Highlights: Prince Phillip is absolutely the man. Armed with the epic Sword of Truth and Shield of Virtue he not only is able to save Princess Aurora, he absolutely destroys a massively powerful Maleficent-turned-dragon. The ending of the movie is really well done, I do love the classic romance and waking her up with a kiss. Awww.
Low points: I hate to be so negative about such a classic, but there were so many little things that annoyed me. Aurora herself has no personality because honestly, she’s not in very much of the movie (or she spends it sleeping). Also, when the three fairies arrive when Aurora is still a baby, they give her three gifts. I’m certainly no super feminist, but I would hope that if they could give any gifts to a baby girl they could come up with better things than “beauty” and “song.” How about intelligence? Or if it’s too modern of an idea to have a woman be intelligent, even traits like compassion or patience or optimism would be preferable. I realize that when it is the day of her 16th birthday you might be ready to breathe a sigh of relief, but would it really kill you to wait one more day to use your magic just for that extra insurance? I mean, maybe I’m just a cautious person, but it’s super frustrating that they’re that close to everything being fine and they ruin it themselves. Those fairies, ugh!
Music: Sleeping Beauty really only has one song that is at all memorable, but it’s a really excellent one. “Once Upon a Dream” is a powerful, beautiful melody that fits in perfectly with a Disney fairy tale. Other than that, the score is pretty good but the characters themselves don’t do much singing, at least not like in other Disney movies.
Villain Rating: In my mind, Maleficent is arguably the worst (best?) Disney villain because she is so completely evil through and through. My husband feels that other villains are more interesting, so he doesn’t vote her as the worst/best. I think we can definitely say she is one of the most evil though, because she is so completely ruthless and heartless. Maleficent has a huge grudge and spends 16 years trying to destroy an innocent girl because she’s hurt that she wasn’t invited to a party (!). To me, the scariest villains are the ones whose motives are completely insane and make no sense, because people like that are terrifying and unpredictable, following no known logic.
Fun fact: Prince Phillip is the first Disney Prince to actually be given a real name, as the ones in Snow White and Cinderella were just referred to as “the prince.”
Aurora – another classic Princess found at Akershus and Cindy’s Table.
Where in the World: Sleeping Beauty is actually bigger at some of the other Disney parks around the world, not WDW. Disneyland’s castle is Sleeping Beauty’s, and Disneyland Paris and Hong Kong also has a Sleeping Beauty castle. WDW, however, has less of a Sleeping Beauty icon (the castle there being, of course, Cinderella’s). However, Princess Aurora does make appearances throughout the parks, and Maleficent shows up in the Fantasmic! show.
My rating: 6 out of 10. It’s got some classic, beautiful scenes, but overall I can’t help being a little annoyed by it when I watch it.
This is one of the classic Disney movies that made a huge impression on me. Perhaps it was the age I was when I first saw it or what was going on in my life. I loved the scene at the end where the fairies are changing the color of Aurora’s gown as she dances. I also remember being terrified by Maleficent! I agree that the scariest villains are those who are insane and act illogically. I was young enough to believe my older cousins who told me Maleficent lived next door to them and was always frightened when I walked past the door where I thought Maleficent lived.