VHS : Sleeping Beauty (Fully Restored Limited Edition) (Walt Disney's Masterpiece) |
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Rating:
 - Ideal for Blu-RayIn 1959, the New York Times called Sleeping Beauty "a crisply stylized fairyland where the colors are rich [and] the sounds are luscious." In his book The Disney Films, critic Leonard Maltin writes that Sleeping Beauty is "a very good film, but more so for older audiences than for young children." The Gospel According to Disney says the movie illustrates "an eternal promise of resurrection," while From Walt to Woodstock claims it is a "therapeutic experience" that celebrates "a male-female relationship based on true equality." As for me, I'd say that regardless of what you read into it, Sleeping Beauty is a must-own, especially if you have a Blu-Ray system and a huge widescreen television. A true Disney classic, the movie has such colorful and stunning visuals -- and such a strong villain -- that it makes up for its one major flaw: the lack of a good lead character. The art, for example, is astounding. Full of bright 1950s color, each background is a stylized, graphic collage of rectangles and straight lines that is also filled to the edges with meticulous details, every one in sharp focus. For each tree you see every leaf. For each shrub you see every thorn. It's as if the producers had Blu-Ray in mind when they made it. As a whole, the characters are terrific. Kids will love the fairies. On-screen longer than anyone else, Flora, Fauna and Merryweather fly like bumblebees, have lots of personality and are truly funny. They lose their temper and make many mistakes, especially when it comes to baking a birthday cake or sewing a dress. The villain is perhaps the scariest in any Disney film. "The mistress of all evil," devil-horned, green-skinned Maleficent is a high-class, sarcastic horror show all by herself. She curses baby Aurora to death, later imprisons a prince so that he can't save the girl, and eventually turns herself into a towering dragon that breathes green fire. In fact, the movie's only weakness is the princess herself. Aurora -- dare I say it? -- is quite a snooze. Unlike the lead characters in Cinderella or Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, this 16-year-old has an oh-so-plain, passive personality. With no history of being mistreated, she looks like a Barbie doll and sings like an opera star. You just can't relate to her. Still, the art is fantastic, children -- especially girls -- will love the story and parents can easily sit through it. This is the first Disney classic princess movie on Blu-Ray, and it's a fine start. Rating: - Should be part of any child's DVD collectionIn 1959, the New York Times called Sleeping Beauty "a crisply stylized fairyland where the colors are rich [and] the sounds are luscious." In his book The Disney Films, critic Leonard Maltin writes that Sleeping Beauty is "a very good film, but more so for older audiences than for young children." The Gospel According to Disney says the movie illustrates "an eternal promise of resurrection," while From Walt to Woodstock claims it is a "therapeutic experience" that celebrates "a male-female relationship based on true equality." As for me, I'd say that regardless of what you read into it, Sleeping Beauty is a must-own. A true Disney classic, the movie has such stunning visuals and such a strong villain that it makes up for its one major flaw: the lack of a good lead character. The art, for example, is astounding. Full of bright 1950s color, each background is a graphic collage of rectangles and straight lines that is filled to the edges with meticulously sharp detail. On each tree you see every leaf; on each shrub you see every thorn. It's a look that set the stage for other Disney movies to come, such as Pocahontas, Mulan and Hercules. As a whole, the characters are terrific. Kids will love the fairies. On-screen longer than anyone else, Flora, Fauna and Merryweather fly like bumblebees, ooze oodles of personality and are truly funny. They lose their temper and make many mistakes, especially in their attempts to bake a birthday cake and sew a dress. The villain is perhaps the scariest in any Disney film. "The mistress of all evil," devil-horned, green-skinned Maleficent is a sarcastic, high-class horror show all by herself. She curses baby Aurora to death, imprisons a prince so that he can't save the grown girl, and eventually turns herself into a towering dragon that breathes green fire. The movie's only weakness is the princess herself. Aurora -- dare I say it? -- is quite a snooze. Unlike the leads in Cinderella or Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, this 16-year-old is a plain, passive Barbie doll who sings like an opera star. Unlike Cinderella or Snow White, she has no history of being mistreated. She's likable enough, but tough to relate to. Still, that's the opinion of an adult, not a child. I give Sleeping Beauty five stars because of the art, because young kids -- especially girls -- will love it, because parents will also be entertained, and because its wholesome message that love conquers hate has rarely been presented better. A product of its time, the film is not perfect but still tough to beat. If you have kids and are building a collection of DVDs for them, this should be on your list. Rating: - ONLY BEAUTY DESERVES THIS HONOR!!I cannot think of a more deserving Disney animated classic than SLEEPING BEAUTY to be the FIRST to be released on a platinum edition BLU-RAY disc. Owning the two-disc DVD edition, and seeing the splendid already restored negative in that release, I can only imagine the magnificent quality of the 1080p picture and 7 channel Dolby soundtrack. This is one of Disney's most ambitious and yet underestimated film, in my opinion the best of the animated classics. I cannot wait until October 7th to see this on my home theatre screen. Hurry Disney!!! 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 Rating:  - poor qualityI 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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