Sleeping Beauty Platinum Edition DVD Review

Sleeping Beauty was a first for Disney. It was the first 70mm widescreen production for the studio—meaning this was the first film that has the resolution to look beautiful on DVD. At a cost of $6 million and six years to produce, it was also a risky film. It was the last film produced using the traditional animation method developed by Disney Studios. It was the most elaborate production and artistic endeavor ever produced by Disney…

And it was a failure.

As detailed in one of the extras on Disc Two (see below), the film replaced the traditional Disney song and dance score with music composed by Peter Tchaikovsky. And to be honest, the film was short on content. Compared to other source material, the original story of Sleeping Beauty is sparse compared to Snow White, Peter Pan or even the Jungle Book.

Still, I remember loving the film as a kid, mainly because the hero and I shared the same name.

Sadly, that love doesn’t hold up. The film is incredibly slow in parts and I found myself wanting to skip to my favorite part, the battle with Maleficent at the end.

Despite my disappointment when not viewed through the goggles of childhood, this DVD set is worth every penny. Story may be sparse, but it is a beauty of a movie.

The visuals are easily the best of any Disney film. As the documentary details, no expense was spared and it translates to the screen. You can pause and step though each frame and see the detail and care that was put into this film.

The video on the version, aside from being meticulously cleaned and restored to vivid clarity, has also been expanded. The original release was presented in 2.35:1. This Platinum release is presented in 2.55:1 and it presents all of the original information contained in the 70mm print.

As a nice touch, Disney has included an “original” audio option to that presents the original theatrical audio for those who don’t want the enhanced 5.1 audio mix.

Aside from the film, the extras on Disc Two will easily entertain and inform for many hours.

Extras

Once Upon a Dream Music Video by Emily Osment: This video is an attempt to appeal to young girls and features a version of the song performed by the Hannah Montana co-star.

Audio Commentary: Featuring John Lasseter, Leonard Maltin (film critic) and Andreas Déja (lead animator) – the commentary is a give an take. While not incredibly entertaining, once started, the group does provide an interesting dissection of the elements in the film.

Grand Canyon: Short Disney film with scenes of the Grand Canyon set to music from Ferde Grofé’s "Grand Canyon Suite."

The Peter Tchaikovsky Story was a TV presentation (50 minutes) that told the life story of the composer and also previewed footage from Sleeping Beauty. The novelty of this program is that Disney worked in conjunction with local radio broadcasters. Viewers that had both an FM radio and an AM radio could listed to 3 channels of sound (AM, FM, TV). The original program was shot in color, but broadcast in black and white. The footage on the DVD is a mix of both. An additional opening is also provided that was aired to viewers outside of areas that didn’t have the additional radio options.

Disc Two

Picture Perfect: The Making of Sleeping Beauty: This is a lengthy (43 minutes) and interesting documentary that delves into not only the making of the film, but the history of the film and how it differs from the Disney films that came before.

Eyvind Earle: The Man and His Art is a short documentary (7 minutes) on the influential Disney background artist. It’s great to see Disney highlight the talented people behind the films like this.

Sequence 8: This short (5 minutes) is about the painstaking process that it took to animated the meeting of Briar Rose and Prince Philip in the forest.

Alternate Opening: This features the story boards of an alternate opening (3 minutes) with a completed voice-over and music track. It features an opening song that was removed when the decision to go with Tchaikovsky’s music.

Deleted Songs: Similar to the alternate opening, this features three of the original songs that were deleted from the film or were changed in the final version of the film.

Storyboard Sequences: This nice feature shows two sequences in the film below the storyboards that were used to animated them. Short and interesting.

Live Action Reference: This shows some of the live-action, black and white footage that was used as reference by the animators.

Art Galleries: This section features hundreds of images from development to publicity and production. There are some great images in there. I only wish they could be viewed/exported to a computer for browsing.

Sleeping Beauty Castle Walkthrough: This interactive walkthrough of the castle in the California Disneyland. I remember always being disappointed in Disney World (Florida) because you couldn’t walk through the castle. The walk through narrated by the Disney Imagineer is the best version. Also included is a short documentary (8 minutes) on how the attraction was built.

Publicity: Three original trailers (teaser, theatrical trailers, and re-release) are presented here.

Four Artists Paint One Tree: This original animation shows four different artists painting the same subject (a tree) and showing how different the results can be.

Games: Also included are two games to play on your DVD player – Briar Rose’s Enchanted Dance Game and Sleeping Beauty Fun with Language Game.

Overall

If you’re a fan of the film or if you’ve got a little fan of the Disney Princesses in your house, it’s a must buy DVD. The picture and audio quality alone are worth the purchase (or upgrade). You might have a hard time getting the boys in the house to watch, but mention the awesome fight with the Dragon at the end (still a favorite of mine) and you just might introduce them to this Disney classic that is often overlooked.