney Lee crafts an elaborate paper sculpture of the classic villainess. It’s actually pretty dang cool, though not “more-important-than-the-making-of-feature-that’s-buried-in-a-lower-submenu” cool.
Beauty-Oke: Once Upon A Dream (2:32)
This karaoke vid uses typeface animation rather than your typical bouncing ball. Yeah, it’s fluff but… at least it’s not a teeny-bop video? Seriously, we probably dodged a bullet here.
Trailers, etc
Pre-menu trailers for 101 Dalmations (1:12), an apparent March 2015 Cinderella-related feature (1:08), and Maleficent (1:22). There are also several lame ads, both pre-menu and menu-accessible, which are worth neither listing nor watching.
The remaining features, which are easily the best on the disc, are unceremoniously buried under the “Classic Bonus Features” submenu. SHAMEFUL.
The Sound Of Beauty: Restoring A Classic (10:50)
This is the terrific story behind the Blu-ray’s reconstructed soundtrack, utilizing newly found original elements.
Picture Perfect: The Making Of Sleeping Beauty (43:32)
A very solid look at the film’s creation and legacy which gave me a better appreciation for it. Well worth your time.
Eyvind Earle: A Man And His Art (7:33)
Takes a look at the fine artist and master illustrator who was in charge of Sleeping Beauty’s stunning visual design.
Audio Commentary
Yes, even the commentary is buried in this sub-menu. Dumb, right? It’s a shame because this track, featuring Disney exec John Lasseter, artist Andreas Deja, and film critic and historian Leonard Maltin, is really wonderful. While none of them worked on the film, all three clearly adore it and have not only watched it many times, but been inspired by it in ways which have deeply affected their careers. In addition to the live speakers, there are also some historical recordings sprinkled throughout from people who did work on the film. I recommend using the subtitles on this feature, as they help identify the speakers.
Overall this is a weaker release than the previous 50th Anniversary Platinum Edition, but availability and a still-very-good slate of features make it a totally worthwhile offering for those who don’t have the earlier edition.
A/V Out.
Get it at Amazon:
Sleeping Beauty — [Blu-Ray] | [DVD] | [Instant]
published at cinapse.co on October 13, 2014.