Sleeping Beauty

DISCLAIMER: This blog is not for profit. I do not claim ownership of this material- all images and footage used are property of their respective companies unless stated otherwise.

                                                    

                                                  

Of all the ‘classic’ Princess films covered so far, this one is by far the best. I implied in my Lady and the Tramp review that Philip and Aurora are incredibly dull and to be honest they are- but the film more than makes up for it with great protagonists (I’ll get to that point in a minute), one of the greatest villains in the entire canon, a lovely use of classical music and animation so good it almost sank the studio, as its $6 million budget was essentially too high for it to ever make much money back.

That is the first thing to talk about- from an artistic perspective, this film is wonderful. It has a unique and beautiful art style unlike anything seen previously and this combined with the music based on the famous ballet gives it the lovely classical feel of Cinderella tenfold.

Maleficent is also one of the greatest Disney villains of all time- there is just something in her design combined with Eleanor Audley’s cold yet powerful vocal performance that makes her fantastic to watch.

I mentioned this before, but Aroura herself is one of the weakest Disney Princesses, as this was really a time before they had personalities, with the possible exception of Cinderella. She does have more dialogue than people give her credit for, but none of it is really worth much- just the stereotypical ‘someday my prince will come’ stuff that I have ironically spent a lot of time claiming is over exaggerated by many people, as a Disney fan. I seriously can’t wait to get to Ariel.  

Prince Phillip isn’t much better, so they don’t really have much chemistry in the two scenes they share.

But now, let’s talk about the real lead characters, the three fairies- in terms of the narrative, they are truly the protagonists, as they feature most prominently in the story as the ‘good guys’. And they all have unique personalities and are very funny throughout. And others have also pointed out that the fact that much of the plot is primarily driven by strong women does more than make up for Aroura’s lack of agency.    

Overall, Sleeping Beauty is a stunning film, which is the greatest masterpiece of the Silver Age.

Rating

Good guys: Aroura and Phillip don’t do much, but the three fairies are great characters, so that characters get 7/10

Bad guys: As I said, one of the best Disney Villains of all time, Maleficent gets 10/10

Animation: Beautiful and unique, the animation gets 10/10

Music: The use of classical music really adds to the classic fairy tale feel, so the music gets 8/10

Plot: Another great adaptation of a classic fairy tale, but with additional scenes that actually feel relevant to the plot, the story gets 7/10  

Overall Rating: 42/50

Next review: 101 Dalmatians 

Lady and the Tramp

DISCLAIMER: This blog is not for profit. I do not claim ownership of this material- all images and footage used are property of their respective companies unless stated otherwise.

On paper, Lady and the Tramp is not a film that should be as good as it is- it just sounds like a cute love story, but nothing particularly special. So what makes it such a classic?

Truly, it’s the characters and their development, particularly the two leads. Their contrasting personalities and backgrounds lead to some really great chemistry, which really does make you root for them throughout, more so than some of the blander Princes and Princesses, in spite of their species. I actually care more about Lady and the Tramp than I do, for example, Philip and Aurora in Sleeping Beauty, but that’s for the next review- I’m getting off track. The point is, the two leads carry the film really well. The smaller details added to their world are also very clever. For example, I love the fact that everything is from the dog’s perspective, at low angles- I also love the detail that Lady thinks her owners are actually called Jim Dear and Darling, because that’s what they call each other. 

The progression of the conflict, within the story in general and between the two leads, also feels very natural- none of it feels forced or added in for the sake of a plot, which also helps the story to develop well.

Both the animation and the music are beautiful. Well, one song is beautiful, but I’ll get to that in a minute. The film has that classic Silver Age look you will notice if you watch any other films from this era, including lots of artsy backgrounds and that solid look to the colours and the lines that I am personally a big fan of. As a said, there is some great music here too- Bella Notte is obviously as stunning as the iconic scene it is played over and He’s a Tramp is a lot of fun.

Overall, Lady and the Tramp took a very simple story and turned it into something beautiful and one of the best films of Disney’s Silver Age.

Rating

Good guys: Lady and Tramp are great characters with good chemistry. There are also two tiers of side characters, with the main ones, Jock and Trusty, being great together and as individual characters, whilst the characters in the pound scene are actually very bland, as well as being made up of various stereotypes, which does not help. Overall, the good guys get an 8/10

Bad guys: The rat has a scary design and is suitably sinister. However, I didn’t bring this up in the review itself, but the racist stereotypes portrayed in the cats make for some very uncomfortable viewing in 2017 and as characters they are actually really dull, so the movie gets 5/10 for Bad Guys.  

Animation: Visually, the film is very pretty, so the animation gets a 7/10  

Music: As I said in the review, Bella Notte is iconic and He’s a Tramp is a lot of fun, so the music gets 7/10

Plot: Whilst very simplistic on paper, the plot develops on a more complex level than many of its predecessors due to great characters and the natural nature of the conflict, so the plot gets a 7/10

Overall Rating: 34/50

  
Next review: Sleeping Beauty