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Sleeping Beauty (Two-Disc Platinum Edition)


Directed by
   Clyde Geronimi




Authentic U.S. Region 1
U.S. Factory Sealed
Free Shipping

Genre: Fantasy

Plot Outline:
     Awaken your senses to the majesty of Sleeping Beauty, Walt Disney's classic fairy tale. See more than you've ever seen before through the magic of state-of-the-art technology, and experience this groundbreaking film restored beyond its original brilliance, in the way Walt envisioned it pristine, beautiful, utterly breathtaking. SLEEPING BEAUTY will transform your home into a fantastic world your family will want to experience again and again.In the original story, Princess Aurora sleeps for 100 years before being awakened by a prince's kiss. In the Disney version, Prince Philip comes to her rescue much sooner. George Brun's orchestral score, which was nominated for an Academy Award, expertly blended famous themes from Tchaikovsky's ballet. With a budget that exceeded $6 million in 1959, this was Walt Disney's most lavish and expensive animated feature to date. Determined to make the characters as realistic as possible, Disney had a live action film shot with actors posing as Sleeping Beauty, the Prince, and Maleficent, for the animators to use. New York Times critic Bosley Crowther called the fight between Prince Philip and Maleficent the noisiest and scariest go-round he (Disney) has ever put into one of his films.All-New Digital Restoration With Enhanced Picture And Sound All-New 5.1 Disney Enhanced Home Theater Surround Sound All-New Once Upon A Dream Music Video, Performed By Hanna Montana's Emily Osment Sleeping Beauty Castle Walkthrough A Fully Immersive Virtual Tour All-New Enhanced Dance Game With Help From Briar Rose's Forest Friends, You Can Learn How To Dance Never-Before-Seen Alternate Opening Deleted Songs All-New Making Of Sleeping Beauty Featurette And Much, Much More.

      Disney's 1959 animated effort was the studio's most ambitious to date, a widescreen spectacle boasting a gorgeous waltz-filled score adapting 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 16th birthday. This, of course, would deny her a happily-ever-after with her true love. Things almost but not quite turn out that way, thanks to the assistance of some bubbly, bumbling fairies named Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather. 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. And Malificent's castle, filled with warthogs and demonic imps in a macabre dance celebrating their evil ways, manages a certain creepy grandeur.

     "Sleeping Beauty" was the last and most lavish of Walt Disney's animated fairy tales. He told the artists not to hurry and to give him "a moving illustration": The film required almost four and one-half years and one million finished drawings. Instead of the 19th century storybook illustrations that had influenced the look of "Snow White" and "Pinocchio", the artists adapted the flattened perspective and jewel-like colors of 15th century French illuminated manuscripts. The results remain unmatched for sheer visual opulence.


Season:

Cast Summary:
  Mary Costa
  Bill Shirley
  Eleanor Audley
  Verna Felton
  Barbara Luddy

Studio: Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment
DVD Release Date: 2008-10-07

Runtime: 75

Country: USA

Language: English  English  French  Spanish 

Region: Region 1 encoding (US and Canada)

Format: AC-3  Animated  Color  Dolby  Dubbed  DVD  NTSC  Restored  Special Edition  Subtitled  Widescreen 

Number of discs: 2

Aspect Ratio: 2.55:1

Comment:

     I vividly remember the release of Sleeping Beauty. I was old enough to go see it myself - just barely. There I was sitting way up front eating my popcorn and all of a sudden this spectacular dragon materialized right before my eyes. Popcorn forgotten, I was hooked. Cartoons never looked the same to me, and I spent the rest of my life inhaling fantasy and science fiction on a quest for the same thrill.

Animation has changed quite a bit in the ensuing years, but even today Sleeping Beauty is a towering achievement. Now I'm more sensitive to the tricks of the art and can see the masterful use of perspective that made the scenes leap out at you. When I first picked up this DVD I half expected to be disappointed, to find it really wasn't so glorious in retrospect. This is hardly the case - this film is just as vibrant and alive as it was in 1959.

The added dimension now is that I can see how Disney's work was a formative influence on animation even today. Artist/Directors like Miyazaki owe much to this film and its predecessor Snow White. And they freely admit it. As a production, Sleeping Beauty created a sense of legitimacy for animation that proved that high quality animation was something well beyond the Saturday morning funnies.

Disney took a great risk when creating this film, pouring a tremendous amount of resources in making it something as perfect as was possible for his time. While the studio reaped the financial benefits, the audience was the real winner, as a whole genre exploded before our eyes. Even now, with anime rapidly becoming a force to be reckoned with, this film stands out for story, art, and music.

The additional features, especially those that retell the making of the film, are excellent as well. All captures in fine detail on this DVD. This is a must see for anyone who still loves a fairy tale.


     Tons of extrasI am a big fan of extra features... and this has it. I loved the feature of having some art fill the black on the screen while it was playing. The Blu-ray also has the option of leaving messages to loved ones or communicating while watching the movie with a family member who is also watching it. I haven't used this feature but I can only assume it would be exciting. I love the extra features this has. The whole story behind how they built the Sleeping Beauty attraction in Disneyland Resort was Awesome! You can't beat having two of a good thing.  If your even a little fan, you'll enjoy it. Worth it on BRSo much clearer and the sound is definately way better. The kids will love it either way!!!!  It is new and factory sealed as stated in the description and it arrived quickly. Thank you for the great service. STUNNING AUDIO AND VISUALS Disney was passionate about the restoration of this movie. But the audio is simply astounding. Disney wanted the best audio possible for this film, and it was recorded in Germany (the vocals were done in the US) The original recordings of the orchestration still exist, remarkably, and were incorporated with a 'cleaned up' voice and effect track. The result puts almost all modern day soundtracks to shame. The Master Audio soundtrack is rich, sonorous, noiseless, and VERY high fidelity... and in 'living stereo' On a good set of electrostatic loudspeakers (my reference monitors) the audio has to be heard to be believed... As for the movie itself..forget the kids, every frame is a masterpiece. This is art!... for adults!!