Welcome back to the Randomizer one and all.
So...I've been thinking (as ever) of doing another film
review since my Gay Purr-ee one in April, in fact possibly starting another blog
to review films specifically. Of course due to other plans and slight amounts
of procrastination getting in the way, it hasn't happened. Yet. (Warning
procrastination includes possibly not doing film reviews on the fly. Many
apologies for the inconvenience). Today however, you'll just have to live with
me doing a film review every once in a while.
As some of you may have seen, I have been going on through a
Disney phase as of late.
Yep, I have been hording Disney films like the plague. Ever
since I saw Frozen, I have been watching all sorts of Disney films from The Lion
King to The Black Cauldron.....watch that film just the once, it's was just a
disappointment. I can only promise you that much. It has been a fascinating
experience to go through, seeing films I haven't seen in so long and finally
watching films all the way through. The Hunchback of Notre Dame was one I was
quite enthralled in as a child, still being one of my favourite Disney films of
all time. Fantasia too is still a firm good film despite it tiring me out and
not so enduring to me.
But those films won't be the focus of this review. The film
I intend to review is this.
Sleeping Beauty. Why? Hey what else can I talk about on a night
besides ripping apart your childhood films with great ease? I already did that
to my brother, and now he's a crying wreck! But also and probably more
importantly there is a certain fascination I have with the film, after watching
it twice. Well it is one of Disney's classic films after all. Released in 1959
after almost a decade in production and based on the historic fairy tale by
Charles Perrault (whom you might remember I talked about in my Fantasy for
Children? Article last year), it is considered one of the best films released
when Walt Disney was alive, with a current Rotten Tomatoes rating of 91 per
cent, and an IMDB rating of 7.4.
Until I watched it, and...well this is what the review is
for. I make no apologies and promises of insurances if you all at some point
cry. Sorry Alice Beadle, I know you love Disney, but this has to be done, for
the sake of all humanity. So without further ado, here is thus my review of
Sleeping Beauty. I would say spoilers at some point, but I'm sure you all have
seen it at some point in your lives. If you haven't....why?
-------------------------------------------
5 Star Review
-Story
-Animation
-Voice Acting
-Writing
-Music
---------------------------------------
·
Story
The story as per the fairy story
book seen in some Disney films, follows the three faeries Flora, Fauna and
Merryweather as they come to the castle of King Stefan and Queen Leah (that's
not made up, it is her real name. Never mentioned in the film though) to
celebrate the long awaited birth of their daughter Aurora. However, one
particular EVIL fairy called Maleficent who was forgotten/snubbed is pissed at
not being invited and gives them her own special gift: death on her 16th
birthday when she pricks her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel.
However, Merryweather uses a gift of her own to change the outcome: putting her
to sleep instead. Knowing that Maleficent will find a way around their plans
somehow, they disguise themselves as peasants and hide Aurora away for the 16
years.
Maleficent sends her raven Diablo
to find her after her minions fail after searching cradles in that 16 year
period. Aurora now named Briar Rose is sent out on her birthday to collect
berries, while the three faeries prepare a dress and cake for the occasion.
Aurora/Rose talks with some animal friends how she tricked the faeries how
she's met a prince who will take her in his arms, and then she wakes up. As she
dances with them, an actual Prince called Phillip begins to dance with her and
they start to fall in love. However, the faeries (who used magic to sort their
problems out when they screw up the dress and cake) say she is a princess and
already betrothed. Whoops.
They take her back to the castle
at sundown and give her a crown, but Maleficent (thanks to Diablo seeing the
magic) manages to succeed in her plan, and even takes Prince Phillip later on.
The faeries send the castle inhabitants to sleep, and go to Maleficent's castle
to save Phillip. Despite Maleficent blocking his every move and turning into a
dragon, Phillip kills her and kisses Aurora. Everyone in the castle wakes up
and they all lived happily ever after.....until I came in.
I'll try to get the bad points out
of the way first so that I have something happy to end on to make sure you all
don't hunt me down.
The faeries...bug me. It's a
bother that for all their innocence and good hearted-nature, they are not
intelligent, especially in the middle of the film. I think it won't have escaped
your mind for certain either. In the 16 year period they look after Aurora,
they don't learn how to make a dress or a cake. Umm....I made a pizza in the
shape of a dragon when I was 12, and that was 13 years ago. Just saying. In
addition, they say she is betrothed already, though do fail to mention anything
about Maleficent in anyway. That's....stupid. Be wide-eyed and innocent if you
must, but at least show decorum for thinking other then planning.
Oh dear...there's no need to be rude you know!
Prince Phillip is creepy. Yeah,
just throwing it out there, he is creepy. Not only does he dance with Aurora
upon seeing her and being her 'once upon a dream', but he decides he's going to
marry her not realising who she really is. Yes, that's the sign of true love
alright. Lust before love kids! Interestingly I like to think he gets it from
his father King Hubert, who looks as if he's drunk but it seems like he can
hold his drink well and in fact a pompous arse.
His match.com profile includes hobbies as: Horse splashing, sword fighting and cock swinging
Aurora (not the main character)
isn't much a character as much as she is more of a goal. She wishes for a
prince, she gets it. She pricks her finger, Maleficent wins. She is kissed to
be brought back to life, everybody else wins. For someone who is meant to be
one of the main Disney princesses and part of the franchise, she hardly left
that much of an impression on me, just a plot point for people to get their
paws on. Something like a heist movie so to speak. Also falling for Prince
Phillip doesn't really help matters, because love at first sight. Duh. You'd be
hard-pressed to find something good to really say about Aurora in a character
trait. Just a bore.
deeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrpppppppppppppppppppppppp
Now for the good stuff, and sadly
it's far and few in between. The only real characters I do like are King Stefan
and Maleficent. Stefan is probably one of the most rounded characters in the
whole story, despite being on-screen for around 10 minutes or bit more. He's worried
about his daughter and not taking any chances to destroy every spinning wheel,
and even being sensible about the prospect of marriage. Fair enough to me!
Maleficent is starting to grow on
me as a villain. Her motivations aren't very strong for being snubbed off to
start with, but as the film carries on the ways she comes up with for revenge
are good. Her end plan is genius with a hint of vengeance, allowing Phillip to
leave only after 100 years have passed, while Aurora remains young in endless
sleep in an attempt to prove that "true love conquers all". To be
honest, I found myself liking her a lot more than any other character, even
supporting her at different moments. I think a lot of people will feel the same
way as I do, though there might be a point that all the other characters are simply
so off-putting, and she's the only thing to really care about. In fact, she is
more intelligent than all the others combined! Also she turns into a dragon. I
like dragons. There is one little nitpick. When she brings up the thorns around
the castle, wouldn't it have helped if they could move? Blocking Phillip more?
I don't know. All things considered, she is one of the best villains that I have
seen on-screen in a Disney film ever.
Elegance, thy name is AWESOME!
Most of the action parts really
take place right at the end, and it is good. It's more worth talking about in
the animation section, but in a plotting sense, it helps create some tension.
Maleficent never gives up in any sense of the phrase, still battering Phillip
with all she has, yet Phillip and the faeries still put up a decent match for
her (more the latter then the former). It is a good sequence to get into, sadly
we all know what happens at the end. Everyone dies.....or at least that's how
George R.R. Martin would have done it.
So as far as story goes it's not
terrible, but it is certainly flawed. The characters aren't likable very much,
bar King Stefan and Maleficent, because they're just very underdeveloped. You
could make an argument that this was made for a very young audience in mind,
like 5+. But for older kids and adults, there's nothing much of value to talk
about in terms of story, just more of how awesome Maleficent is.
One interesting thing you could
say is that it's an emotional experience, like you see what appeals to your
emotional side and no logic plays a part in it at all. Sleeping Beauty however,
doesn't exactly fall into that category, for me at least. It may have some
things that appeal to emotional senses, like the "love story" and a
pure villain, and many other parts you can easily match up to how you want to
feel about it. But as a personal preference, even trying to feel the emotion
when thinking about Phillip and Aurora, I still get an idea of creepiness. To
be honest, I laughed at it the first time on re-watching it a few weeks ago.
That probably says something about the film, and it's not a good sign.
Story: no star
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
·
Animation
In contrast to other Disney films
from the 40s and early 50s, Sleeping Beauty had a unique flavour of more
stylised and sharper animation, though retaining some wide-eyed softness to it.
Medieval Tapestry
With medieval inspiration, the
visual cues are quite bright and vivid so you can see how they melt into each
other and mix nicely. However the picture itself is somewhat darkened, making
the medieval world blacker and thus also more colourful in a strange way. Most
of the backgrounds are very pointed and finely drawn, with little features
dotted all around e.g. The forest scenes have branches that twist around like a
spider's web and go upwards. Maleficent's castle has some diamonds drawn onto
her throne which look rather suspiciously like dragon scales....hmmm. The
visual cues don't look grating at all, giving the world a pretty look. I don't
remember anything specific that really stood out in particular, just that it
can look pretty and really purposely grimy at the same time.
As the three faeries give Aurora
special gifts (or ego boosters), the animation changes to a wavy style, with
use of paper-drawn birds and flowers that give a certain edge, and give another
unique blend in the appearance of spells. Again, I don't think they're
impressive as they can be, but I do find the spirals at the beginning really
well done. In one weird way, they might be seen as a certain godlike power,
transcending the boundaries of time and space. Perhaps they are.
Peter Capaldi will be having words for certain
Perhaps the biggest crime the film
has is that despite the interesting colours and whatnot, nothing seems that
spectacular about it. As a short film running at 75 minutes or roundabout,
there was so little that really popped out for me, probably because everything
seemed quite simple. It's not like I'm expecting something fantastic to come
out from it, I just think that it could have been something more better,
instead of just safe.
But the animated bits I do like
are some of the action pieces. They're just done brilliantly at a well-balanced
pace and allow for a good climax, although one shot of Phillip swinging his
sword around like a lunatic always makes me laugh, but that's just a little nitpick.
The way the lightning strikes is drawn beautifully as it hits the boulders and
the castle, and the way Maleficent brings up her greatest power is very nice to
watch as she just explodes into a fire breathing monster. Some of the designs of the characters too I
like. Maleficent is a really good design of purest evil, along with her dragon
form. The faeries designs were nice to have separate colours, and different
faces, but nothing so unique about them. King Stefan balanced out nicely with
gold and black, and King Hubert obviously has style in red and orange, so at
least you can make them out easily. I will admit too, Aurora's dress is pretty
to look at too, so as a princess that's a given.
Thinking about it more, this film
is more or less geared for younger kids, and the animation is more of a
first-Disney film to watch before it can be chucked away with they're old
enough. I suppose it's not really meant to be for adults in that respect
because it's simple, but there are a few things I like from it, even if they
are few and in-between. So I'm not going
to knock it easily, but it's definitely hit-and-miss.
(Interesting bit of trivia, Chuck
Jones was also involved in some of the animated sequences in 1953, however
uncredited for his work when Warner Bros. had shut down their animation studio
for a while)
Animation = half a star *
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
·
Voice
Acting
The voice acting for the most part
is pretty good. I can't remember any one particular voice that sounded terrible
or bad at any point, just good for the most part.
Eleanor Audrey plays Maleficent
(more praise!) to such great form. You can practically hear the emotion
dripping from her as she can go from subtle to explosive all in the space of a
second and when you properly listen to her, you can really listen to the voice
seeping in your ear, hearing the almost diabolical tone set in your mind to
replace sweet nothings in your head. I know it's all praise and hardly much
problems with her at all, but there is something that just set Maleficent apart
from all the others. Everything about her is almost done to perfection.
Aurora and Phillip, not so much. I
don't remember them being too much of a bother, but really hearing them just
feels...meh. Especially where Phillip is concerned. To me, Bill Shirley who
played him doesn't sound right, and didn't really sound like he's THAT sorry
after trying to join her in singing and dancing. Mary Costa as Aurora does sound
nice in a meekish sort of way, but I'm not sure there's anything else to it.
Just plain nice and not very playful. By the way, have you ever noticed that
Aurora and Phillip never speak again after 38 minutes for the former, and only 6
minutes for the latter after. Aurora doesn't need that much a reason. She is
put to sleep after all. Phillip...I prefer to think Maleficent cut his tongue
out or something. Thank god!
Just hold him gently my pets...his voice will annoy you no longer soon enough.
The others voices are good in
their own right. The actresses who play the faeries: Vera Felton (Flora),
Barbara Jo Allen (Fauna) and Barbara Luddy (Merryweather) are pretty good at
delivering the right amount of intelligence and innocence in their sound, more
innocent of course with the characters. But again it's nothing really to get
invested into too much. They're not perfect, but they do the job well. King
Hubert and King Stefan are good too, but again nothing much to rave about. Bill
Thompson as Hubert plays the blustering fool to good effect, cocky and very
confident. Taylor Holmes in his final role as King Stefan plays an effective
worrier, yet able to retain a coolness in his personality, someone who doesn't
take things too lightly. He is one of the best side characters in the film. Yet
I still have the feeling the voices are just serviceable. No more, no less. The
actors and actresses don't necessarily make the roles their own, and so memorable
to me. I hear the emotions coming out, but maybe there's nothing so...unique
about it.
In the end, Maleficent is only
more memorable because it felt more right to me than the others did, and it
still grows on me. That is a personal preference however, and I'm sure many
people will disagree with me about this. The voice acting isn't bad at all, but
I don't really remember anything else feeling as powerful as Eleanor Audrey or
perhaps Taylor Holmes. It's serviceable for a serviceable film, and that's the
only thing I can take away from this film at best.
Voice Acting = half a star *
-----------------------------------------------------------
·
Writing
The writing is a bit more
interesting in respects to some little features, pacing and dialogue.
I want to talk about the history
side of things first, yet as some of us will know, Disney's changing of history
can be controversial to say the least (especially where Pocahontus is
concerned). I will however give Sleeping Beauty the benefit of the doubt here
because it is a fantasy picture with historical elements, and it is Disney
after all. It's not for a line that Prince Phillip says to his father that he
is going to marry a peasant girl and that: "This is the 14th century".
Obviously it's a modern bit of dialogue, but I just laugh at it mainly because
I like my history. If I wanted to be more cynical I would say: 'Well say this
is the 20th century in the Deep South of America, I'm sure good old
white folk will be much nicer to them black folk there once they realise their
mistake!'.
But there was one little bit of
detail that did interest me, historically wise. When King Stefan and King
Hubert are drinking a toast to the children's home, Stefan says this line: 'One
grander by far, than a palace in Rome'. That might not have much significance,
except for the fact that all around the castle on the walls and tapestry, there
is drawn a two-headed black eagle with a crown on its head on a golden background.
That is the banner of the Holy Roman Empire and its Emperor, and the Empire's
biggest territory was in Germany, always in conflict with the Pope in Rome. Now
isn't that interesting? You have to give Disney props for their noting of
historical detail in interesting little bits...except for a point that the two
headed eagle as a banner didn't come in until the early 15th
century, so I have to knock off a point for that, but other than that I'm not
going to complain much.
Such is the way of detail.
Another bit that should be noted
is the little nods to the original story. Aurora is taken away and given the
name Briar Rose, you remember? Well, as it turns out Aurora and Briar Rose were
taken from the original French and German names of the character in the story,
Aurora from the original French writer Charles Perrault, and Briar Rose from
the famous Brothers Grimm. Again, props to Disney for that.
The actual writing side doesn't always
bring something creative, at least to my mind, however for some gems of
dialogue. First, the faeries thinking out their plan on what to do about the
curse, ending up with trying to keep her safe, and second is Maleficent's
speech about how Phillip will hold his head up high as he goes to kiss Aurora,
even though he will be over 100 years old by the time he is released, or even
dead. Matching those words with the visual of him riding his horse slowly adds
to Maleficent's drooling evilness as she teases him, without mercy. It sounds
like this film was only made with Maleficent in mind! Yet, the writing isn't
always that great, making the faeries look perfectly naive when they should be MORE
intelligent in their own right.
The pacing of the film does flow
well despite all the plot holes in existence. Whenever I have watched it,
everything feels in place and nothing is drawn out or too small. Everything
snugly fits in the running time, even the romance between Aurora and Phillip.
Maybe that's just clever editing, or they are not as thoughtful as they might
be, but I will not knock it too much because it is Disney. Their romances are
like a weekend away to a different part of the world, boy meets girl on Friday,
they come together on Saturday, and finally kiss on Sunday, or perhaps in the
real world, have sex. Makes sense.
I won't say the writing is SO
horrible, because I really don't think it's as strong as it could have been.
But there are some real good bits of dialogue, and how it flowed almost to
perfection. It is a missed opportunity to make it competent and perhaps a
little more funny than it was, and I can accept that as it is.
Writing = half a star*
------------------------------------------------------------
·
Music
Oooooh....yay. Where I start with
these songs? They.....aren't that bad. You thought I was gonna hate them didn't
you? HA!
The one that does get stuck in my
head is the 'Hail to the Princess Aurora' song at the beginning of the film.
That song is so annoying addictive to settle in your mind because of the tune,
but I have no other qualms with it. It is very bombastic and catches the tone
of the moment as everyone comes out to celebrate Aurora's birth, with use of
the violins and trumpets and drummer boys and joyful singers, even bells
ringing in there somewhere. It's exactly the kind of thing you would expect to
hear, more so than our royal family today.
Another piece I want to talk about
is something that crops up whenever Maleficent is on-screen from time to time,
a little tune that goes: 'do-doo-do-DOOOOO!' I'm calling it 'Maleficent's
theme' because it is essentially hers and quite interesting, because it is playful
in a strange way, yet dangerous. It matches her personality quite well, a sound
that makes you feel uncomfortable and haunts you, allowing finally for an
evil presence to chill you too. That's how Maleficent works in a way, because
she is a jokey character with an edge of danger moving through her veins. It is
essentially perfect.
But the most popular song from the
actual film is 'Once Upon a Dream' performed by the two lead actors Mary Costa
and Bill Shirley (I say leads, they're not really). It is a pretty good fantasy
ballad, playing on the dreams of Aurora, using softer instruments this time
(though I'm not sure what they are). Despite the feeling I get when both of
them do the speaking parts, I do think they are very good singers, as they do
gel with each other as they sing together. That's probably why they were
chosen, because they were good singers more than when they are talking. The
lyrics are ok too, giving a nice sense of fantasy to Aurora's mind as she
dreams of a prince to take her in his arms. It won't grow to me so much I
think, not because it's forced but because it's just good. Not a great song, but
certainly not the worst.
DISNEY COMMANDS YOU!
The final battle between Phillip
and Maleficent has some of the best music at their disposal, using quick
drumming, trumpets and clashing of symbols to create a crashing atmosphere of
battle between the two. It gets better as the scenes moves, becoming more epic
and bombastic, so you can hear the great power that Maleficent has as she turns
into a dragon at the end, and finally the final drumming as thus only remains
her cape and sword plunged into the ground. It's one of the best music in a Disney
film I have heard so far.
Just a flesh wound
The musical score was nominated
for an Oscar, and I think you can hear why. It achieves a good balance of the
right tones for the right moments in a flawed film. It doesn't necessarily save
it for me, but it is enjoyable to listen to. It builds up the tension, gives a
good deal of whimsy to some of the comedic moments, and is probably worth the
listen to in your spare time. It's one of the few things that didn't
disappoint.
Music = one full star *
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
·
Final
Thoughts...
Sleeping Beauty is not a standard
Disney classic in my eyes. Despite the few good things it has in it, it is a
flawed film with some silly moments, daft characters and a story that really
needed to be worked on more before it even got to the animation stage.
BUT, I don't think it really a
film for me, it is a film for younger kids and I get that. The story isn't so
complicated to get into, yet it is something that can be messy, swept under the
carpet so no-one can notice the mistakes shown on-screen. Whether younger kids
will notice any mistakes on-screen, I don't know. The faeries are one of the
biggest flaws on-screen, and it bugs me how too innocent they are, TOO
innocent. There's a difference between innocence and idiocy, and I think it's
more of the latter. The animation, voice acting and writing are not perfect by
any standard, but there are a few gems to at least keep one's attention while
watching. The music is one of the few awesome things that can keep your
attention, and give you something to appreciate more than the other stuff
really ever could.
If there are any other adults who
love Sleeping Beauty, more power to you. I think it's not one I'd want to come back
to so often. It's not a terrible film by any means, but the flaws it has can be
very glaring, for me at least. So thus Sleeping Beauty can go back into the DVD
pile to remain and sleep, and I ain't kissing it anytime soon.
By the way Maleficent is
awesome. That's it. I think I've praised her enough!
Shut up baby I know it!
FINAL
RATING:
2.5
*
HALF
AND HALF
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That's it for September! Next
month, I might do a Halloween Special.....or not. Whatever floats my boat. See
you all very soon!
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