Like a lot of people, I took that special three-year deal for Disney+. But, I don’t actually have any kids. It’s just me here, and as much as I like me some Pixar, Star Wars, and Marvel stuff, that doesn’t mean there is a lot for me to watch there right now. I’m sure that will change.
But there are most of the old Disney animated classics. True, I can’t find a lot of the old shorts (and I like old shorts), and I know that Song of the South probably won’t be appearing on the service any time soon, but everything else seems to be there. So, why not check out one of those old classics that I am not sure if I saw before or not? I opted for 1959’s Sleeping Beauty.
That movie has one really memorable character., and sometimes you only really need one.
As Disney animated films go, Sleeping Beauty may be the most like a fairy tale. Most of the characters don’t have much in the way of personality. Princess Aurora/Briar Rose is just a beautiful teenage girl who can sing very well. Prince Philip is just the young man in love with her. The most personality he shows comes in the opening scene when Philip, here a child, gives the infant Aurora a skeptical look at the prospect of someday marrying her. Philip and Aurora’s respective fathers are basically just a pair of kings/concerned fathers. Aurora’s mother isn’t even that much. None of Aurora’s many animal friends can talk or show a distinct personality. Philip’s horse has a little for comedic effect.
Now, there is the case of the three good fairies, Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather. The three of them are somewhat interchangeable in terms of who is who. Merryweather gets the most in by being a little spunky, eventually changing Maleficent’s raven into stone (so, she killed it?). But unlike the other characters, the fairies actually get stuff done. When it comes time to rescue Sleeping Beauty, Philip is only so-so effective. The three fairies gift him with the weapons he needs to do what he has to do, and even go so far as stopping whatever projectiles and weapons Maleficent’s minions shoot at the fleeing prince. Philip can cut through Maleficent’s thorn barriers, but when she attacks Philip in dragon form, the only way he gets off a killshot with his sword is for one of the fairies to quickly enchant it first.
So, how much does Philip accomplish? Not much.
But this is a movie where the fairies are movers and shakers. Maleficent’s presence is welcome every time she appears on screen, and she really makes the movie, but if we define a protagonist as the person with goals and the antagonist as the person or force trying to prevent said goals, we could argue she might be the protagonist. All anyone else wants is to make sure Maleficent’s curse doesn’t apply. The Good Fairies have given Aurora two of the three one-time-only gifts of beauty and song, and Maleficent gives her own of insta-death on Aurora’s 16th birthday from an incredibly specific cause. One last fairy can maybe mitigate this with the right final gift, changing “death” to “sleep”.
Can I just add that, maybe it’s because I am sitting here in 2019, but as gifts go, “beauty” and “song” only work in fairy tales. Maybe the original final gift was meant to be something more practical like “wisdom” or “intelligence” or “common sense” or maybe just “unbreakable skin”. But, this is fairy tale with remarkably bland characters for Disney.
I mean, there’s really only about two songs in the entire movie, and only one of them is all that memorable in the form of “Once Upon a Dream,” but that memorability may be due more to the fact that it gets sung many, many times over. While not a bad song, it isn’t in the same league as many more memorable Disney songs.
So, what are we left with in the end? It’s still got the beautiful Disney animation, but there’s still Maleficent. Maleficent may not get as much screen time as the other fairies, but she is obviously the best character in the movie. This is a woman who is evil through and through and enjoys every second of it. She has goals and desires for herself and not just some vague sense of doing everything for some kind of greater good. Even the voice acting of Eleanor Audley lifts the character above the rest of the cast. What else is going to stick in a viewer’s head? Maleficent promising to deliver all the powers of hell, or Flora and Merryweather, or possibly Fauna and Merryweather, arguing over a pink or blue dress for Aurora? I know what I would go with. It’s not that surprising why out of all the Disney remakes, the only one really based around the villain is Maleficent.
Grade: B-
0 Comments