Disney’s Sleeping
Beauty is one of the most enduring of the Disney classic animated
features. Not only was its use of
multi-pane photography a breakthrough in animation technology, but the artistic
style and operatic influences were unlike anything Disney had produced at the
time. And, of course, the story itself
resonated with audiences everywhere – fairies and witches, a prince and
princess, a climactic battle between good and evil. Little girls all over the world desperately
wished to be given gifts of beauty and song and dreams of a prince that
actually came true. It’s no wonder
Disney decided to release a Diamond Edition as a sort of companion set to the
forthcoming Maleficent release.
(Don’t even get me started on Maleficent. They ruined one of the best Disney villains in
history.)
This isn’t the first Blu Ray release of Sleeping Beauty, however.
Back in 2007, Disney issued the Platinum Edition, the first conversion
of the audio and video to high definition and chalk full of special
features. Sleeping Beauty has been one of the most popular Disney princess
films to date, and everyone has said practically everything about it; so what
was I supposed to spend 800 words on for this new edition?
I’ve seen this movie dozens of times in my life. Each time, I love the music, the quality of
artistry, the Sword of Truth piercing through Maleficent’s dragon chest in a
victorious moment for the forces of good.
What I never realized was how perfectly they captured Aurora as a
teenager. I mean, she actually believes
that “if you dream a thing more than once, it’s sure to come true.” Literally believes it. She sings to woodland animals. She cries at the drop of a hat. She gets infatuated with a handsome guy
within seconds. And she follows glowing
balls of light JUST BECAUSE. The only
thing that’s missing is the rebellious streak.
And you know who I never really noticed before? Prince Philip. Well, I noticed him, but I didn’t notice his
character development. He was just a
pretty face that was supposed to rescue the princess. But look closer at him. Sure, when we first meet him, he’s a kid not
that interested in an infant. He does
that frowny “ew” face. The next time we
meet him, he’s loafing around the forest with his horse following pretty sounds
and wooing musical young women. Then he
flies off to daddy and says he’s going to marry a peasant girl and forget about
being king. He’s pretty teenage-like in
his own right despite how much older he is than Aurora. But what happens when he gets captured? What happens when he finds out Maleficent’s
plan? He puts on his big-boy pants and
saves the day, that’s what he does. Of
course, Flora helps with the details, like busting him out of prison, giving
him weapons, and saving him from fate-worse-than-death situations, but
hey. He did the legwork in hacking the
forest of thorns and in fighting the dragon.
I kinda think Flora is an unsung hero in this movie. She’s written as bossy and controlling, but
when crisis sets in, you don’t see her flying off the handle or cowering in a
corner. She’s got her ducks in a row and
she is READY. She’s probably the
strongest feminine figure in the whole movie – Maleficent has power, yes, but
Flora has self-possession, intelligence, leadership, and courage. When I was a kid, I didn’t like her because
she was mean to Merriweather, and I related to Merriweather because she was
impish, energetic, and frequently acted on impulse. (She was also right about using wands,
ha! I loved seeing Flora wrong.) But if Flora hadn’t been there, the three
good fairies would never have taken Aurora into hiding, never raised her to be gentle
and kind and (let’s face it) quirky; no one would have put two and two together
to figure out Aurora was Philip’s “peasant girl,” bought them the time they
needed defeat Maleficent, and most definitely not motivated the other two
fairies to get their magical butts up to the Forbidden Mountain to rescue
anybody. There would have been no jail
break, no Shield of Virtue and no Sword of Truth, no boulders turned bubbles
and arrows turned flowers, no boiling oil turned rainbow, and no last-hurrah as
Philip delivered the killing blow. Even
Merriweather using her gift to change the curse from death to sleep was Flora’s
idea. So while she’s brusque and rude and
annoyingly obsessed with pink, she’s got the guts to do what it takes to make
that happily ever after HAPPEN. *insert finger snap
And Maleficent? She’s
been my favorite Disney villain since forever.
None of the others can compare to her style, her commanding presence,
and her blatant acknowledgement of her evilness. I mean, she ruins Flora’s flowers out of
spite; she puts curses on babies because she wasn’t invited to the party; she
torments a prince with images of being locked in her dungeon for a hundred
years; and she calls on the power of hell to transform into a dragon. (She gives dragons such a bad name.) I mean, she can indeed be all bad, as Flora puts it, and she LIKES it that way,
making her possibly one of the most dangerous villains ever. You can’t appeal to a better side with
Maleficent because there isn’t one! I
had a debate with some friends of mine about whether villains who are evil
because they like being evil are more dangerous that villains who are convinced
that what they’re doing is actually right (e.g. Frolo from Hunchback of Notre Dame). I
voted that evil for the sake of evil is more dangerous because the misguided
ones still have a chance of being redeemed.
(We never finished that debate, btw).
So, Sleeping Beauty
Diamond Edition. I love this story just
as much now as I did when I first saw it as a kid, and it’s definitely worth
having in your collection because it’s visually stunning, musically
captivating, and emotionally resonating.
What little girl in us doesn’t want to be able to sing like Aurora? What little boy doesn’t want to slay an evil
dragon? You want this one. You want it.
Got get it.
No comments:
Post a Comment