My Review of Sleeping Beauty

Rating Scale:

12/10—a complete masterpiece; flawless and outstanding
11/10—Excellent, near-perfect film
10/10—the standard rating; awesome film with a couple of flaws
9/10—a wonderful film with several flaws
8/10–a great film with numerous flaws but not enough to ruin it
7/10—a fun and entertaining movie; not great but still enjoyable
6/10—a slightly above average film; it is something I might watch again
5/10—mediocre movie; not awful but not great either
4/10—a below average film; it could have been much better
3/10—a bad film; poorly written and poorly executed
2/10—a very bad movie; the few good things in the movie overshadowed by the bad things
1/10—a terrible movie; a total waste of time
0/10—a worthless piece of abomination; should have never been made

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Good evening, everyone. This is Mr. J back with another movie review for tonight. This evening, I will be reviewing Disney’s Sleeping Beauty from 1959. This is one of the classic Disney movies that I’ve watched as a kid, and the second film that sort of amused me when it came to the story and the plot. But overtime, I’ve grown to consider the movie to be overall boring because it was just so cliche and dramatically dumb. Just two nights ago, I re-watched this movie to see if I would view the film in a different light since it’s been so long. Unfortunately, my opinion hasn’t changed one bit except that I felt even more bored halfway through the movie. I mean, what did I expect from a Disney movie that has a bland Disney princess, a generic prince, annoying songs, meaningless fairytale morals, and subpar dialogue?

This is about a baby girl who will soon be princess in the kingdom. Three fairies arrive during the ceremony as they are about to bestow on the child their wondrous gifts. Suddenly, Maleficent crashes the party and pronounces a curse on her that she will grow up until her 16th birthday when she will touch the needle of the spinning wheel and die. Driven by fear, the fairies turn into humans and take the child with them to raise her as—you know what? I can’t finish the rest. The plot is just so dumb.

This movie raises a lot of questions that make me scratch my head big time. Why would King Stefan and the queen allow three fairies to raise their daughter in a distant land whereas they could have raised her up themselves since they are the actual parents who should have taken the responsibility themselves to protect her? It’s not like they were dead anyway (isn’t that right, Disney?). Here is the better question: why the hell did Maleficent not take the initiative to kill Aurora right then and there when she had the chance?! She really didn’t have to pronounce a spell that would only be fulfilled within 16 years because she is supposed to be an all-powerful dark fairy. She had all the power in the world to destroy the baby during her first appearance, yet took the cliche villain route.

Also, why was Maleficent even trying to look for Aurora before the 16-year period would be fulfilled? Aside from that, she couldn’t even manage to even discover where she was hiding the whole time until she sent her raven to look for her on her 16th birthday. Why couldn’t she thought of that idea years earlier instead of relying on incompetent minions? Why does she even have minions if she’s already powerful and can teleport to any place she wishes? Again, the writing is embarrassingly abysmal.

Don’t get me started with the annoying songs about “meeting you once upon a dream” crap. Ugh, it’s so irritating! I’m sorry but not sorry. I’m just not a fan of princess songs that deal with “true love’s kiss”, “dreams come true”, or “happily ever after”. This reminds me of the times Disney songs like this one kept playing in the school bus back when I was a middle schooler. The bus driver would play Disney songs in a DAILY basis. It drove me NUTS!!

I still uphold my opinion that Maleficent is an overrated Disney villain who doesn’t deserve any praise, recognition, or positive note. For someone who claims to be the Mistress of All Evil, she couldn’t even kill a human prince. Pathetic. I bet she wouldn’t even defeat a plastic bag. On a side note, she is not as entertaining and enjoyable as other villainesses I’ve seen before.

The songs are boring, the characters are boring, the fairies function as plot devices and not as actual characters (although Merryweather does have some personality at least), and the story is just so bad it’s not even funny.

Nonetheless, there are some things I did like...or was rather impressed by. One, the animation looks really good even though it’s from 1959; I mean, gosh, the animators did a bang-up job creating splendid animation back in its old times. Second, the final battle between Maleficent and Phillip was absolutely epic. The soundtrack was sick as hell, the fight scene was cool, and the dragon transformation scene was very well-done. Not to mention that Maleficent’s death was very satisfying...and for good reason. Third, the scene where Aurora was hypnotized by the green ball of light and slowly walking towards it upstairs was so terrifying. The creepy music behind that scene added to the scariness thereof—the main thing that genuinely horrified me when I was a kid. Why couldn’t the rest of the movie be that suspenseful and engaging? Don’t be like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Disney!

So yeah, this is yet another boring Disney movie filled with Disney’s cliche fantasy tropes. This gets a 4/10. As long as these tropes and cliches continue to run rampant, Disney will remain a thorn on my side.

Peace out.

Comments

[Darth Wrex]

Classic

[Dianabel]

I really liked this movie as a kid, and I still do but mainly because it looks like a fairytale, and I love fairytales. I also love the backgrounds, the outfits and use of color.