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| Sleeping Beauty
DVD Review |
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Order this DVD from Amazon.com
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Sleeping
Beauty
Special Edition
(Buena Vista Home Entertainment)
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| DVD
Release Date:
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September
9, 2003
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Length:
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75 mins.
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| Rated:
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G
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| Format:
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Widescreen (2.35:1) Enhanced for 16x9 Televisions, Full Screen (1.33:1)
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Audio:
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English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, THX Certified, French,
Spanish
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| Subtitles:
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Closed-Captioned
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| Extras:
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Rescue
Aurora Game, no secrets Music Video, Disney Art Project,
Sing-Along Song, "Once Upon A Dream" - The Making of
Sleeping Beauty, Academy Award-Winning Short "Grand
Canyon" and much, much more...
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I've always been a sucker for the Disney
Princesses. With two little girls, I pretty much have to be.
Personally, I've always been more of a Cinderella person, but that
doesn't mean that I wasn't happy with the DVD release of the classic,
Sleeping Beauty. The story is a simple one. A princess is born and
betrothed at birth to a prince. When the evil Maleficent isn't invited
to the celebrations, she places a curse on the newborn baby that she
will die before the sun sets on her sixteenth birthday. To avoid the
curse, she's brought into hiding by three good fairies. Years pass,
and on her sixteenth birthday, she meets a handsome stranger and falls
in love. When she tells the good fairies, they are forced to tell the
truth about who she really is. Heartbroken, she returns to the castle
where she is lured into the tower by Maleficent. There, she fulfills
the evil prophecy - but not in death, just in sleep. So, the good
fairies find her handsome stranger, who turns out to be the prince to
whom she had been betrothed years before. With the help of the
fairies, Maleficent is destroyed, Sleeping Beauty is awoken by true
love's kiss and naturally, they live happily ever after. The story is
a classic which held up the same in 1959, when the film was originally
released, through several re-releases and up to the current DVD
release. And with the DVD release, we learn so much more about the
history of both the story and the film.
We'll start with disc one. First off, naturally, you have the feature
presentation. The film is presented in both Widescreen and Full Screen
formats with Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. It's not going to get
any better than this. The film looks great, and sounds even better.
Next, the commentary track. It's not a traditional commentary track,
where the cast a crew gather to reminisce about the making of the
film. Instead, it's more like a documentary, with the movie playing in
the background. What we get is a track hosted by Disney historian Jeff
Kurtti, with various sound bites inserted at the proper times.
Although unconventional, the track works, providing loads of
background information from a number of sources, including people who
worked on the original film, some current Disney artists and the voice
of Princess Aurora herself, Mary Costa. It's a great listen for those
who have the time and want to learn a bit more about the making of the
film.
The second disc is a treasure of bonus features, sure to please
everyone. There is so much here, it would be impossible not to find
something to like. The features are divided into two main categories -
"Games, Music & Fun" and "History &
Behind-The-Scenes". I'll start with "Games, Music &
Fun". First up, we have 'Disney's Art Project'. This was a good
feature showing how to make either a princess or a dragon from items
you'll find around the house. It moved a little quick, but went over
the basics and would be something fun to do with the kids. Next,
there's the 'Rescue Aurora' game, where you're the Prince and you must
follow the clues to find the Princess. Then there's the 'Princess
Personality' game, where you must choose things that you like that
will show which Disney Princess you are most like. If you care to
know, I'm most like Cinderella. Also included are a couple of songs -
one a sing-along song - kinda like karaoke for the kids - and also a
music video by 'no secrets'. The sing-along song was nice, but I
wasn't a fan of the video. If you've read any of my past Disney DVD
reviews, you'll know how I feel about how they use their DVDs to
promote other acts. Shameless. That's what this seemed like. Finally,
in the "Games" section, there's an 'Ink & Paint' game.
Here, you select colors to paint pictures of various characters from
the movie. If I had to complain about this one, I'd say that you are
limited. What if I want to paint Aurora's dress blue? I can't do it -
it has to be pink. Still, it's a fun activity.
Next up, we have the "History & Behind-The-Scenes"
features. There's almost too much to mention, but I'll give it a
whirl. There's a 16 minute "Making-Of" featurette that's a
great look at the history and making of the film. If you're not going
to spend the time going over everything else the disc has to offer,
this featurette is great because it briefly touches on everything.
Next, there's a look at the history of the story. For example, did you
know the story goes back as far as the fourteenth century, perhaps
even earlier? That even though Disney credits the 1697 version of the
story by Charles Perrault, it actually resembles the Brothers Grimm's
retelling from 1812-1815? There's also information about the
"Sleeping Beauty" Ballet, first performed in 1890, whose
score by Tchaikovsky was used in the Disney Film. If you want to read
more, there's load of interesting stuff here. There's also a look at
the original 1951 outline of the film, and some storyboard sequences.
Next, there's a look at the production of the film, with some great
historical pieces, including looks at the music and the design. Also,
we're treated to some archival footage of some live-action sequences
that were used as reference in the film. Also, a look at the work that
went into the restoration of the film, and a comparison of the
Widescreen and Full Screen versions of the film. The next section
includes a number of Virtual Galleries dealing with looks at the
characters, the artwork, the film's posters, some concept art,
storyboards and a number of other features. It's quite clear here how
much work went into putting together this DVD - there's so much
information, it's hard to put into words. Next, there a section
dealing with the publicity of the film. This includes looks at the
film's original teaser and trailer, and the trailer for the 1995
re-release of the film. Next, there's a "Sleeping Beauty
Scrapbook" which includes a group of photo galleries looking at
different aspects of the film. Finally, there are three more
featurettes. Included is a 1958 short documentary titled "4
Artists Paint 1 Tree" hosted by Walt Disney, a behind-the-scenes
look at the making of the film. Next, we have "The Peter
Tchaikovsky Story" which originally aired on the
"Disneyland" TV show in 1959 to promote the release of the
film. Finally, we have "Grand Canyon" a short subject
documentary that originally premiered in theaters with "Sleeping
Beauty". Interestingly enough, it won the Oscar for "Best
Live-Action Short Subject" in 1959.
Like I said, there is a lot of material on this DVD. Looking over what
I've written, it seems I've touched on a lot of it, but at the same
time, I feel I haven't even touched on half of it. If you're a fan of
the movie, or even a fan of Disney or animation, this DVD is must-own.
There's so much history here, it'd be a sin not to watch. It truly
makes you appreciate the amount of work that went into creating the
movie. At the same time, it also makes you appreciate the amount of
work that must have went into creating this DVD. Although I'm not a
huge fan of the movie itself (like I said, I'm a Cinderella kinda guy)
this DVD was truly a treat to watch, and would be great addition to
any DVD collector's library.
| The Movie: |
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7/10 |
| The
Quality: |
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10/10 |
| The
Extras: |
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10/10 |
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did you think?
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Liam Cullin -
Editor
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