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Sleeping Beauty (50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) [1958]
Directed by Clyde Geronimi
| List Price: | £19.99 |
| Price: | £12.98 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Delivery on orders over £15. Details |
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk
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Average customer review:
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #39 in DVD
- Released on: 2008-10-27
- Rating: Universal, suitable for all
- Format: PAL
- Number of discs: 2
- Running time: 75 minutes
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.co.uk Review
Disney's 1959 Sleeping Beauty was the studio's most ambitious effort to date, a lavish spectacle boasting a gorgeous waltz-filled score adapted from the music of 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 sixteenth birthday. This, of course, would deny her a happily-ever-after with her true love. Fortunately, some bubbly, bumbling fairies named Flora, Fauna and Merryweather are on hand to assist.
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, alongside Maleficent's castle, which, filled with warthogs and demonic imps in a macabre dance celebrating their evil ways, manages a certain creepy grandeur. --David Kronke, Amazon.com
Synopsis
A brand new DVD package to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Disney classic Sleeping Beauty. The timeless story tells of Princess Aurora, cursed by the evil sorceress Maleficent to die on her 16th birthday after pricking her finger on a poisoned spinning wheel. Despite being brought up in secret by three good fairies as Briar Rose, the curse comes true. Can her true love, Prince Philip, battle Maleficent and her spells and wake Aurora from her ageless sleep?
DVD Bonus Features
Audio CommentaryPrincess Fun Facts
"Once Upon A Dream" Music Video
Disney Song Selection
Picture Perfect: The Making Of Sleeping Beauty
Alternate Opening
4 Deleted Songs
Storyboard Sequences
Live Action Reference
Sleeping Beauty Art Galleries
Sleeping Beauty Castle Walk-Thru Attraction
Publicity
The Peter Tchaikovsky Story
Four Artist Paint One Tree
Briar Rose’s Enchanted Dance Game
Sleeping Beauty Fun With Language Game
Synopsis
A beautiful princess born in a faraway kingdom is destined by a terrible curse to prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and fall into a deep sleep which can only be awakened by true love's first kiss. Though the titular princess is on par with the rest of Disney's essential heroines, most of the fun arises from the trio of charming fairies entrusted with her care: Flora, Fauna, and Meriweather. Meanwhile the evil Malificent may just be Disney's most chilling villainess. This classic makes wondrous use of Tchaikovsky's same-titled ballet score, which earned SLEEPING BEAUTY an Academy Award nomination for Best Scoring of a Musical Picture.
Customer Reviews
5 stars for the film, only one for the DVD
I'm afraid I have to agree with the earlier reviewer who said there is a fault with the DVD.
I have a 4:3 television and set my DVD player to letterbox. The film does not play in the correct aspect ratio, losing some of the picture at either side. Considering that one of the selling points of the 50th anniversary edition is that you get the entire original picture this is really disappointing. In addition, the picture appears to be somewhat squashed together so that the characters in the film appear far thinner then they should.
Initially I thought it was my DVD player causing the problems but I have no trouble with any of my other disks. After doing some research online at several other DVD review sites it appears that this is a problem experienced by quite a few other people.
I enjoyed the film, it's absolutely fantastic but please do not buy the standard (non Blu-ray) version of the disc until Disney get off their backsides and release a properly authored version. How Disney can make such a huge mistake with a release like this is beyond me, do they even have a quality control department?
I am VERY disappointed.
They don't make 'em like this any more
This has always been my favourite Disney film, and I am so glad it's been given the loving restoration it deserves.
The fantastic detail and 1950s graphic take of gothic and medieval styles is positively breathtaking. For Walt Disney it was ground breaking (and almost bankrupting) to create something so meticulously detailed and stylistically consistent right down to the backgrounds, and the result is beautiful and atmospheric. The extras are all interesting, detailing the conceptual side of things, and added a whole new perspective on what was always my favourite childhood film (even though I was terrified of Maleficent and convinced she was under my bed).
Amazing as the new computer technology is, it just doesn't for me have the artistic soul and wonder of this kind of traditional animation (no offence to those talented folk who work long and hard creating it, it's just not my bag). Now we strive for 3D realism, in movies like this it was for a blending of styles/genres and a stylistic vision that I feel lost in the computer age. I doubt we'll see animation like this again, and for me that's a crying shame.
And on the character side of things... Flora, Fauna and Merriweather still crack me up, twenty years later.
My daughter, like many others, is obsessed with Disney Princess and has watched this a few times now.
I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the transfer. The picture quality is superb - and the animation is the smoothest I've seen in a hand-drawn feature. It's probably wrong of me to assume that an animated film released 50 years ago wouldn't have the same level of animation quality as a modern film, and this has certainly quashed my preconceptions.
The story is simple, and the humour is basic - but there's a real charm to this early Disney film. Maybe it's the flawless animation, or the jaunty songs - but you soon see past the cheesy Prince Charming and enjoy this for the fairy tale that it is.
