VHS : Sleeping Beauty (Disney)

Rating: - Too much Tchaikovsky, not enough Disney
The movie is cute, but I have a few problems with it that ultimately made me decide not to buy it after I rented it:

1) It's too much like one of Tchaikovsky's ballets, of which I'm not much of a fan. I haven't seen his version of Sleeping Beauty (on which this was based), but I have seen his version of The Nutcracker; if you like to watch ballet, you might enjoy this one, but otherwise, no. It is not the kind of thing I would expect from a Disney movie.

2) We don't see enough of Aurora or Prince Phillip. (In fact, it seems that Aurora is better known through Disney Princess products than through the actual movie.) We see them dance together one time, and then they don't do much after that. OK, we can forgive the fact that Aurora sleeps on the job (which is really what she's doing; the original tale had her sleep for a hundered years and not meet the prince until he woke her up), because it is, after all, Sleeping Beauty. But even when Phillip is trying to rescue her, he's just a paper tiger; the fairies do all the work by releasing him from his prison, giving him a sword and shield, turning the arrows that are shot at him into flowers, etc. It's really the fairies who rescue her, while the prince gets all the credit--and no one in the movie notices this! Again, this is not what I expect to see in a Disney movie.

Still, it's interesting to watch from the point of view of a student of animation. Fans of Nintendo will notice how much the castle looks like the castle from Super Mario Bros. and how much one of Maleficent's henchmen looks like Ganon (the villain from The Legend of Zelda).

If you want a better movie with a similar concept, try Snow White. If you want one of Disney's movies from around that time, try Cinderella. My absolute favorite Disney Movie is The Little Mermaid; if you haven't already, I recommend that you buy that one instead.

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Rating: - Great movie
This was my favorite movie when I was a kid, can't wait to share it with my own now that I own it again!

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Rating: - New Release Coming OCTOBER 7, 2008!!!
Walt Disney's animated classic "Sleeping Beauty" will once again be waltzing onto dvd this Ocotber 7, 2008! Like many other Disney dvd collectors, I was unable to get the previous release, due to the short release time that it spent on the store shelf! Needless to say, I'll be pre-ordering and getting a copy of this updated release- which will no doubt be on standard dvd, HD dvd, and BluRay dvd! I will also be ready to add "Pinocchio" (1940)-release date: March 2009, "Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs"(1938)- release date: October 2009, "Fantasia" (1940) release date: November 2009, and "Beauty & The Beast" (1991) release date: October 2010, to my Disney dvd collection! As we all know "release dates" are ALWAYS subject to change at the whim of a Disney executive!

Disney fans who haven't already got, or would just like to have an extra copy- should grab their copies of "Cinderella" (1950) and "Aladdin" (1992), as well as their sequels- for they're on their way back to the vault!

Release dates on Disney titles were obtained from HermanStreet.com

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Rating: - poor quality
I had a suspicion when I saw this product that it was a pirated version, and once I received it, I'm pretty sure it is. The quality of the dvd is poor...after the first viewing, it pixelates constantly in the beginning or just doesn't play at all. I should have trusted my first instinct and not purchased this dvd, especially considering how much it cost.

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Rating: - Perfect for Little Girls
My 5 year old has been wanting Sleeping Beauty for months, but it is not available in stores. I found this on Amazon.com and bought it. I was a great purchase. I think she and her little sister have watched it a million times already. It is a great movie. I highly recommend it to anyone with little girls who love Disney Princesses.