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Sleeping Beauty
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00:48
Sleeping Beauty
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- 1958
- Clyde Geronimi
- 72 mins
- U
Summary
Animated Disney fantasy based on the classic tale. Evil witch Maleficent puts a curse on young Princess Aurora, declaring that before she is 16 she will prick her finger and die. In a desperate attempt to save her life, the King puts his daughter in the care of three fairies.
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Review
A star rating of 4 out of 5.
Andrew Collins
Based on Charles Perrault's enduring fairy tale, this was Disney's most expensive cartoon to date, costing $6 million and taking ten years to make. It was an ambitious project that made use of the latest technology and state-of-the-art rotoscoping (that is, creating the character by tracing the filmed actions of real people), and the score, based on Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty ballet, was Oscar-nominated. Technical wizardry apart, it's the supporting characters that make the difference, in this case the trio of plump guardians Flora, Fauna and Merryweather, and iconic villainess Maleficent the wicked fairy. Highlights include the suspenseful scene in which Aurora is led in a trance to the fateful spinning wheel, plus the battle royal between Maleficent and Prince Phillip - one of Disney's best climaxes. Despite its many charms and technical mastery it barely made its money back at the box office in 1959, but has since been re-evaluated by successive audiences.
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7.2/10
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Credits
Cast
rolenamePrincess AuroraMary CostaPrince PhillipBill ShirleyFloraVerna FeltonFaunaBarbara Jo AllenMerryweatherBarbara LuddyMaleficentEleanor AudleyKing StefanTaylor HolmesKing HubertBill ThompsonGoonsCandy Candido
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Crew
rolenameDirectorClyde GeronimiDirectorEric LarsonDirectorWolfgang ReithermanDirectorLes Clark
Details
Released on
1960-08-16
Languages
English
Available on
video, DVD and Blu-ray
Formats
Colour
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