Once Upon A Disney #16: Sleeping Beauty

Can you believe it? We've made it to the final Disney animated film of the '50s. It's been a ride, to say the least, but we're definitely ending on a high, with the incomparable...

Sleeping Beauty (1959) 

You can almost smell the musty stench 

This is probably the film I've most looked forward to watching in the challenge so far. It's a firm favourite of mine and my family's growing up, being a quintessential Princess film with a bit of everything. A magical kingdom, adorable fairies, a beautiful princess and dashing prince, a sassy horse, an even sassier evil fairy, drunken squires – the lot.

From the moment the credits begin, we start to get transported into a dreamlike world, with a wonderfully romantic score inspired by Tchaikovsky's ballet of the same name. As the ornate storybook opens to a narrator introducing the familiar fairytale, we can sit back like a child going to the ballet for the first time, both excited and comforted.

The pilot show of 'Flirty Dancing'  

For a film made over 20 years after Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Sleeping Beauty might seem surprisingly traditional at first, leaning into a medieval setting and a story of true love's kiss. This could have been a reason it didn't perform very well at the box office when it was released. However, as soon as you look past the surface, you can see that the movie is far more rich and sophisticated than its princess predecessors.

When the shops have run out of eggs

The vibrant colours and angular features of the background characters and scenery (it is apparently the only Disney film with square trees) are a clever style choice. Like Disney's much later film Hercules, it borrows from the art trend of the time (medieval in this case) and pastiches it to bring pages of a historical tome to colourful life.

Check out that plumage

Like the design, the characters of Sleeping Beauty are true to a traditional fairytale, but show glimmers of the contemporary. No more so than the three fairies who are tasked to turn mortal in order to raise Aurora in the forest – the best part of the film, in my opinion. Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather don medieval outfits and leave balletic trails of fairy dust as they cast enchantments on the young princess, later dwelling in a quaint cottage that wouldn't be out of place in Snow White. However, we love them because they are, in essence, three over-indulgent aunties. The scenes where they bicker among themselves and spectacularly fail at making a dress and a birthday cake are the most enjoyable in the film, and would never have happened back in the earnest 1930s.

And you thought Beyoncé invented the booty shake

Similarly, Maleficent – who is, inarguably, terrifying – can drop a deadly enchantment just as well as an acidic one-liner ('A disgrace to the forces of evil.') Aurora's father King Stefan is a stoic ruler, but he can also down a bottle of wine with the rest of them (especially that lute player), while the dashing Prince is as noble as he is an indignant teenager, chiding his dad to get with the times – 'this is the 14th century.' Aurora's impossibly mature singing voice as she waltzes through the forest is soon stifled when she can't go out with the lad from the park and sulks on her bed.

'So the thing is, men are just naturally better comedians' 

The balance of magic and humour, as well as the rich world of the film – created through the beautiful Tchaikovsky-inspired score that runs throughout, and the intricately painted scenery – make Sleeping Beauty a joy to watch from start to finish. 

Best Song: For a film with such a rich musical score, there aren't many actual 'songs' at all – for that reason, the iconic 'Once Upon A Dream,' brilliantly Disney-fying Tchaikovsky's iconic waltz, has to take the crown.

Disney Detail: The fairies provide a couple of references to Disney's iconic mouse – at one point they eat biscuits in the shape of Mickey's head, and when they resort to magic to clean the cottage, the enchanted mop looks very reminiscent of the 'Sorcerer's Apprentice' section of Fantasia.

Why it's a Classic: Sleeping Beauty is the perfect marriage of ornate, magical fairytale tradition, and modern humour & style. From the storybook opening to the fairies, castles, singing woodland animals and a truly frightening (yet droll) villain, it feels like the closest we come to the comforting escapism that Walt was aiming for all along. It's no surprise that the story and setting served as a key inspiration for the development of Disneyland, the ultimate fairytale playground.