Sleeping Beauty (1959)
Based on the 1697 fairy tale Sleeping Beauty by Charles Perrault.
Intro song (“Main Title / One Upon A Dream / Prologue”). After several years of having no children, the rulers of a European kingdom, King Stefan and Queen Leah welcome the birth of their daughter, Princess Aurora (“Hail to the Princess Aurora”). They proclaim a holiday for their subjects to pay homage to the princess, and at her christening she is betrothed to Prince Phillip, the son of King Stefan's friend King Hubert, to unite their kingdoms.
Among the guests are the three good fairies, Flora, Fauna and Merryweather. Flora and Fauna bless Aurora with beauty and song (“The Gifts of Beauty and Song”), respectively, but Merryweather's gift is interrupted by the arrival of an evil fairy Maleficent. As revenge for not being invited, she curses Aurora, proclaiming that the princess will grow in grace and beauty, but before the sun sets on her sixteenth birthday, she will prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and die. Since her magic is no stronger than Maleficent's to undo the curse, Merryweather uses her blessing to weaken the curse so that instead of dying, Aurora will fall into a deep sleep, only broken by “true love's kiss” (“True Love Conquers All”). King Stefan orders all spinning wheels throughout the kingdom be burned. At the fairies' urging, King Stefan and Queen Leah reluctantly take Aurora to a cottage in the forest to live with the fairies in safety.
Sixteen years later, Aurora, renamed Briar Rose, grows into a beautiful young woman. On her sixteenth birthday, the fairies ask her to gather berries while they prepare a surprise party. Aurora befriends the animals of the forest and sings them a song, (“I Wonder” & “Once Upon a Dream”). Phillip, now a handsome young man, follows Aurora's voice and is instantly struck by her beauty. She is initially frightened, as she is not allowed to talk to strangers, but she and Phillip fall in love, and she invites him to meet her family at the cottage that night.
Meanwhile, Flora and Merryweather argue over the color of Aurora's gown, attracting the attention of Maleficent's raven, Diablo, who learns Aurora's location. Returning home, Aurora is thrilled to tell her guardians that she has fallen in love. The fairies finally tell Aurora that she is a princess, already betrothed to a prince, and she must never see the man she met again. Heartbroken, Aurora cries in her room. As King Stefan and King Hubert discuss the marriage of their children (“Skumps (Drinking Song)”), Prince Phillip arrives to tell his father of the peasant girl he met and wishes to marry, in spite of his prearranged marriage. King Hubert fails to convince his son otherwise, leaving him devastated.
The fairies take Aurora to the castle to await her birthday celebrations, where she will finally see her parents. Maleficent appears and lures Aurora to a dark tower room away from the fairies, where she lures Aurora to prick her finger on a spinning wheel's spindle, fulfilling the curse. The three fairies place the now-sleeping Aurora on a bed in the highest tower and place a powerful spell on all the people in the kingdom, causing them to sleep until the spell on their princess is broken (“Sleeping Beauty”). They overhear a sleepy conversation between the two kings, and realize that Phillip is the man with whom Aurora has fallen in love. They rush to find him, but he is abducted by Maleficent and her minions at the cottage. She reveals to Phillip the enchanted princess and her plan to lock him away for a century until he is on the verge of death, then release him to meet his love, who will not have aged a single day.
The fairies rescue Phillip, arming him with the magical Sword of Truth and the Shield of Virtue. An enraged Maleficent surrounds the castle with thorns but fails to stop Phillip. She teleports in front of him and transforms into a gigantic dragon. They battle, and Phillip throws the sword, blessed by the fairies, directly into Maleficent's heart, causing her to fall to her death.
Phillip awakens Aurora with a kiss, breaking the spell and waking the kingdom. The royal couple descends to the ballroom, where Aurora is reunited with her parents. Flora and Merryweather continue their argument over Aurora's gown while the happy couple dances, living happily ever after (“Once Upon A Dream”).
TRIVIA
Visual Style
The visual art style of Sleeping Beauty was different than any previous animation before it, inspired by gothic paintings and tapestries. Eyvind Earle was given a significant amount of freedom in designing the settings and selecting colors for the film. He took his inspiration from medieval art, particularly the millefleurs style of 15th-century tapestries, which tended towards a certain flatness as well as the contemporary abstract aesthetic that was popular in cartoons during the 1950’s mainly through the works of UPA.
The castle was inspired by the Bavarian castle Neuschwanstein, which was built by King Ludwig of Bavaria in the 1860s.
Technology
Sleeping Beauty was the first Disney animated feature film to be shot with Super Technirama 70, a large-format widescreen.
Notable Scene(s)
Maleficent transforming into a dragon