I have never been a fan of the fairy tale Sleeping Beauty. As far as plot goes it is as dull and straight forward as it comes. There is very little to embellish with this story. So it seems to me that Disney makes up for a lame story with some absolutely stunning imagery. Seriously, I love it! If there's one art style I adore it's that of the illuminated manuscript. I just makes me giddy. So the homage paid to the master illustrators of the Middle Ages in Sleeping Beauty is indeed a special treat for me. I love the flat shapes and bright colors used in the background art, especially during the opening sequences.
The character design of this film is pretty epic as well. I'm mostly referring to Madame Maleficent when I say that. She, like the Queen in Snow White, reads as wicked before she says or does anything. The sharp angles she's drawn in mixed with a secondary color palette explains her role as the antagonist better than any words could.
The musical adaptation on this film is pretty wonderful as well. Way to go Mr. Tchaikovsky on creating something fabulous that could be borrowed by Mr. Disney and turned into something the general public would actually know about and remember for generations. (As a side note: remember way back when when I mentioned singing with my sister + cousins for my grandparents 50th wedding anniversary? "I Know You" was one of the songs we performed along with "So This Is Love" from Cinderella.)
Sleeping Beauty also has my most favorite Disney prince. This is completely superficial of course, if I were rating the Disney guys based on merit I'd probably say Alladin or something but Prince Philp is a total stud. I have often thought that the title of Sleeping Beauty should be changed to "Prince Philp and the Three Fairies" or "The Three Good Fairies Do Most of the Work but Prince Philp Takes Credit for It." Considering that the girl is really only a footnote to the plot.
Tangent: I already mentioned that I don't like the fairy tale Sleeping Beauty. Every rendition of it is dullsville and although I consider Disney's version to be pretty boring plot-wise I still consider it to be a step up from the original. The fairy tale has little to no actual conflict. A wicked fairy doesn't get invited to a christening so she curses the baby. Another fairy lessens the curse the same way it happens in the movie but she says the child will sleep for a hundred years and then be awakened by love's kiss, etc. And that's exactly what happens. It's so straight forward it hurts. The villain gets away with what's she's done and everyone's happy in the end. Even though most of the characters go to sleep and wake up a hundred years later and for some reason aren't completely flipping out about that. At least in Disney's take on the story there's a fight with a dragon and the villain is crazy and vengeful about not getting invited to stuff.
Also, I've always wondered what Aurora would be like if she wasn't given the gifts of song and beauty. Would she have a man voice and look more like her dad? I read a great fairy tale about the ironic consequences to fairy gifts and if I weren't feeling particularly lazy right now I'd attach a link to it. You'll just have to look it up yourselves.
Oh, and one more thing, it's a common theme in fairy tales for a fairy to decide to raise a child themselves. However, they don't usually do it out of compassion or anything but because they think the parents are too incompetent to do it themselves. I like Disney's hint to that theme in this movie although in the case of Sleeping Beauty I'd say she was better off with her parents. Seriously, I don't know how that girl didn't end up dying from neglect due to the idiocy of those three fairies.
Ok guys, I have 3 more movies to talk about but I swear I'll be quick about it.
Up next is 101 Dalmatians. As far as talking animal movies go this one's pretty boss. I had forgotten how stylistically amazing this movie is. The opening sequence feels like someone challenged the animators to see how many different things they could change a dalmatian into. And the little details and considerations that are taken into account with the animation is just stunning. For example, in the beginning when Roger is playing the piano I'd like to point out that he's actually playing the piano correctly. As in he's playing the correct notes at the correct time. OMG guys! This is a big deal! Oh, and I do love that sequence when Pongo is looking out the window judging the passersby. I know the artists just had a blast designing people to look like their pets. In fact, I could watch the first twenty minutes of this flick in a loop and be giddy as a teenager the whole time. I can stay pretty interested in this plot for the whole of it in fact, it's those last 5 minutes that I just have to roll my eyes. Anita and Roger are legitimately going to keep 101 dogs around? Even if they get a house in the country that's going to be disgusting. I would not want to visit. They better at least breed and sell the suckers.
Also, Cruella De Vil, need I say more?
Finally, there's The Sword in the Stone and The Jungle Book. I do not like The Sword in the Stone. The animation is choppy and sloppy and it makes me cringe to watch. The Jungle Book is fine. They do some stellar things with a surprisingly limited color pallet. If you count blue as a neutral (and for the sake of my argument it is) the only colors that are used in this film are orange, yellow, and green. Crazy! One thing that I have to roll my eyes about with this movie is that Mowgli finally proves to everyone that he can handle living in the jungle, which is all he wants, when he stumbles across some girl who sings a song about gender rolls and then he's suddenly like "I WANNA LIVE IN THE VILLAGE!" Seriously? He sacrifices the freedom of the jungle in order to become an Untouchable in the Indian caste system? That's not going to last long.
That's all for now. Let us have a moment of silence for Mr. Walt Disney who was cryogenically frozen during the making of The Jungle Book. His remains are hidden somewhere in Disneyland or something. Legend says that whoever finds them will inherit the magical treasure of Disney himself and live forever.
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