#16 Sleeping Beauty

Title: Sleeping Beauty

Release Date: January 29th, 1959

Voice Cast: Mary Costa, Eleanor Audley, Verna Felton, Barbara Luddy

Plot: A princess is cursed to die on her sixteenth birthday, but three fairies and a prince are determined to stop this evil deed.

Review: Okay, the opening is ridiculously overcooked because of the chorus. Everything that happens, they are there singing. It's pretty redundant, and you hear "Hail Aurora!" etc over 15 times. After that though, there's a bit of a speed-up in the plot. Things happen fairly quickly for a short while.

Maleficent (Eleanor Audley, who also portrayed Lady Tremaine in Cinderella) is the epitome of evil. She has devil horns, a dark mountain lair, and her names mean "to do bad." She has no motive but to screw people over. Luckily, the fairies are the epitome of good. Fair, kind, and funnily blinded by their desire to do good deeds.

Also, Mary Costa's singing voice for Aurora is far too mature for a 16-year-old. (Costa was in her late 20s when she did this voice.) Don't get me wrong, it's beautiful, just not appropriate. In the same boat, "Once Upon A Dream" is a nice song, but it's pretty much all you hear throughout the movie. Let's bring in a change of scenery. Luckily, the film carefully avoided the mistake of including the overdone concept of woodland animal friends. Here, they have more personality, and even show some comedy by acting out the prince.

For all that's going on in this film, however, it lacks the intensity. It falls to slowness, even though the events go by fast. It's difficult to describe, but I just would have liked to have seen more effort in the dialog and action.

So overall, I can't say I disliked the film. It just didn't do too much for me.

Hakuna Matata (It Means 'No Worries')