The best work Disney EVER did....

I re-watched Sleeping Beauty this weekend for the first time in years...I've been a critic of the recent Disney attempts to regain their former glory, and I needed some affirmation that the glory was EVER there. This film put those fears to rest. "Sleeping Beauty" is indeed a Masterpiece. Every part of the film is the epitome of animated storytelling.

The story is at its most basic a tale of good versus evil, and all parts of the film grow from that dichotomy. Light versus darkness, Love versus hate, Beauty versus...well, ugliness I suppose, although Maleficent is strangely appealing. If you watch the film looking for that subtext, it becomes more and more apparent.

We all know the plot by heart, so I won't go too far into that, but the true beauty of the film (besides Aurora) is the manner in which it is told. The very stylized world inhabited by the characters separates us from our own world and our own cares, while still being beautiful and artful. I don't know which I'd rather live in: King Stefan's castle (modeled after Neuschwanstein in Bavaria) or Briar Rose's forest cottage. Both are beautiful, and fire the imagination. The forest itself is amazing, but not as distracting as the angles of "Pocahontas" (which tried, and failed, to recapture the beauty of "SB") ....kind of a 1950's "Better Homes and Gardens" forest. Beautifully done.

Something "Sleeping Beauty" did so well, that hasn't worked in many Disney films since then, was a truly EVIL villain. In too many of Disney's current offerings, there are comic sidekicks or pratfalls which undermine the evil of the villain, believing perhaps that children too young for the films will be afraid of the villain. You're SUPPOSED TO BE AFRAID of the villain! I think only Snow White, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty have really succeeded with this; In the 1990s, we had some great opportunities, with Beauty and the Beast's Gaston, Aladdin's Jafar, Lion King's Scar...all of them were undermined by adding comic sidekicks for comic relief. Unnecessary. If you want to see the true face of evil, watch Sleeping Beauty.

A beautiful film, Disney's Pinnacle. Buy it. Watch it. Cherish it.