Young or old, and anywhere in-between Sleeping Beauty is commonly regarded as a childhood classic, a comfort film if you will. Like many other Disney films we remember the vintage animation, the songs, and the often compelling storylines. When Disney announced it would begin releasing its vaulted classics on Blu-ray fans met the news with an outmost enthusiasm and anticipation. For the first time ever classic films including Sleeping Beauty would be available in hi definition, with high expectations of crisp animation and solidified audio Disney had better dress to impress. So how does the Sleeping Beauty clean up after nearly fifty years of entertaining several generations of Disney fans?

Sleeping Beauty is the sixteenth animated film by Walt Disney, released for the first time in 1959, and when adjusted for inflation is one of the top grossing movies of all time. Like so many other Disney classics, Sleeping Beauty is based upon a fairy tale by Charles Perrault written some 400 years ago. Such a timeless story heard by generations of young ears, what better way for Disney to start its Blu-ray collection. While Sleeping Beauty is based upon the 1697 Perrault classic, it does have some feet of its own, and draws more similarities in distinction to the 1890 Tchaikovsky ballet. With epic scores performed by the Berlin Symphony Orchestra the stage is set for a grand love saga. But enough with the historic pre amble, let’s get into the good stuff.

Sleeping Beauty tells the story of Princess Aurora and the curse besotted upon her. Promised to Prince Phillip at a young age, the backbone to the story is set early. At her christening Aurora is blessed with the gifts of beauty and song by two of three good fairies. Set the stage for Maleficent, a truly evil villainess, overwrought and filled with hate for not being invited to the christening. She curses the princess to die upon touching a spinning wheel’s spindle. The third fairy alters the curse so that she will not die but instead be put into an eternal slumber until awoken by true loves kiss. To avoid the curse, Aurora and the fairies flee to the woods, where she grows into a beautiful young woman. Maleficent tirelessly looks for Aurora who now goes by the name Briar Rose, and as a last ditch effort sends her raven Diablo to track her down. Needless to say eventually Aurora falls victim to the curse and Prince Phillip must overcome much obstacles and tests of faith to find and kiss his true love.

The story is a classic, and it plays out fantastically in hi definition. The dialogue is plain spoken and sincere, the animation is time honored, and the characters, especially Maleficent, are deep and absorbing. Aurora is the text book definition of a stereotypical princess, the basis of many clichés, enchanting and alluring she brings a lot of color to this film that can be rather dark at times. That is what I find most appealing about these classic fairytales, although extremely dark in nature they manage to come off as uplifting and adventurous.

A lot of you won’t enjoy the singing, and that does narrow the target audience, but if you look past it the story is really quite captivating. For those of you who love the classic Disney song and dance, Sleeping Beauty will not fail to impress. The score is magnificent and fetching only accentuating the already powerful and elevated story.

Video

Presented in 2.55:1 1080p aspect Sleeping Beauty looks phenomenal on Blu-ray.  Colors look new and vibrant with some shots looking three dimensional.   There is a shot earlier in the film that shows the three good fairies discussing Aurora’s fate while standing beside a jewelled goblet.  The goblet itself looked extremely three dimensional and vibrant.

The print itself is in perfect condition with no visible artifacting or color banding throughout the entire film. What Disney has managed to do with Sleeping Beauty simply amazes me.  I may have been sceptical when this was first announced but now I can’t wait for Pinocchio next March.

Audio

Sleeping Beauty is equipped with a 7.1 DTS HD track that sounds great especially when considering its age. The track is front heavy at times but quickly comes to life when frequent sound effects come through the rear channels.   Of course the track truly shines when the memorable music and lyrics are played.  Both rear and supports are extremely rich and deep.

Although not as impressive as the improved picture, the audio track still offers and noticeable upgrade over prior releases of the film.

Special Features

The two disc set is jam packed with great features all of which are worth checking out.

• Audio Commentary – A PIP commentary with Leonard Maltin, Andreas Deja and John Lasseter.  I would definitely recommend a viewing as it provides a nice look at Blu-rays 1.1 Profile.

• Short Film – The 30 minutes short of Grand Canyon.  I nice little short film worth checking out for fans of Disney; best yet its presented in high definition.

• Song Selection – A quick chapter selection that takes you straight to the different songs played throughout the movie.

• Trivia Track – A beautiful looking and informative information track that pops up through the movies entirety.

• Photo Album – Beautiful stills from the movie

• Documentary – A 45 minute documentary that is a much watch for anyone that owns the disc.  The Doc is presented in beautiful HD and covers every considerable aspect of the films creation.

• Featurettes – The featurettes are broken up into sets each bringing its own valued information to the mix.  The best has be the one which focuses on the restoration process for the film.  I have gained a new found respect for these people who continue to bring these classics back with amazing picture.

• Interactive Games – Three games that provide good fun for the children.

• Deleted Scenes – We are basically given four deleted musical numbers.  I must say that these four numbers d seem to lack when compared to the ones left in the film.

• TV Episode – An episode of the short lived Disneyland series which gives a look behind the scenes of Disney.  Definitely worth checking out if you are

• Trailer

Final Thoughts

Simplistically put this disc is a must own for fans of the film, and Walt Disney collectors alike. In accord to their past practice, Disney will vault this disc after a limited time so I suggest you pick it up while you can. The video is extremely well cleaned up, the audio although not tested extravagantly gets the job done, and the features are almost never ending. In the end I was extremely pleased with the packaging of this disc, and must give kudos to Disney, here’s to hoping their future releases will be handled with such class.