Product Description

Mary Costa, Eleanor Audley, Bill Shirley, Verna Felton, Bill ThompsonDirectors: Les Clark, Eric Larson, Clyde Geronimi, Wolfgang Reitherman

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2321 in DVD
• Brand: Disney
• Released on: 2008-10-27
• Rating: Universal, suitable for all
• Aspect ratio: 2.55:1
• Format: PAL
• Subtitled in: English, Italian, Spanish, Dutch
• Number of discs: 2
• Dimensions: .26 pounds
• Running time: 76 minutes

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 eponymous 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

Still a Beauty, but wide awake!
Visually, this is without a doubt the most beautiful piece artwork that came out of Disney studios, and for economic reasons, it just wouldn't be topped after. But just like Pinocchio [Blu-ray] [1940], another fantastic film, it is the blu-ray format itself that unlocked a film I hardly recognised compared to my VHS version. In its original 'Technirama' super wide format (the only Disney film to have this) and completely restored musical score, Sleeping Beauty appears as though it was filmed yesterday thanks to the amazing restoration and digital clarity that, once paused, allows the viewer to calculate how just one paused frame of animation is a work of art in itself.

Sleeping Beauty is notable for its original style of art that that took nearly a decade to research and complete, as Walt was defiant on having a film that, visually, was very different from his other films. The outcome is an amazing mix of Medieval stylistic shapes and incredibly bold colours that makes this one of the most original Disney films of the past. The backgrounds are often almost photographic quality whilst being contrasted by the geometric shape of the characters with bright, bold paint that just jump out the screen. Perhaps the most impressive scene in the film now is towards the end where a particular villainess transforms into a beautifully modelled dragon, ooozing of not just the stylistic elements of the 1950's, but has the terror of retaining such a simple, alarming form.

The restoration makes the film a brand new experience. The ultra-wide scope reveals things you've never seen before, as well as giving a huge benefit to the animators that movements and actions could sweep straight across the screen for a whole new dimension - one such example being the lightening bolts darting across the screen before the dragon fight. Every detail of the artwork is crisp as it could possibly be, whilst looking astonishingly like a brand new film because its so darn clear!
Soundtrack wise, its also very interesting that the original musical score was discovered in its original takes during practice sessions, allowing the people at Disney to use these un-blemished cans and do away with the original soundtrack! An amazing discovery that again, gives the film a new dimension because the Stereo and clarity is far greater.

As usual, the second disc is crammed full of featurettes and galleries, making the most of the Blu-Ray disc. In fact, theirs probably about 3 times more information on the disc than that of 'Pinocchio', with many featurettes being at least half an hour long. The one I have particularly enjoyed the most is called 'Three Men Paint One Tree'; a short documentary from the time of release where Walt narrates how some of his artists have gone out to a field and painted a tree in their own unique way. Such rare documentaries as this included in the package makes this the best value Blu-Ray I've bought - something of a major bargain.
Up to now, I'll still conclude that Disney have given Sony a 'major' helping hand in showing off the capabilities of blu-ray, as the few other publishers seem to take advantage of it, let alone show it off. Sony could be blamed partly for this, but the format in question, even down to its anti-scratch coating, should be preserved for the near future.

Final note - Unlike Pinocchio, this does not contain the additional standard DVD disc in the case. Just the 2 blu-ray discs.

The title says it all
The beauty is never in question, but adults watching this with their children might be in for some unscheduled sleeping. It's amazing just how much the tempo of films has changed in the last fifty years, so that this effort seems to be quite guilty of spinning out very little material (the original brief fairy tale) into a film that is getting on for 1 1/2 hours.

That gripe aside, my daughter loves the film, so perhaps the issues of modern impatience and expectations for story-telling tempo only apply to adults. The film has its charming moments and is relatively shock-free for children at least until the climactic appearance of the dragon which unsettled my daughter a little - curiously, she was fine with Maleficent.

The restoration is spectacular. Obviously this is not going to look like a Pixar film, but the colours and the transfer of the print are top notch. The back cover shows how for so long the film was narrowed in its aspect ratio (pan and scan method) so that loads of gorgeous detail went missing. Now the film is restored to its wider than widescreen ratio of 2.55:1 If you hate black bars on the TV, they've never been bigger. But try projecting this film if you have a Full HD projector and you will be stunned by the glorious sweep of the film in its native aspect ratio.

The soundtrack reworked from original 1.0 to a new 7.1 HD soundtrack is fairly good, but not as good as the sound effects to be heard on the menu.

If your child is receptive to the relaxed, princessy world of older Disney classics this is a sure-fire hit. Adults will likely admire the historic, cinematic beauty, while occasionally hankering after the hipper family treats of Pixar & co.

Sleeping Beauty - Blu Ray
Bought this, as 2 year old had damaged the DVD we had by trying to fit it into the VCR. Picture is SO much better - digitally re-worked making it brighter, particularly the backgrounds; this also makes it easier to watch. It's also been re-sized to fit wide-screen, giving more detail around the edges. Completely recommended.

Addendum
Both my children (ages 2 and a half and almost 4) love this, and have regularly asked to watch it during the last 6 months or more. They love the princess, the singing and the "red dress, blue dress" scenes. Occasionally they want reassurance when "the Naughty lady" comes on, but are happier now we've taught them to do pantomime BOOs as loud as possible whenever she appears.
Still thoroughly recommended!