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Let’s talk a little about “house styles” shall we? A house style is basically where you have a large number of creators working on a single work, and so they modify their individual artistic voices to conform to a uniform style. The goal is essentially to make something that is the product of all these individual people seem like it’s the work of one person, a single artistic voice.
Say you’re a journalist. Depending on which publication you get work for, you will have to write in a completely different style than you might normally use. It’s almost like becoming a different person.
This is you as the New York Times…
…The Sun…
…The Guardian…
…aaand the Daily Mail. Thanks folks, I’ll be here all week!
It’s something that most writers have to deal with, and learning to adapt to a house style is a vital skill for anyone hoping to make their living as a scribe. And I absolutely SUCK at it. I learned this when I tried to get a job writing for Ireland’s most popular soap opera.
My idea was for a two year long crossover with Eastenders set during a zombie apocalypse, but here’s the thing…the zombies are actually GHOSTS.
Pff. No RTÉ. I think you’ll find that it is you who are “wildly impractical“.
House styles are certainly a necessary part of collaborative work but they have their drawbacks. For starters, a house style has to be fairly basic and easy to pick up which limits your scope to produce something unique and innovative. It can also result in a stifling culture of conformity and aversion to risk taking. Let’s take a look at the Disney house style.
Two drawings, by two different artists, from two different movies, most likely drawn years apart.
That’s just how effective Disney was at imposing its house style on its animators. Now, personally, I love the Disney style. It’s attractive, fluid, detailed without being busy and wonderfully innocent. But the Disney style has always had its critics. There are those that think it’s bland, tame and lacking in flair. And guess who one of those people was?
Jesus. Everything I’ve ever done is pure, feculent garbage.
Yes. Amazingly, by the nineteen fifties Walt Disney himself was sick of his own house style and decided to do something about it. To understand why, I want you to take a look at these…
Those are pieces of concept art done by the inimitable Mary Blair. Blair worked on many of Disney’s movies and may in fact have been his favorite artist, which is kind of like being Caesar’s favorite emperor. Now Walt Disney was many things; a brilliant marketer, an entrepreneurial visionary, a hard-headed and often ruthlessly anti-labor business man…
…the Doom of Bahia, He Who the Black Mouse calls “Master”…
…but he was first and foremost an artist and I will fight anyone who says different in the street with a broken wine bottle in each hand. And it killed Walt that Blair was producing these lavish, gorgeously distinctive works of art which were then stripped of their essential “Blairness” by having to be reduced to the Disney house style. So Disney decided to attempt an animated film that was as beautiful and distinctive as its concept art.
Spoiler alert. He did it.
It took eight long years, but he did it.
It cost six million dollars, more than any animated film up to that point, but he did it.
It cost so much to make that, despite being the second most successful animated movie in history at the time, Walt was forced to make massive layoffs in the animation department in 1960. But he did it.
The movie is Sleeping Beauty. And it is a glory to behold.
We start (don’t we always?) with the opening credits and c’mon baby Poppa needs a new pair of Putnams!
….no…
He’s gone. No more Thor Putnam. I…I don’t know if I can even finish the review. What happened to Thor Putnam?
I suspect the treachery of his arch-rival, Loki Nussbaum.
The movie begins in the same way as the previous two fairy tale movies did, with an opening book. We see beautifully detailed medieval style illustrations which set up the basic premise, King Stefan and Queen Leah have had a beautiful baby daughter named Aurora and the whole kingdom has turned out to greet the new princess. We then fade from these gorgeous manuscript style illustrations to the animated artwork.
…
…
…
No words…should have sent a poet…
Beautiful. Sumptuous. Jaw-dropping. Gob-smacking. Stunning. Eye-popping. Divine. Awe inspiring. Radiant. Superb. Magical. Breathtaking. Ravishing. Sublime. Resplendent. Gorgeous. Revelatory. Angelic. Dazzling. Magnificent, Pulchritudinous,Wonderful.
Real darn purty.
Okay, if the movie will give me a second to pick my eyeballs up off the floor we’ll continue.
King Stefan and Queen Leah are throwing a royal baby shower. And you read that correctly, Aurora is a Disney princess whose mother is still alive! And SHE EVEN GETS A LINE OR TWO!!
You know, in my lifetime I’ve witnessed the fall of the Soviet Union, the election of the first black US President and the reshaping of society by the internet. But I never thought I’d live to see that.
King Stefan welcomes King Hubert and his young son, the Prince Philip to the court. The plan is that Philip is going to be betrothed to marry Aurora because it’s the Middle Ages and child marriage is how they roll.
Hubert tells Stefan that…wait a minute. Otto Von Bismarck?! You were in this one too?
Vas I? I must have been. But seriously, I vas off my head for most of ze late fifties. I cannot remember.
Jesus you’d gotten fat.
You’re fat!
Anyway, we are now introduced to our leads. No, not Sleeping Beauty and Philip.
Our heroes.
Yes, I know Aurora and Philip are technically the main characters but a funny thing happened in the process of making this movie. The three good fairies were so appealing and interesting that more and more of the story was given over to them with the end result being that they are the true heroes of the movie. All the action of the film arises either from their agency or Maleficent’s. In fact, the good fairies play such a dominating role in the film that it’s practically the Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead of the original story, a version told from the perspective of three very minor characters in the original tale. This leads into what I said last week about Sleeping Beauty being one of the greatest feminist movies of the twentieth century. I want you to consider this:
Name me a big, blockbuster, mainstream film made in the last fifty years that has:
- A predominately female cast.
- Where none of the main female protagonists are young or conventionally attractive (this is if you consider Aurora to be a supporting character.)
- Where they are not sexualised in any way.
- Where the fact that they are women is simply incidental and in no way effects their competence.
- Where the female protagonists are working with rather than against each other.
Give up? I thought maybe Calender Girls but then I remembered it’s about making a nude calender so that’s three out. This is what I mean. This is a fantastic movie in its portrayal of its women characters, I honestly can’t think of a mainstream Hollywood movie that does it better. And Walt Disney made this. Walt friggin’ Disney! What could he possibly have seen or experienced that would turn him into a radical feminist?
Ahhhhhhhhhh. Yep. That’ll do it.
Anyway, the fairies. In red we have Flora (voiced by Verna Felton), in green is Fauna (Barbara Jo Allen) and finally in blue we have Merryweather (Barabara Luddy, who also voiced Lady).
Red, green and blue…
Red green and blue.
Oh god no, the flashbacks!
You weren’t there, man.
Disney originally wanted the three fairies to be identical, like Huey, Dewey and Louie but they eventually became far more distinct both visually and in their personalities. Flora is the no-nonsense leader, Fauna is the ditzy sweet natured flower child and Merryweather is the tough hothead of the group. Their Wolverine, if you will.
Best there is at what she does.
The three fairies have come to give the newborn princess three gifts, gold, frankincense and myrrh. Sorry, no. Flora gives her the gift of beauty, Fauna gives her the gift of song and Merryweather gives her…well we never find out what Merryweather was going to give her and it’s been a source of some speculation. A poll on the Disney princess site chose “Intelligence” which is a very good answer, but not as good as mine.
Sweet Princess, my gift is ADAMANTIUM CLAWS!
But we never find out if Aurora could have survived the bonding process because the doors of the palace are flung open and we are introduced to the sheer dark awesomeness that is Maleficent.
You magnificent bitch.
When Disney villains go to college to learn how to be Disney villains, they pass Maleficent’s statue in the courtyard.
She is it. She is the gold standard. Everything about her, the design, the voicework by Eleanor Audley, the music that her scenes are set to. I’m just about ready to call her the greatest Disney villain of all time but I know we have some strong contenders coming up when we get to the Renaissance so I’ll hold off for now. But my God she’s awesome. And yes, I am aware of the upcoming Maleficent movie starring Angelina Jolie (who has managed to become the most famous actress in the world despite appearing in almost no good or successful films) and I am not having it. Eleanor Audley is the only actress who I will ever consider to be worthy of Maleficent and nothing can change my mind.
Okay, that looks fucking amazing but I’m staying the course dammit!
Maleficent says that she’s quite upset that she didn’t receive an invitation and Merryweather blurts out “You weren’t wanted!” which seems to take Maleficent aback.
Not wanted? But I’m awesome!
Maleficent curses the baby, saying that when she turns sixteen she will prick her finger on a spinning wheel and die. Why sixteen? Why a spinning wheel? Why not just turn into a dragon and go Godzilla on the whole place?
Fuck you, that’s why.
Maleficent departs and the fairies tell the king and queen that Merryweather still has her gift to give, and that while she can’t undo Maleficent’s curse, she can take the edge off a little bit. Merryweather casts a spell that will make Aurora fall into a deep sleep rather than die, and says that she can be awakened by love’s true kiss. So instead of getting absolutely bitchin’ adamantium claws, Aurora gets beauty, song and a coma. Worst. Birthday. Ever.
King Stefan, not holding with all this hippie “love’s true kiss” crap rather sensibly orders every spinning wheel in the kingdom destroyed. All part of Maleficent’s master plan.
Shopkeep? I wish to return this spinning wheel that I purchased not half an hour ago from this very boutique.
Oh yeah? What’s wrong with it?
I’ll tell you what’s wrong with it. It’s square, that’s what’s wrong with it.
Oh no, you see it’s supposed to be like that. That’s a Norwegian spinning…block.
That is absurd. I demand you replace it.
No refunds.
Little man, you have no idea what you have begun.
Oh yeah? What’re you going to do? Set in motion a ridiculously convoluted scheme to get spinning wheels outlawed in the kingdom in order to wipe out my business overnight and leave me impoverished and homeless and whoring myself on the streets for a guinea a turn? I’d like to see that!
I brought this on myself.
The three fairies sit down and try to decide the best course of action and the scene perfectly illustrates their different approaches and personalities. Fauna believes there’s some good in everyone and wants to reason with Maleficent. Merryweather wants to go on the offensive and turn Maleficent into a toad. Flora takes the pragmatic middle approach. Maleficent is too powerful to go to war with, and too evil to reason with. So she will have to be outsmarted. This scene also tells us a lot about Maleficent even though she’s not actually in it. One of the reasons why Maleficent is quite possible the greatest of all Disney villains is that she is devastatingly effective. She always seems two steps ahead of the good fairies. She never makes stupid mistakes (her henchmen do, but that’s hardly her fault) or strategic errors. And the way the three fairies talk about her she seems almost omniscient, with Merryweather flat out saying “She knows everything”. Fauna responds that she doesn’t know anything about love or kindness or the joy of helping others and muses “I don’t think she’s really very happy.”
Clearly.
Flora’s plan is this; they will go off the grid. Disguise themselves as humans, take the baby into the forest and care for her themselves.
Sixteen years pass and Maleficent is furious that her army of weird…orc…things hasn’t found the Princess. Her chief henchman tells her that they’ve searched every cradle in the kingdom and Maleficent realises that they’ve spent the last sixteen years looking for a baby and unleashes a thunderstorm of pure rage on their asses.
You magnificent bitch!
Wearily, Maleficent turns to her most loyal servant, her pet crow, and sends him off to find Aurora.
My, aren’t we original?
I’m sure I don’t know what you mean.
May I ask what do you think you’re doing with my crow?
Making it work, darling.
Meanwhile we transition to the fairies cottage in the woods and get our first look at Aurora (or Briar Rose as she’s been named by the fairies). The third Disney Princess is voiced by professional opera singer Mary Costa. In a way, Aurora is probably the most passive of any of the princesses we’ve seen so far, but that’s really more the fault of the source material. It’s a story about a woman who falls asleep and is rescued by a prince. If you have her freeing herself and defeating Maleficent then its not Sleeping Beauty, it’s She-Ra.
Wait a minute. Aurora. Adora? Oh my God, Filmation you whores!
Having said that, Mary Costa has a fantastic voice and brings a regal dignity to Aurora that we don’t really see in Cinderella and Snow White. Also, both the character design and animation are stunningly beautiful.
Anyway, the fairies send Aurora out into the woods so that they can prepare her surprise birthday party. Her birthday party. Alone in her house in the middle of the forest. With her three aunts and no friends. Hm. I guess that would be the worst birthday ever. The three fairies set about making a birthday cake and a dress for Aurora and Flora is adamant that they don’t use magic to do it for fear of attracting Maleficent’s attention. Flora uses Merryweather as a mannequin as she makes the dress which turns out terribly. Merryweather remarks “It’s awful!” but Flora simply replies “That’s because it’s on you dear.”
The fairies reminisce about the last sixteen years, and get weepy when then realise that they’ll soon have to give Briar Rose up. Meanwhile we cut to the forest and mabadaeelemajollop…
Splabalala
Egrob.
Pretty movie…
Oh my God. Oh my God in heaven. Look at this. Look at this thing. Apparently one of the hardest things about directing this movie was staging the scenes so that the characters weren’t overwhelmed by the gorgeous backdrops. Also, they were able to get so much detail into the scenes by using extra large pages which apparently were a cumbersome nightmare to animate.
Anyway, Briar Rose sings (and my God but Costa’s got the pipes) and this of course attracts the usual Disney forest detritus; rabbits, an owl, couple of birds. You know the drill.
That owl is clearly misreading the situation and this is about to get super awkward.
We also see Prince Philip riding through the forest on his horse Samson. Now apparently Prince Philip is a MAJOR object of fangirl affection.
Really? Well, to each their own I guess.
I kid, I kid. No. Evidently Prince Philip is considered to be one of the dreamier of the Disney leading men and I suppose I can sort of see why. He’s definitely got more personality than the princes in Snow White and Cinderella, in that he actually has a personality. His character design is also more expressive and he does get more lines. But by the end of the movie he is very much a prop to be moved around by the good fairies and he doesn’t actually speak for the last quarter or so of the film. Regardless, he is definitely a step up.
Briar Rose sings what’s probably the only mem0rable song in the movie, Once upon a Dream, which draws the attention of the Prince. Philip wastes no time in taking Briar Rose’s hand and getting up in her personal space and basically doing the whole aggressively charming thing that makes any girl want to say those three magic words.
I. Have. Mace.
Anyway, they sing a duet in a forest for a few minutes which in the Disney universe is the equivalent of a steady five year long relationship. And of course they fall in love despite not knowing each other’s names.
Briar Rose suddenly remembers she’s not supposed to talk to strangers and panics. She runs off and the Prince runs after her leading to a legitimately funny exchange:
“But when will I see you again?”
“Never!”
“Never?!”
“Well, maybe someday!”
“Tomorrow?”
“Oh no…this evening!”
Back at the cottage, things aren’t going so well. Fauna’s cake is a shambling abomination unto the Lord.
“Cake…should…not…be…”
And Flora’s dress is loaded with troubling symbolism.
My work has been commended as being strongly vaginal.
Merryweather’s finally had enough and storms off to get the wands. Flora and Fauna finally cave and they use magic to make a new cake, and a new dress while Merryweather cleans the room by bringing the broom to life.
What could go wrong?
Unfortunately, Merryweather and Flora get into a wizard’s duel over whether Briar Rose’s dress should be pink or blue, shooting colours at each other which shoot out the chimney, attracting the attention of Maleficent’s crow.
Briar Rose is delighted when she sees the dress and cake, but her joy doesn’t last long. The fairies finally reveal her parentage to her and tell her that she’s not marrying some weird forest bum because she’s betrothed to Prince Philip. Briar Rose is heartbroken but goes with the fairies to the palace. The fairies give her a few moments alone in a bedroom to compose herself before the wedding.
And Maleficent strikes.
The scene where Briar Rose is hypnotised by a ball of green flame and led up a spiral staircase to her destiny with the Spinning Wheel is breathtaking in its macabre, eerie beauty.
George Bruns score for this sequence, a piece called “Maleficent’s Evil Spell” is darkly wonderful, a twisting, jet-black serpent of a piece, snaking unpredictably while a female voice hauntingly calls “Aurora, Aurora”. The fairies’ panic and desperation as they realise they’ve been outsmarted is heartbreaking. They arrive too late, with Maleficent standing gloating over Aurora’s prone body. Maleficent asks how they thought they could defeat her, the mistress of all evil and…yeah. That is a legitimate question. She’s awesome. They should have realised that. Could have saved everyone a lot of time.
The fairies lay the sleeping Aurora in a bed at the top of a tower and consider what to do next. Merryweather notes that the King and Queen will be devastated when they realise what’s happened but Flora says they won’t find out because they’ll put them all to sleep. As in, the entire kingdom.
What!?
The Princess is in a coma so you’re going to put an ENTIRE KINGDOM in a coma too? What the fuck!? That’s so much worse than what Maleficent has just done! I mean, think for a minute of the devastation this is going to cause. Even allowing that this is a magical sleep and they won’t die of dehydration or starvation, this is 14th century Europe and you have just put the entire army to sleep! They are going to be conquered in literally minutes. And don’t forget, one of the guests at the wedding is King Hubert, the ruler of a neighbouring kingdom. What happens to his kingdom now that their king is as good as dead and the heir to the throne is off chasing some peasant girl in the forest? It’s a Game of Thrones! There’s going to be dwarfs plotting and armies fighting and brothers and sisters doing things that brothers and sisters should not be doing! And winter is coming.
So well done Flora. Bravo. Great plan. To save two people the heartbreak of losing their daughter you have devastated half a frickin’ continent. I guess we should be grateful that Briar Rose didn’t actually die like Maleficent had planned otherwise Flora probably would have just set the entire kingdom on fire as her funeral pyre. Can you imagine if monarchies actually worked that way?
“My loyal subjects. With the tragic death of my grandson Harry in a freak donkey-snowboarding accident, I know that all loyal Britons shall do their duty. Cynaide pills have been posted to all homes throughout the United Kingdom…”
Well anyway, the fairies make their transition to cartoonish super villainy but as Flora is putting King Hubert to sleep he drowsily reveals that Philip has fallen in love with a peasant girl that he met in the forest. Putting two and two together, Flora realises that Philip is the one fated to break the curse and the fairies head back to the cottage to find him.
But as usual, Maleficent is two steps ahead of them and is waiting for Philip at the fairies’ cottage with a whole posse of orc things. They get the drop on him and beat him up while Maleficent looks on with a gaze of satanic glee.
Yeah. Like that. Now tear his clothes a little. Yeah. That’s hot.
The fairies race back to the cottage through the forest and MMamamamasmar
Hamamamana…
I swear to God movie, if you don’t stop being so beautiful I will go mad like some Romantic-era poet.
The three fairies fly in through the window but they’re too late. Philip is gone.
Leaving only his weird shoe hat.
Flora decides that they have no choice. They will have to rescue Prince Philip from Maleficent’s stronghold on the Forbidden Mountain.
One does not simply…you know what? Fuck it. No one ever listens to me.
In the Forbidden Mountain, Maleficent takes a break from her celebration to visit Philip in the dungeon. In one of the most notorious scenes in the movie, Maleficent shows him his future. While she narrates a fairy tale of him escaping the castle and waking Aurora with love’s first kiss, she shows him what will actually happen. She will keep him imprisoned for decades until finally releasing him, an old, frail, broken shell of man. It is a quite stunningly dark scene, and shows how sometimes it’s the small scale moments that really bring home a character’s true evil.
YOU MAGNIFICENT BITCH!
The fairies manage to infiltrate the castle and free Prince Philip. Flora tells him that there will many more dangers to face, and so she’s going to give him the shield of virtue and the sword of truth.
I can stab stuff with it, right?
Truthfully, yes.
After a thrilling chase through the castle on horseback the movie takes on a truly operatic scope as Philip gallops towards the palace with Maleficent casting down thunderbolts on him. As Philip gets closer Maleficent raises a forest of thorns around the castle but Philip is able to cut through them with the sword of truth, most likely because it’s truthful and not because it’s a sword. Philip reaches the other side and Maleficent realises it’s time for the boss fight. She appears in front of Philip in a burst of green flame and gives the famous line:
“Now shall you deal with ME O Prince! AND ALL THE POWERS OF HELL!”
And then…well, you know what time it is.
MAGIC WAND, MAKE MY MONSTER GROW!
Maleficent transforms into a massive obsidian dragon, setting the standard for almost every magically powered Disney villain that will come after her. The dragon is an absolute masterwork, the kind of fusion of evil and beauty that you don’t often see outside of the works of HR Gieger.
YOU!
MAGNIFICENT!
BITCH!
Finally, after a desperate battle, the fairies give the sword of truth an extra jolt of magic and Philip flings it into the dragon’s chest.
ARGH! SO…TRUTHFUL!
With Maleficent dead, her power fades away. Philip enters the castle and kisses Aurora, waking her. The couple walk into the now awakened royal court. Aurora is reunited with her parents at last and the movie ends with Aurora and Philip dancing to the strains of Once Upon a Dream while Merryweather and Flora keep switching her dress between blue and pink.
Sleeping Beauty closes out the Restoration period of Disney movies on the highest possible note. This is a gorgeous, wonderful, breathtakingly beautiful film that nonetheless manages to keep it’s warmth and humanity and not simply be a cold setpiece for stunning background art. This is Disney back at his best, shooting for the moon and damn the expense. And the expense was colossal. Simply put, you can’t produce animation of this quality and expect to turn a profit. And it’s not like this was a flop. This was the studio’s biggest hit with the exception of Snow White.
They try. Oh, how they try.
Sleeping Beauty ran for weeks. It was the second most successful film of the year and there ain’t no shame in losing to Ben Hur (unless you’re a Roman) . And it still wasn’t enough to cover the movie’s costs and the relatively lacklustre performance of the studio’s live action movies in1959. If Sleeping Beauty was the high watermark for this type of animation, it was also its swansong. After Sleeping Beauty and the financial havoc it wrecked on Disney, everything would change in how the studio produced its animation. Everything, from the technology used, to the style and aesthetic, to the look and feel and sound of the movies would be fundamentally different. Walt Disney would never make another film like Sleeping Beauty in his lifetime. It truly marked the end of an era. But at least, in true fairytale fashion, it was a happy ending.
Scoring
Animation: 20/20
I wrestled with this a little. There could perhaps be an argument made that Pinocchio was a more technically accomplished film, but Sleeping Beauty is by far the more beautiful work so I guess they’ll both have to share the top slot.
The Leads: 12/20
Yes, I know it’s a little hypocritical of me to call Aurora and Philip the leads after my whole spiel up there, but it is still their movie technically. A little less dull than the typical Disney royal couple.
The Villain: 20/20
I believe I’ve made my feelings clear.
Supporting Characters: 17/20
Flora, Fauna and Merryweather are terrific. King Stefan and King Hubert are fun too. That’s pretty much it, it’s a pretty sparsely populated film actually.
The Music: 17/20
Only one really memorable song but some phenomenal incidental music from George Bruns, particularly “Maleficent’s Evil Spell.”
FINAL SCORE: 86%
NEXT WEEK: The Restoration is over. The Scratchy Period begins. Do you know what makes you scratchy? Fleas. Do you know where you get fleas? Dogs. Know what’s a kind of dog? A Dalmatian. Do you know what is a number of Dalmatians one could conceivably have? 101. Can you guess what our next movie is?
…
One more guess.
Neil Sharpson AKA The Unshaved Mouse, is a playwright, comic book writer and blogger living in Dublin. You can follow him on Twitter. The blog updates every Thursday. Thanks for reading!
unshavedmouse 
WE’VE ALREADY DISCUSSED HOW I FEEL ABOUT THIS MOVIE. *SOB*
I’m still working on refusing to acknowledge that the live-action version exists. If they try and give Maleficent some kind of *backstory* to explain her stone-cold evil fabulousness, I will RIOT IN THE STREETS.
I agree, I don’t want to “sympathize” with the villain!
At least not with this particular villain
… well did you riot in the streets???
I wrote a scathing online review and mention how much I hate it every time it comes up in conversation, which I believe is the modern equivalent.
Great work, unshaved mouse! Your best yet, in my honest opinion!
Unfortunately, Maleficent has not only butchered the original Disney characters and story of Sleeping Beauty, but our favorite villain as well. I know because I read the script.
See for yourself. http://pdfcast.org/pdf/maleficent
Do we dare Zoe?
I don’t know. I have to be productive today, AND I’ve just checked the character listing on Wiki and there’s a Young Malificent and a Young Stefan on there, and so help me god if they’ve put in some sort of spurned romance in there I WILL CUT SOMEONE.
This is to Zoe, since I didn’t see a reply button to her message.
Maleficent and Stefan do indeed have a little romance at some point in the script, but it is ended when he betrays her by stealing her wings. I take it he did this because the human world influenced him to mistreat the fairies or something (in this one, he is an illegitimate son of a fairy king and human woman). But that’s not even the worst part.
Thanks for the link.
They didn’t butchered anything. Disney’s Sleeping Beauty will always be there, intact. Maleficent film be just another take on the story. In my view, after reading the script, a much more interesting and richer take.
Disney’s Sleeping Beauty is also a version and has little to do the original tale. “Sleeping Beauty” was raped in the original tale.
I probably should get around to reading that.
“Original tale”? It’s drawn from a few different folk-tales, there isn’t really a cast-in-stone original version. I mean yes, Sun, Moon, and Talia is an *earlier* version of the tale, but Disney wasn’t the one who took out the rape, it’s not in Perrault’s version (the most commonly accepted “canonical” version) (the Prince doesn’t even kiss her in that one) though I can’t remember off-hand if it’s in the Grimms’ (I don’t think it is, because they leave it out of their version of Snow White as well). (There’s also a lot of cross-mixing between Sleeping Beauty and Snow White in some of the associated tales, and which folk tale lead to which “canonical” story isn’t always clear – Sun, Moon, and Talia, for instance, has loads in common with Snow White, even if it’s often compared with Sleeping Beauty.)
Whereas Malificent, as a character, is a Disney creation (the evil fairy is just an evil fairy in the older tales, and in many versions just sets the curse, and has nothing to do with the later plot lines. (the spindle is come about accidentally)). So it’s perfectly justified for people to be apprehensive about a film about her, that goes in directions that they think would make her less awesome then she is. Particularly as many people are tired of the narrative that “evil” women are that way because they’ve been wronged by a man.
It would have been the gift of happiness, according to my super special edition of the movie.
I adore this one…I really adore it! And yes, I totally fangirl Prince Phillip, because he is up to this date the only Disney prince who declares that he would give up his throne for his love. Plus, he kills a dragon! Fairy-help or not, this fight is epic, in my honest opinion the best climax in any Disney movie. Too bad that Costa shot out her voice with resulted, because of contractual rules, in both of the main leads not being available for the second part of the movie….but Disney did a good job concealing the problems they had.
Speaking of climax, the songs might be not that memorable (aside from Once upon a dream, which I consider as one of the best Disney songs of all time), but the score is freaking awesome…a musician once told me that it is actually more difficult to adapt preexisting music for a movie instead of creating something new, and this was done so perfect. The original music is already from one of my favourite ballets from my favourite composer of all time, but what they did with it is awesome. I can never decide which part is my favourite, the climax, the “Auroooooooora” scene or the scene in which Maleficient reveals her plans to Phillip.
Aurora is still widely considered being the most beautiful princess of all times. She has a grace all the other princesses lack. But it’s too bad that they don’t delve more in her decision to go to the castle. If there is one thing I could change about this movie, than it would be the comic relief scene with the two kings…it is way too long.
But there is always the artwork…Disney always wanted to create a movie which gave the audience the feeling to enter the book. That was the opening book at the start of Snow White and Cinderella was about. Sleeping Beauty was the first and only movie in which he achieved this effect. I could watch the movie and just look at the artwork for hours.
It’s btw another movie which I very much prefer in the German dubbing. It’s one of the few cases in which a more creative dubbing is actually better than the original. At one point they changed Flora’s line slightly, so that she doesn’t say (in response of Fauna suggesting that Maleficient can’t be all bad): “Oh yes she can!” but instead “I know this sort of woman!” (difficult to translate back) as if Maleficient where some sort of slut…it’s hillarious. The whole dubbing is this way, with the bickering of the fairies more pronounced than in the original.
Oh and I so agree about this being a feminist movie. Most Disney movies are more feminist than the critics gave them credit to, but this one especially.
To end my praise: I don’t care about the later Disney villains, Maleficient is the one they all have to bow to! She is the one who set the standarts.
Are you also going to do reviews for Who Framed Roger Rabbit and the Pixar movies? I’d like to know your opinion of those!
I actually made a conscious choice not to do the Pixar movies because basically…they’re too good. That’s honestly the reason. I thought it would get pretty boring if every review was just just “This is awesome.” The Disney movies give you a nice mix of classics, weird little things and a few stinkers. If you want my opinion on them, it’s this: Who Framed Roger Rabbit is one of the best movies of the eighties, period, with one the scariest villains in children’s cinema. Wall-E is perfect, Toy Story 3 has the best ending of any film ever made. The rest are really good with the exception of A Bug’s Life which is only okay and the Cars movies. You can read my “Saludos Amigos” review for my opinion on the Cars movies.
Thank makes sense.
Why does everyone consider A Bug’s Life less than great? To this day, it’s my favorite Pixar film and in my book, seriously underrated.
Not that it’s bad, but it is VERY conventional in terms of its plot. The other movies tend to be more adventurous in their plot and story structure
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Wasn’t Ben Hur the biggest film of 1959? Anyways, great review. This film is pure eye candy.
Curse you and your “facts” and your “accuracy”! You’re right. I’ll fix that now.
Fantastic review. I am not trying to offend anyone, but I think this movie is a bit overrated. I say this because the story and pacing is weak, there are too many filler scenes, and most of the characters are flat except the fairies and Maleficent. I think this is Walt Disney’s weaker works, but the animation is extremely beautiful. Every frame is a picture that can be hung on your wall, and the soundtrack is nice. Otherwise, vey underdeveloped and boring. Very well-written and insightful review nonetheless
I agree it’s overrated. It’s the very definition of style over substance and I cannot watch it often, but by God, it’s so pretty I cannot help but love it. However, I’d take Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs over this any day. It had much better characters, its frightening moments were more frightening, its emotional moments more moving, and every time I watch that one I leave with this joyous feeling. Sleeping Beauty is gorgeous, but cold. Still, I prefer both of them to Cinderella (which is strange considering that was my favorite movie ever as a kid).
I guess that about Sleeping Beauty, it can be said that style is the substance in a lot of ways.
BTW, not to correct you, but you have Cinderella and Pinocchio sharing top billing, not Sleeping Beauty and Pinocchio. Just thought you’d like to know. 🙂 Great reviews!
Yikes! How did I miss THAT? Thank you very much. I’m always grateful for corrections so feel free to point any out. Really glad you like the reviews.
I hate Sleeping Beauty. Yes she is gorgeous and yes the scenery is magnificent and Maleficent looks incredible but as a heroine she gets almost no lines or presence which has no point to me. How can there be a heroine that does literally NOTHING? I also can’t stand the original rapey story and find it an outrage its being painted as romantic. The fairies may be feminist but Aurora had no time to even think about it, let alone even try to act for or against the concept. This film is all about the fairies and that works if they didn’t try to make it all about some girl in a coma, no story there. A ridiculous story at best for someone who is supposed to be the heroine. Maleficent rules. End of
I remember ripping this movie apart as a four year old. Use your sword prince I forgot the name off. Shouldn’t the villain who talks slow be able to use magic in dragon form. The crow was the only character I liked and the only scene I liked was the henchmen’s Satanist dance. It is one of only three movies I have seen that bored me.
You have only ever been bored by three movies?
(matthew Hecht with different user name). It takes a lot to bore me. I consider a boring movie to be one that is putting me to sleep or making me doze off, but the list has grown in the last two and a half years.
Something I realised about Aurora when she meets Philip in the forest. Yes they hit it off but what happens when the initial thrill of meeting someone wears off? She makes arrangements to get to know him later. Not in the forest but in her home, where her ‘aunts’ would also be present. They did warn her not to speak to strangers. It’s a nice small demonstration of quick thinking by our princess.
… Shit you’re right.
The good fairies should be given more exposure by Disney and other pop culture outlets. They truly are fine examples of earlier versions of fun and appealing feminists in movies. They deserve to be as renowned as Maleficent and Aurora.
I remember this movie from the 80s, when Disney was doing their 30th Anniversary release of all their 1950s movies (yeah I was 3 years old at the time, what of it?) My brother (he’s 3 years older) and I also watched it on & off again during our childhood. Mom says my older brother would watch the ENTIRE movie, just so he could see Prince Phillip slay the dragon at the end. (Ah, vhs, how I DON’T miss you so).
It’s interesting that you would call this a feminist movie, Mouse. I never really thought of it that way until I read your review, and to tell you the truth, I wish more feminist movies were like this. Disney movies like “Brave” make 3rd-wave feminism very obnoxiously obvious and insulting, whereas this film was very subtle about it. I also never realized that the 3 fairies were the true heroes of this story. You always assume it was Aurora or Phillip, though neither of them really have a strong presence in this story (except when Phillip kills the dragon). Of the 3 fairies, Merryweather was my favorite. She was the smart one with common sense in the group. Flora was bossy and stupid, & Fauna was dreamy & air-headed. Merryweather seemed to be the only one with a good head on her shoulders.
That’s something else I don’t get. These 3 fairies have been living like mortals & raising a human girl for 16 years, and yet seem to have learned absolutely NOTHING about how to do everyday stuff in all that time. Surely they would have learned something about how to gather resources, maintain their home, cook, bake, and sew. Heck, they could have even commissioned a wood-carver or seamstress in some nearby village to procure a simple mannequin in Aurora’s size.
It might also be interesting to point out, that in modern films, they made the marriage age for girls in ancient times much older than they really were. Many modern people with the 21st century lens on their POV cameras (an analogy of perspective my speech class teacher used) would go “Ewwww!” if they knew that girls in the 14th century were actually married off as young as 12 or 13 (basically after they hit puberty. It was a tactic used to get girls started on making babies as early as humanly possible because the infant mortality rate was so high in that time period. Plus their husbands wanted heirs too). But in those days, it was normal. In fact, it wouldn’t be unusual for a 16-year-old girl to have already been married for 3 or 4 years, and already have 1 or 2 little children following her around.
Mom says when this movie came out in the 50s (when she was a little girl) she actually said the most common thing women said about Aurora was how long her hair was. They were used to seeing Disney heroines with hairstyles similar to the times (like Snow White) and yet here is Aurora with waist-length hair. I thought that was interesting to hear about.
I remember watching this more recently in my high school years, and realizing that the animators seemed to have drawn on Medieval Tapestries as inspiration for their work and drawing style of the people. I say this because the whole movie LOOKS like a medieval tapestry, and as you said Mouse, it is very visually stunning :).
Mom told me how at the time, the studio was using a newer animation technique of layering film cells on top of each other so the cartoon had a more 3-dimentional look about it. You can actually see it in action if you look close enough (this is to other viewers, not you Mouse. I think you probably spotted it a mile away 😉 ).
I’m actually worried about this new “Maleficent” movie coming out. It’s giving me the exact same negative vibes as “Wicked.” You know that feeling, like “Why in God’s name would I want to watch a classic story told from the villain’s point of view? The last thing I care to watch is a story about a villain’s fall from grace.” So I plan on waiting ’till other people watch it, review it, & write out the story on the Wikipedia, then I’ll get a better idea on what it’s going to be like. Chances are, though, I’m probably gonna stay away from it.
“Mom says my older brother would watch the ENTIRE movie, just so he could see Prince Phillip slay the dragon at the end. (Ah, vhs, how I DON’T miss you so).”
So you’re saying that your brother didn’t know how to fast forward a VCR tape?
He was a little kid. What do you think?
I just saw Maleficent recently and enjoyed it quite a bit, so how appropriate to get to this review at right now? The preview from the Peter Pan review sure did bring the you-gotta-be-kidding-mes, but you give a pretty neat argument for this actually being a pretty progressive movie in terms of female interaction. Sleeping Beauty was probably the most forgettable of the Restoration movies for me (I think I watched it, like, what, once when I was young?) but hearing your spin on its being somewhat of a stealth feminist movie as well as spawning a really cool reboot, I’m starting to gain much more respect for it than I had for it before. Kind of too bad Disney had to see his studio in a constant Red Ring of Death from going all out with this for the rest of his natural life.
Hmm, looking back, I’ve got to wonder what your portrayal of an Irish Independent writer would look like. Something tells me I would die laughing.
…So I take it Merryweather somehow found herself owing a favour to Sa’luk from that Aladdin sequel, huh? He somehow got himself her intended gift to Aurora. Also, gotta love how it’s the red one called Flora, not the green one. I guess Verna Felton’s typecast as ladies that wear red and are related to plants in some way as well as elephants.
Ok, yeah, Angelina Jolie’s reboot movie was pretty good, but I’ve got to agree that no version can top Audley’s version of just not having a single F. word to give. I think her near-zero motivation is kind of part of the character, unfettered magnificent villainy is kind of a big part of her charm. Maybe that was part of why the recent movie’s giving her motives came off as a bit ungainly to me (why was her first response to what the humans did to her starting to rule over the magic folk with an iron fist? They were on her side in the first place). I guess being evil without motivation isn’t lifelike, but then again, I’d say as long as you’ve got an understanding that nobody in real life is just inherently villainous, it’s fine to have some fun viewing fictional portrayals of such.
That said, I think your theory on the convoluted plot to spite a stubborn salesman made the story a whole lot better. Like your theories usually do. And that quip towards the queen from Snow White was gold. Too bad Maleficent still has to be content with being in the second-place movie. The running gag of Snow White’s gloats while sitting pretty are really worth the guffaw.
Also, loved your reaction to the put-everyone-to-sleep plan. Kind of too bad they didn’t think of that in Maleficent, that would have made things so much easier in the end. Though I guess that would mean no dragon sequence, so not all bad.
As I have never seen this movie in full, only parts of it on YouTube, I had no previous bias when I watched “Malificent”. And I have to say that Angelina Jolie was so right for the role, and that I really liked the new more layered version of Malificent. I know that many people feel that the near-zero motivation was one of the things, that made her such a great villain. Not to mention that it almost has become a cliché, that if a woman becomes evil/developes a bad attitude, it is only because she was once wronged by a man. But I say it worked for this movie. But alas, nothing else was as good. Almost all the other characters (and especially Aurora and Philip) were so bland. I have no idea why they had Aurora’s mother die before they could be reunited. And it was weird how Philip was not the one to give Aurora the kiss of true love…
I don’t know about you, but for me Maleficent makes this movie. I don’t think I would watch it as much without her, despite the gorgeous animation. It sounds like you consider her to be one of the greatest disney villains, but also like some of the renaissance ones. I was just wondering if you can list your favorite Disney villains. I have 2 favorite female ones: Maleficent and Ursula, and 2 favorite male ones: Frollo and Scar.
The only three Disney villains to get perfect scores are Maleficent, Frollo and Scar.
I’m somewhat surprised Ursula isn’t there; isn’t she Maleficent’s rival for Top Disney Villainess?
You didn’t mention Tchaikovsky, the real source for the music. George Bruns may have arranged and adapted the music, but all the material–even the spell scene–is derived from The Sleeping Beauty Ballet by P.I. Tchaikovsky. I always thought it was interesting that they chose to reference a ballet. Aurora’s name comes from the ballet, but Briar Rose is from the Grimm Brothers’ telling of it. Thank you for highlighting the role of the fairies. I hadn’t thought of things that way.
Just wondering buddy ever hear of the TV series Once Upon A Time? It’s a must-watch for any Disney fan. Wondering if that’s where you got the little banter between the Queen and Maleficent from – since they’re best friends in the series.
Anyway this might be my favourite of your reviews. Adora, adamantium claws, it’s pure gold
Cheers man. Heard of it, never actually seen it.
First off, it’s not a ‘weird shoe hat’, it’s a ‘bycocket’. Respect the bycocket, it was the height of fashion for three hundred years.
Second, Flora’s plan to spare the King and Queen from grief by enchanting them to fall asleep too is perfectly in-character for something as inhuman as a Faerie.
You’re Irish, you should know this.
I do agree that the Fairies, Maleficent and King Hubert (to an extent, though he could have had auburn hair in the beginning while Phillip was a child), but I respectfully disagree with you on Prince Phillip and King Stefan. While silent in the second and last act, Phillip is actually witty, manipulative, and has a purpose since he defeats Maleficent and saves Aurora and the kingdom from the sleeping spell, making him a step up to later Disney Princes. On the other hand, King Stefan has a pretty average, yet bland, voice acting. Plus Taylor Holmes infamously replaced Hans Conried, who actually modeled Stefan and provided additional lines, making it unknown who has really voiced the unnamed herald. I think that if Taylor Holmes turned down the role of Stefan by doing the narration and do the singing, I think it would have been much better off to have Conried continue voicing Stefan to give him more personality and a calmer voice with French words (to make proof that Sleeping Beauty really took place in France) because Holmes had failed to do a good job as Stefan, in my opinion. Therefore, Stefan is one of the characters that I have criticism for the movie, along with Aurora and Queen Leah, which I will explain now. Queen Leah is truly the weakest character of this movie because she has no personality or character as she barely appears in the film; therefore, she is a lot more boring than Aurora herself.
So there, Phillip is much more better than King Stefan, who should have been voiced by Hans Conried to give him more developed personality and a calmer, dignified, and funny French voice and to make him my favorite character.